Dr. Varma went to medical school at King George’s Medical College in Lucknow, India. In 1968, he came to the United States to attend Harvard Medical School. Here he completed a fellowship in Pediatric Endocrinology.
Dr. Varma came to Lubbock in 1974. Shortly after, he helped open UMC (it was called Lubbock General Hospital at the time). He began our pediatric unit, now UMC Children’s hospital, and he took care of UMC’s first patient. Dr. Varma’s next goal was to begin a pediatric residency program; he did just that in July 1978.
Among many other awards, Dr. Varma received the Best Teaching Award for Pediatric Residents in 1988, Outstanding Clinical Teacher at TTUHSC School of Medicine in 1991, Ted Hartman Endowed Chair by TTUHSC and UMC in 2007, and the Grover E. Murray Professor by the TTUHSC Board of Regents, which is a high honor.
Dr. Varma says he deeply appreciates the partnership that UMC and the Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center have. He is the only 40-year physician who still practices at UMC on a daily basis.