After completing his internal medicine residency in New York and his cardiology fellowship in New Jersey, Dr. Chelliah arrived in Grand Forks in 1982 to accept the challenge of developing a cardiac catheterization laboratory at United Hospital. He performed the first cardiac catheterization and coronary angiography in Grand Forks on August 19, 1982.

Dr. Chelliah began the Cardiology Clinical research program in Grand Forks in 1989 when he first conducted the KAMIT trial and published the results in 1991. His second major cardiology research project was the PAMI trial, a landmark trial in which balloon angioplasty was compared with “clot-busting” drug in the management of patients with heart attacks. The results were published in the prestigious New England Journal of Medicine in 1993. He continues to conduct research studies at the Heart Institute of North Dakota.

In addition to his cardiology practice and research, Dr. Chelliah began teaching at the University of North Dakota School of Medicine and Health Sciences. In 1999, he was appointed to the academic rank of Professor of Medicine. He has received the “Teacher of the Year” award four times, three times from the medical students and once from the UND family practice residents.

He is board-certified in internal medicine, forensic medicine, cardiology and interventional cardiology. He also is a Fellow of the American College of Physicians, Fellow of the American College of Cardiology and Fellow of the American College of Chest Physicians.

Dr. Chelliah will continue his main clinical practice at the Heart Institute of North Dakota in Grand Forks and he will also provide cardiology services at RiverView Health in Crookston. He will be seeing patients at RiverView Clinic in Crookston on the second Wednesday of every month. If you wish to make an appointment, please call 218-281-9553 or toll free 1-800-743-6551, extension 553.