Dr. and Mrs. Saha Make Major Gift to Centennial Legacy Society

Gopal Saha, PhD, and his wife, Sipra (Photo by Marty Carrick)

With their $100,000 gift to the Centennial Legacy Society, Gopal Saha, PhD (Staff’84), and his wife, Sipra, have become founding members of the society’s prestigious Centennial Circle.

Dr. Saha, Emeritus Staff, is the former Director of Nuclear Chemistry and Pharmacy at Cleveland Clinic and was on the staff of Nuclear Medicine for nearly 27 years. Mrs. Saha was an assistant professor of mathematics at Lake Erie College, Ohio, for 20 years.

The couple’s gift is a tribute to Cleveland Clinic, Dr. Saha says. “Even now, I still have an office there as an Emeritus staff member. And I have published four textbooks – the first book with seven editions, the second one with four editions, the third book with three editions, and the fourth book with one edition. Some of them are translated into Chinese and Japanese. This is because Cleveland Clinic has given me ample opportunity to pursue my endeavor of writing textbooks, over and above the scope of carrying out my routine clinical duties.”

Dr. Saha was awarded the prestigious Vikram Sarabhai Award by the Society of Nuclear Medicine, India, in 2008 for his contributions to nuclear medicine.

Dr. and Mrs. Saha also support causes that assist cancer patients and the underprivileged. This includes establishing The Sipra and Gopal Saha Fund with the Cleveland Foundation, which has partnered with the Hunger Network of Greater Cleveland to help prevent hunger in the community. “Living modestly over the years, we have saved some money. Now that our son and daughter are grown and established, we are better able to help others,” Dr. Saha says.

His philanthropic interests arose from his own experience.

Dr. Saha emigrated to Canada from Bangladesh in 1961. “When I went to Montreal to get my PhD, I had only $50,” he says. Raised in a village in Chittagong in Bangladesh, “I know what being poor means. My mother and I used to secretly take rice and lentils from the storage of our joint family to give to the poor people next door. I grew up with a passion for helping the poor and have supported many charitable organizations for many years.”

In 1976, he became a staff member at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences in Little Rock, and in 1982, a professor at the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque. That’s where he was working when, in 1984, he met the Chairman of Nuclear Medicine at Cleveland Clinic, who was seeking a chemist to run the nuclear pharmacy lab. After interviewing in Cleveland, he was offered and accepted the position.

As Director of Nuclear Chemistry and Pharmacy, he helped design and establish nuclear pharmacy labs in Cleveland Clinic’s nuclear medicine departments throughout the region, including the one at the Sydell and Arnold Miller Family Pavilion. “These labs were designed and operated to comply with strict rules and regulations of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) and the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JACHO), which inspected every two to three years and rated my lab No. 1 in the country,” Dr. Saha says.

He taught nuclear medicine and radiology residents who were preparing for their board exams. “I introduced new techniques to prepare radioactive drugs for the diagnosis and treatment of different diseases,” he says.

Dr. and Mrs. Saha have been married over 55 years and reside in Beachwood, Ohio. “It’s an excellent community for family living, and we are enjoying it,” Dr. Saha says.

“Cleveland Clinic invested in me, for which I am ever grateful, and now, I’m giving back to them,” he says. “I have a sense of gratitude toward people who help me, and my wife feels the same way.”

Sipra Saha agrees. “In my opinion, you should help other people and give the way you want to give, according to your capacity,” she says. “It’s in our blood. Before our marriage, I saw this in our family, especially with my mother, who would help other people and teach poor children. It’s what she enjoyed throughout her life. My husband and I have the same outlook. My mother always said, ‘If I have 10 cents, I can give other people 5 cents.’ It’s written inside my mind.”

Click here to learn more about how to become a Centennial Legacy Society member.