Neela Pushparaj, MD / Retired

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Get to know Pathologist Dr. Neela Pushparaj, who served patients in the State of New York.

Dr. Pushparaj is a retired pathologist who is now a watercolor artist. She enjoyed teaching as well as working as a hospital pathologist at St. Francis Hospital in Poughkeepsie, New York until January 2000.

A native of India, she graduated with her Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery degree from Anna University in 1963. After relocating to the United States, she completed her internship at Franklin Square Hospital, and her residency in anatomic & clinical pathology at the Henry Ford Hospital. Later, she completed her fellowship in oncologic pathology at the Columbia Presbyterian Hospital.

Professionally, Dr. Pushparaj was an Emeritus member of the United States and Canadian Academy of Pathology, the American Society of Clinical Pathology, and the College of American Pathologists.

In 1987, at the age of 49, she started watercolor lessons at the now defunct Summit Adult Education program and learned the rudiments of watercolor painting from Sarita Anne Cook. After taking two semesters, she decided to take more formal lessons at du’ Cret, an art school in Plainfield, New Jersey. It was while attending this art school that she became addicted to watercolor. She creates her works by adding colors to wet or damp paper and allowing shapes to emerge from them by picking them out with negative painting. She uses bright, vibrant color, especially in her floral work, which are used to give off an abstract feeling.

As a result of winning a statewide competition, some of her prints hang at the Radiology Department of Atlantic City Medical Center. They were also hung on the 6th floor of St. Francis Hospital. She also contributed her paintings for fundraising events for the Summit Rotary Club scholarship and St. Francis Hospital Foundation. She is a member of the New Jersey Center for Visual Arts, the Garden State Watercolor Society, and the Essex Watercolor Club.

For a few years, Dr. Pushparaj was the art director of a show called WomanArt, which was run by the Summit College Club, div, of AAUW, for women artists of the tri-state area. Recently, she started designing for VIDA.com, and has been giving lessons at her home in Summit.

She is now a well-known watercolor artist represented by Montserrat Contemporary Art Gallery in NYC. Videos of her work can be seen at the Gallery website: www.watercolorsbyneela.com

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