SPEAKER PROFILES

• Manisha Koirala

  Manisha Koirala is a popular actress, producer, and social activist. Known for her work in both commercial and independent cinema, she is the recipient of several accolades, including four Filmfare Awards. In 2001, the Government of Nepal awarded her with the Order of Gorkha Dakshina Bahu. Koirala received critical recognition for her portrayals of characters in varied genres. She took a break from acting after being diagnosed with ovarian cancer in 2012 and returned five years later with the coming-of-age drama Dear Maya (2017). She was appointed as the Goodwill Ambassador for the United Nations Population Fund in 1999 for India and 2015 for Nepal, and was involved in the relief works after the April 2015 Nepal earthquake. She promotes causes such as women's rights, prevention of violence against women, prevention of human trafficking and cancer awareness, contributing as an author to the novel Healed: an account of her struggle with ovarian cancer.

• Lisa Ray

  Lisa Ray is an internationally acclaimed performer, philanthropist, author, and public speaker with a reputation for taking on challenging issue-oriented films. Ray is the first Indian celebrity to go public with a cancer diagnosis. She is an award-winning actress who starred in Canada’s Oscar-nominated film 'Water' among other prestigious credits like ‘Kasoor’ in Hindi cinema. Her best-selling debut novel, 'Close to the Bone,' an intimate memoir, has been highly acclaimed. She is also a co-founder of the digital and art startup 'The Upside Space.

• Chhavi Mittal

  Chhavi holds an honors degree in English Literature, and a Masters in Hindustani Classical Music(Vocal). She has a variety of television shows & films in her kitty. Chhavi has co-founded a successful Digital Content Creation Company along with husband Mohit Hussein. The YouTube channel, SHITTY IDEAS TRENDING, her maiden venture, showcases her creative abilities not just as an actor, but a creative writer as well. Now a mother of two, Chhavi is making waves with her maiden venture BEING WOMAN WITH CHHAVI which is everything about women, mothers, entrepreneurs and go-getters. Her YouTube channel by the same name is a destination for all women. Chhavi recently fought the battle against Breast Cancer and got hugely applauded for her brave fight.

• Dr. PK Julka

  With over four decades of cancer treatment and research and a variety of major breakthroughs to his credit, Dr. Pramod Kumar Julka, Principal Director, Max Oncology Daycare Centre, Max Institute of Cancer Care, New Delhi has treated cancer patients from all segments of the society. He has been felicitated with ‘Padma Shri’ in the year 2013 for his outstanding contribution to the field of Medicine. Dr. Julka’s contribution to cancer patients can be measured by simple statistics. In a career spanning more than four decades, he has treated over 90,000 patients suffering from various types of cancers. Dr. Julka indisputably stands as the pioneer of cancer treatment in India and to his credit is India’s first Peripheral blood stem cell transplant following high-dose chemotherapy in Metastatic Breast Cancer. This feat got his name listed in the popular Limca Book of World Records. Before joining Max Institute of Cancer Care, he was the Professor of Oncology and Dean (Academics) at All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi

• Dr. Ishita B. Sen

  She is a nuclear medicine physician with over 25 years of experience. An alumnus of the Lady Hardinge Medical College and the Institute of Nuclear Medicine and Allied Sciences (INMAS), Delhi, she has worked at various institutes including the Indraprastha Apollo Hospitals Delhi and Sir Ganga Ram Hospital, Delhi. She has been with Fortis for the last 11 years and is currently the Senior Director and Head of the Department of Nuclear Medicine, Fortis Memorial Research Institute, Gurugram. She takes special interest in Nuclear Oncology. She is one of the leading experts on Nuclear Theranostics with both Lu177 based therapies as well as targeted alpha therapy in the country. She has special interest in molecular imaging in oncology and was part of an international atomic energy agency task force to create an SOP for PET/CT imaging in Adult Oncology.

• Dr. Harsh Mahajan

  He is the Founder & Managing Director of Mahajan Imaging & Labs, New Delhi, he runs a chain of high end centres of excellence in Integrated Diagnostics including radiology, Imaging, nuclear medicine, lab medicine, pathology and genomics. He is also the Chairman of department of Nuclear Medicine & PET CT at Sir Ganga Ram Hospital. He graduated from Maulana Azad Medical College, New Delhi in 1982,and Post-Graduation in Radiodiagnosis from the prestigious PGIMER, Chandigarh. After which, he was awarded a Rotary Foundation Fellowship at the MD Anderson Cancer Hospital & Research Institute in Houston. In the year 1998 he was appointed as the Honorary Radiologist to the President of India and he continues to hold that post till date. He was awarded one of the highest civilian national honours of “Padma Shri” in 2002. He is the President of the Indian Radiology & Imaging Association (IRIA) and is also a consultant to the International Atomic Energy Association (IAEA)

• Harmala Gupta

  She is a cancer survivor & social activist who has pioneered cancer support services in India. In 1985, while working on her Ph.D. thesis in McGill University, Montreal, Canada, she was diagnosed with ‘Hodgkin’s lymphoma’. After recovery, she felt it was her mission to create compassionate & caring support services for people with cancer and their families in India. She founded CanSupport in 1996 which provides free home based palliative care for more than 2600 patients with advanced cancer. Serving in prominent roles, Harmala has shared her vision as a social entrepreneur & cancer volunteer in in many platforms. She is also the recipient of many awards

• Jayita Deodhar

  She is a Professor and In-charge, Dept of Palliative. Medicine in Tata Memorial Hospital and Psychiatry & Psycho-oncology in Tata Memorial Hospital. She is on the Board of Directors, International Psycho-Oncology Society (IPOS), IAPC's Central Council Member and part of editorial Board of Psycho-Oncology Journal and Indian Journal of Palliative Care

• Vishal Lathwal

  He heads the home healthcare division of Max Hospitals; Max@Home which is amongst the largest providers of home healthcare services in India. He has been with Max Healthcare for over 8 years, and has played many roles from driving growth strategy, operations transformation to setting up Max@Home under the new businesses vertical. In past, Vishal has worked in the areas of management consulting and automobile marketing with global brands, and has keen interest in business building, especially D2C models.

• Dr. Raghavendra Rao

  Dr Raghavendra completed his Bachelor’s degree in Naturopathy & Yogic Sciences with 2nd rank from Mangalore University in 1998. He joined Swami Vivekananda Yoga Anusandhan Samsthana, Bengaluru as a research fellow in 1998 and went onto become an assistant professor. He has experience in working in reputed institutes like Swami Vivekananda Yoga University, and HCG Bangalore Institute of Oncology. He was an advisor to INYS Medical Research Society, Jindal Nature cure Hospital, and Trans Disciplinary University at Bengaluru. He completed Indo US study on yoga and Prediabetes, and yoga and HIV with UCSF School of Medicine Sanfrancisco. He was also a consultant for an NCI grant on yoga and Oncology at MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas. He completed his PhD in 2007 and has 103 international research publications and two international book chapters with h-Index of 22. He has won several awards such as Sushila Thakur Prakriti mandir prize in 2001 by APPICON, Manonmani Rudraiah award from SVYASA for best thesis and ASCO Conquer cancer foundation merit award in 2012 by American Society of Clinical Oncology

• Dr. K .Sunitha Premalatha

  She has Specialization in Clinical Nutrition and Dietetics. Dr Premalatha is PhD in Diet ,lifestyle and cancer and she is Co-convenor -Indian Dietetic Association Telangana Chapter. She is Chief Dietitian, Head of department, Yashoda Hospitals, Hyderabad

• Dr. SH Advani

  Since 2002, he is the Director at Department of Medical Oncology, Jaslok Hospital Research Centre. He has received Lifetime Achievement in Oncology (2005) | Harvard Medical International, “PADMASHRI” by Government of India (2002) | Times of India Life Time Achivement award 2018, “PADMABHUSHAN” by Government of India (2012) and many more like that. He has been involved with about 500 National and International Publications. At present, his strong interest is to develop developmental therapeutics with clinical research program. This will have integrated projects involving all the branches of clinical oncology as well as potential basic research

• Dr. Vijay Haribhakti

  His areas of exclusive specialization include Head and Neck cancer and Breast cancer. He has had a distinguished academic career and has published numerous papers in National and International peer-review journals and has been on the teaching faculty of major national and international Head and Neck meetings since many years. His fundamental contribution to the literature came early in his career through an anatomical study on the adult human mandible, which was published in “Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery” in March,1996. His articles over the years have appeared in The American Journal of Surgery, Head and Neck, European Journal of Plastic Surgery and the Journal of Laryngology and Otology. He has authored all chapters on Head and Neck Cancer in a book titled: “Practical Clinical Oncology” published in 2014 by Jaypee brothers in India.

• Dr. Sudeep Gupta

  He is the Professor of Medical Oncology, Director ACTREC (Advanced Centre for Treatment, Research and Education in Cancer), Tata Memorial Centre, Mumbai. He is also the Faculty member in the Department of Medical Oncology at Tata Memorial Centre since June 2001. Internationally renowned breast and gynecological cancers oncologist. Prolific clinical researcher who is actively involved in planning, organizing, conducting and analyzing Phase I, II and III clinical trials. He is the Principal Investigator or Co-investigator in more than 120 trials.Special interest in breast and gynecological cancers and clinical genomics. He has published more than 250 papers in peer reviewed journals. He is also the Member of several national and international committees and taskforces of DBT, DST, DAE, ICMR, NITI, ESMO, and others

• Kiran Jaswal Bajaj

  She is an Aluminous of Loreto Convent Darjeeling and Government College for Women, Chandigarh. A septuagenarian Mom, Grandmother, Feisty home maker resigned to a mundane space for the larger chunk of her life. Her USP is the irrepressible funny side and the ability to find humour in the bleakest of situations! Her most impressive credential to date remains the relentless battle she waged against the dreaded Cancer and the incredible feat of beating the Beast and surviving. She thereafter scripted her journey through her Book …. Captives of our ‘Cellves’…. A roller Coaster Saga about her inner Strength and resilience, culminating in a well-earned Victory

• Dr. Harsha Agarwal

  "Dr. Agarwal is Doctorate in Psychology with specializations in Health, Clinical and Child Psychopathology. She is heading the Department of Psycho Oncology since 2018. Her vision is to create an ecosystem in the society, especially among cancer patients and their caregivers, where people can exchange their problems, stereotypical behavior and myths /stigma influenced mindset without any hesitation. In view of lack of acceptance to the need of mental health, she has also been actively conducting researches to spread a word of awareness. Her research work, articles, contributions to the society has been published across several national and international journals. She has won several awards and accolades for her efforts. Very recently her efforts were acknowledged as most promising psycho oncologist of the year by Nationwide Health Care Award 2022."

• Dr. Bhavna Barmi

  Dr. Barmi is an internationally well-renowned practicing clinical psychologist for over 25 years. She has a PhD in Clinical Psychology along with an M.Phil. from Nimhans, Bangalore. She started her career with All India Institute of Medical Science (AIIMS), Delhi. She has also been associated with Delhi Heart and Lung Institute and Dharamshila Cancer Hospital as a Consultant Psychologist. She is also working as Sr. Clinical Psychologist with the Fortis Escorts Heart Institute, Delhi for past 20 plus years. Her varied experience ranges from being most sort after Relationship Expert to being an executive counselor. She also holds diploma in NLP and hypnotherapy, using a unique style of amalgamating all of above to her client’s advantage.

• Dr. Vijayashree Murthy

  Dr.Murthy is a seasoned breast surgical oncologist with a strong academic background and ethical standards. Her expertise lies in surgical management of benign and malignant breast diseases, breast cancer screening, and personalized treatment plans. She specializes in breast conservation surgery, minimally invasive axillary surgery, breast reconstruction, preventative surgery for hereditary breast and ovarian cancers, and breast cancer genetics. Dr. Viju completed an esteemed NIH T32 Breast Oncology Fellowship at Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Centre, New York, showcasing her dedication to cutting-edge research. She also holds an SSO Breast Surgical Oncology Fellowship from Maimonides Medical Centre, New York. Her comprehensive Breast Fellowship at Tata Memorial Hospital in India further solidified her expertise in the field.

• Dr. Sachin Trivedi

  Dr. Trivedi is a highly accomplished medical oncologist with expertise in various systemic therapies for cancer management. He specializes in managing head and neck, breast, lung, GI, gynaecological, genitourinary, bone cancers, and lymphoma. Dr. Trivedi excels in chemotherapy, targeted therapy, immunotherapy, precision medicine, hormonal therapy, and supportive medicine. He also administers electrochemotherapy and chronochemotherapy to improve clinical outcomes. Dr Trivedi was the Head of Department of oncology at Nottingham University Hospital in UK. Possibly the first Indian passport holder to do it. He was also the fellow at the prestigious Royal Marsden Hospital in London

• Dr. Shyam Kishore Shrivastava

  With over 40 years in the field of Radiation Oncology, Dr. Shrivastava serves as the Director – Radiation Oncology at HCG ICS Khubchandani Cancer Centre. He is recognized as an expert in modern radiotherapy practice, utilizing advanced techniques such as IMRT, IGRT, stereotactic radiation, SBRT, image-guided brachytherapy, and intraoperative brachytherapy. Dr. Shrivastava has handled over 10,000 cases throughout his career. Additionally, he served as Professor and Head of the Department of Radiation Oncology at Tata Memorial Hospital for over 14 years before his superannuation in October 2016. He has authored over 250 research publications in national and international journals and has been an examiner in multiple universities.

• Anchal Sharma

  Anchal is a cancer survivor, who was detected with breast cancer at a young age. After the initial shock and on realising the enormity of the fight ahead of her, Anchal prepped herself and geared up to win the battle against cancer; medically and as well as socially by continuing to live her life with the same zest and enthusiasm. She is now a successful real estate consultant along with being a life coach for cancer Patients and survivors. Anchal took a lead to create CanHeal, a platform specifically designed to serve the needs of cancer fighters. This platform offers a range of products aimed at healing cancer patients; the healing of body, mind and spirit – that creates the ability to live life to the fullest. Today, Anchal is an inspiration for millions of cancer fighters and she has made it her life mission to live life to the fullest and to continue inspiring others also to do the same.