Disrupting Breast Cancer Care in India: Perform, Reform, Transform

Location: MAR 1.10, Marshall Building, London School of Economics and Political Science

The Global Surgery Policy Unit, hosted by LSE Health and the Royal College of Surgeons of England, is delighted to welcome Dr Raghu Ram Pillarisetti, one of India’s most influential breast cancer surgeons and Founding Director of the KIMS-USHALAKSHMI Centre for Breast Diseases. Dr Pillarisetti’s lecture will shed light on how innovation, advocacy, screening and professional leadership have driven system-wide change in breast cancer care in India.

Over the past two decades, Dr Pillarisetti’s approach to improving breast cancer care in India has followed a simple but deliberate pathway — perform, reform and transform. Firstly, he focused on performing — implementing practical solutions across four pillars:

1. Establishing South Asia's first free standing comprehensive Breast Unit and introducing the “Breast Centre” concept in India.
2. Creating and nurturing a national breast cancer advocacy movement.
3. Implementing a population-based screening programme in the region, which is now being rolled out nationwide by the Government of India under the auspices of the National Health Mission.
4. Bringing together breast surgeons under one umbrella organisation: the Association of Breast Surgeons of India. This organisation is paving the path to standardising and raising the quality of breast cancer care across the country.

Sustained performance across these four pillars has enabled system reform, influencing policy, training, early detection practices and professional standards. Ultimately, these reforms have helped transform the landscape of breast cancer care in India.

Join us to hear how one surgeon’s vision and leadership have helped to reshape breast cancer care for millions of women across India.

Dr Raghu Ram Pillarisetti (OBE) is a renowned breast surgeon from India who has received many prestigious awards for his work improving breast healthcare, including the Padma Shri and Dr. B.C. Roy National Award. He established South Asia's first dedicated breast health center in Hyderabad and the Ushalakshmi Breast Cancer Foundation to promote breast cancer awareness and screening. Through his clinical leadership and advocacy, Dr. Pillarisetti works to establish breast surgery as a recognised specialty in India and to elevate national standards of breast cancer care to align with global best practices.

Miss Rachel Hargest is a Senior Clinical Lecturer at the University of Cardiff, Consultant Surgeon, and Co-Director of the Global Surgery Policy Unit. She is a council member and former trustee of the Royal College of Surgeons of England and Royal Society of Medicine. She has won multiple awards for excellence in both clinical practice (BMJ Gastroenterology team of the year award 2015, NHS Wales award for improving patient care 2011) and training (Silver Scalpel 2017, FST Medal 2019).

Dr Martilord Ifeanyichi is a medical doctor, health systems economist, and pharmaco-economist. He currently works as an Assistant Professorial Research Fellow at LSE Health. His research interest lies in the economics and dynamic complexities of surgical systems in low and middle-income countries, and he possesses extensive field experience in conducting empirical hospital- and community-level studies in sub-Saharan Africa. He has published in the International Journal of Health Policy and Management (IJHPM), BMC Health Services Research, BMJ Global Health, Journal of Global Health, PLOS ONE, and BMJ Quality & Safety.

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