Bridging the divide: A year of global collaboration in cancer care
The Columbia HICCC Cancer Series fosters a direct exchange of life-saving insights between doctors from India and the U.S., ensuring that a breakthrough in New York or a clinical innovation in Mumbai can benefit patients thousands of miles away.
Cancer has emerged as one of India’s most formidable health challenges, with over one million new cases reported annually.1 With nearly half of these cases diagnosed at advanced stages, the pressure on the healthcare system is immense.2 Simultaneously, the United States is navigating its own rising burden of breast, colorectal, and pancreatic cancers,3 requiring doctors to stay ahead of the rapidly evolving curve of precision medicine.
Recognizing this, Columbia Global Center Mumbai and Columbia University’s Herbert Irving Comprehensive Cancer Center (HICCC) joined forces with India’s premier cancer institutes, Tata Memorial Centre and the Rajiv Gandhi Cancer Institute & Research Centre, to launch a series of cross-border dialogues on cutting edge cancer research and lessons between India and the U.S.
Titled as the Columbia HICCC Cancer Series, the webinars kicked off in December 2024 as part of the center's ongoing Joint Cancer Education and Research initiative. The series brings together veteran specialists and the next generation of oncologists to foster a direct exchange of life-saving insights, ensuring that a breakthrough in New York or a clinical innovation in Mumbai can benefit patients thousands of miles away.
Insights from the frontlines
Over the past year, the series moved beyond the theoretical to focus on the "why" behind complex treatment decisions. By centering sessions on real-world cases, participants tackled the raw challenges of oncology: How do you sequence surgery when a patient presents late? How can care teams optimize recovery in resource-constrained settings?
Breast Cancer: Led by Dr. Anil K. Rustgi, Director of HICCC, global experts including Dr. Sudeep Gupta (Director and Professor of Medical Oncology, TMC), Dr. Rajiv Sarin (Professor of Radiation Oncology, TMC), Dr. Meghna Trivedi (Associate Professor of Medicine, HICCC), and Dr. Neil Vasan (Physician-Scientist, HICCC), highlighted that transforming breast cancer care globally hinges on increasing access to genetic testing, improving early diagnosis, and developing affordable treatment pathways.
Head and Neck Cancer: Experts Dr. Sudhir Nair, Head of Surgical Oncology at ACTREC; Dr Shwetabh Sinha, Associate Professor of Radiation Oncology at ACTREC; Dr Luqman Dad, Assistant Professor of Radiation Oncology at Columbia; and Dr AK Dewan, Director of Surgical Oncology at RGCIRC, emphasized that the first-line treatment plan is the most critical window for survival, noting that 70% to 85% of recurrences are local, and only 10% of those can be salvaged with curative intent.
Pancreatic Cancer:. Dr Gulam Manji, Director of GI Medical Oncology at Columbia; Dr Jaskaran Sethi, Chief of GI and Hepatobiliary Radiation Oncology at RGCIRC; and Dr Manish Bhandare, Professor of Hepatobiliary and Pancreatic Surgery at ACTREC debated how radiation strategies like hypofractionation, weighing how shorter, more intense courses of treatment for pancreatic cancer can improve patient access without sacrificing outcomes in resource-constrained settings.
Colorectal Cancer: Dr. Anbarasan Sekar of ACTREC, Dr. Jaskaran Sethi of RGCIRC and Dr. Ravi Kiran Pokala, Co-director of the Global Center for Integrated Colorectal Surgery and IBD Interventional Endoscopy at NewYork-Presbyterian/Columbia University Irving Medical Center, explored the role of circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) as a prognostic powerhouse given its strong association with recurrence risk after surgery.
As the initiative grows, it aims to integrate more leading institutes to enable collaborations and shared learnings to build capacities of the next generation of doctors between India and the U.S., fostering breakthroughs in cancer care.
Sources:
Sathishkumar, K., Chaturvedi, M., Das, P., Stephen, S., & Mathur, P. (2022). Cancer incidence estimates for 2022 and projection for 2025: Results from the National Cancer Registry Programme, India. Indian Journal of Medical Research, 156(4–5), 598–607. https://doi.org/10.4103/ijmr.ijmr_1821_22
Shaji, A., Pavithran, K., Vijaykumar, D. K., & Sauvaget, C. (2023). Analysis of the mortality trends of 23 major cancers in the Indian population between 2000 and 2019: A Joinpoint regression analysis. JCO Global Oncology, 9, e2200405. https://doi.org/10.1200/GO.22.00405