Academics

4TH INDO-BRITISH ADVANCE MASTERCLASS IN ONCOPLASTIC BREAST SURGERY & BREAST CANCER SYMPOSIUM, 17TH-19TH AUGUST 2018

4th Indo – British Master class in Oncoplastic Breast Surgery and Breast Cancer Symposium was organised at IISER Pune on August 17-19, 2018. Over 300 oncology professionals from India and overseas representing various domains such as academia, clinical, biotech/onco-diagnostics industry attended the conference proceedings. This 3-day conference deliberated on important current topics in Breast Oncoplastic Surgery as well as Breast Cancer clinical management. The breast surgery training involved sessions with live models for pre-surgery mark-ups, surgical simulations, video demonstrations and live surgeries. In addition, parallel workshops themed on Breast imaging, Breast Onco-pathology and Translational research were organised to provide hands on training to participants. In light of the alarming rise in breast cancer burden in the country in the country, a one-day workshop was conducted on the 'Need for Translational Breast Cancer Research in India'. This workshop fostered a dialogue between onco-clinicians and translational scientists to identify the existing knowledge gaps and priority areas to undertake research in Indian population. The official inauguration of the conference took place at the Hotel Grand Sheraton on Saturday, August 18. This event was well attended by mentors, patrons, collaborators, well wishers of PCCM along with the conference faculty and delegates.

The workshop on Breast Oncoplasty, organised by Orchids Breast Health Centre in IISER, Pune, was from 23rd March to 25th March 2018. The first two days of the workshop lasted for about 12 hours, starting from 8.30 in the morning, till 8 at night. Dr. Samuel Leinster, Dr. Zenon Rayter and Dr. Andrew Baildam were the three speakers of the first session, which ranged from topics such as quantitative and qualitative research, designing a systematic literature review, tips and tricks on genetic cancer and prophylactic mastectomy, amongst others. Dr. Jerome Pereira joined in the panel discussion on the first day. The second day consisted mainly of Oncoplastic Multi-Disciplinary Tumor Board, mark-up sessions with live models and surgical simulations, where both the students and the faculty participated. On the third day, the sessions started at 9 a.m. and ended at 4 p.m., with Dr. Jerome Pereira, Dr. Beenu Verghese and Dr. Selvi Radhakrishna being the keynote speakers. The topics on the third day focused on developing and planning a successful audit, case-based discussions on Breast Radiology and hands-on Breast Radiology Workshop. All in all, it was a successful workshop.

The 1st practical training workshop of Masters in Breast Oncoplasty (UK) was conducted recently by us in Pune. The enrolled students underwent this intensive surgical training with surgical simulations on synthetic breast models, virtual live sessions and case-based discussions. Renowned faculty from UK - Dr. John Benson and Dr. Jenny Smith - along with Indian faculty conducted these sessions which were well received by the participants. The current cohort has students from India, Sri Lanka and Indonesia.

Visit by Students of USA : Student exchange program

Students from University of Norway and Penn State University (USA) visited India as a part of student exchange program to Interdisciplinary School of Health Science, Savitribai Phule Pune University. As part of field activity to orient themselves about public health projects in India, they visited Prashanti Cancer Care Mission. The students participated in discussion and demonstration on community outreach activities conducted by PCCM. They visited camps and awareness talks conducted by primary health workers and were accompanied by Professor Anita Kar and Associated Professor Dr. Abhay Kudale (SPPU) accompanied the students

M.Ch. BREAST ONCOPLASTY PROGRAM

Prashanti Cancer Care Mission in association with University of East Anglia (U.K.) is bringing Asia's first course in Breast Oncoplasty in Pune. This unique course will provide budding and experienced breast surgeons with clinical knowledge and skills in oncoplastic breast surgery – a unique technique that allows removal of only breast tumor keeping the breast intact maintaining the aesthetics and sometimes even enhancing it. The program will have eminent faculty from UK and India and currently has enrolled students from four countries. The much awaited program will begin from July, 2017.

12TH BIO-PUNE SEMINAR SERIES : ONE DAY SYMPOSIUM ON CANCER IMMUNOTHERAPY : IMMUNE CHECKPOINT INHIBITORS

12th Bio Pune Seminar Series: One Day Symposium on Cancer Immunotherapy : Immune Checkpoint inhibitors, organised by Venture Center and Prashanti Cancer Care Mission on the 24th June 2017 at IISER campus supported by Roche, Core Diagnostic, IISER Pune, Bristol- Myers Squibb. There were 70 attendees from different sectors which included clinicians, enterpreneurs , pharma industry etc . Eminent speakers from these sectors were there to guide . The seminar was divided into 3 sessions : 1) Clinical Applications of Checkpoint Inhibitors by Dr. Sewanti Limaye , Dr. Chetan Deshmukh, Dr. Sudeep Gupta. 2) Diagnostics in Immune Check Point Inhibitor Therapy by Dr. Maushumi Suryavanshi, Dr. Shalu Verma, Dr. Aarti Desai, Dr. Vaijayanti Gupta. 3) Market Considerations and Intellectual Property by Dr. Ajit Singh, Mr. Sushanth Boda, Mr. Shivakumar

INTERNS FROM AROUND THE WORLD AT PCCM

Last month was a different experience at Prashanti Cancer Care Mission as international students engaged with the organisation for summer internships. We had interns from different backgrounds working enthusiastically on different projects aligned with our goal of reaching out with excellence to breast cancer patients.