Award Ceremony - IARC Award for Women in Cancer Research

by Dr Neerja Bhatla (All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS))

Friday 13 Oct 2023, 10:00 → 11:00 Europe/Paris

RC 150 - AUDITORIUM (Nouveau Centre)

On behalf of IARC Director Elisabete Weiderpass and the Equity and Diversity Advisory Group, we are pleased to announce the recipient of the 2023 IARC Award for Women in Cancer Research: Dr. Neerja Bhatla, Professor and Head of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, India. 

 

Please join us on Friday October 13 at 10h CEST for the award presentation and talk by Dr. Bhatla. Please register to this event to receive a link to the livestream and recording of the talk. 

 

In-person attendance will be restricted to IARC personnel.

 

Livestream link: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCw1sEvFsKqLLRmKQdaOSs9A/live

 

Biography

 

For the past 35 years, Dr. Bhatla has led a career devoted to the elimination of cervical cancer, with a particular focus on low-resource settings. Her research has contributed evidence for the efficacy of single dose HPV vaccination and the development of low-cost HPV tests which, in combination with her leadership and implementation, have had a national and global impact on improving access to HPV vaccination and screening.

 

Dr. Bhatla has championed cervical cancer awareness, education, screening, and treatment in remote and hard-to-reach populations, organizing regular mass screening and prevention camps in resettlement colonies and urban slums in Delhi. She built collaborations between professional associations and corporate social responsibility efforts to implement screen-and-treat programs pan-India. She has promoted medical education in gynaecological cancers by implementing fellowship programs and an online training course for gynaecologists.

 

Dr Bhatla is a recognized leader in her field, serving on countless advisory groups on women’s cancers and maternal health (e.g. NTAGI, WHO, MOHFW, ICMR, DBT, etc.). As Chair of the FOGSI Gynaecologic Oncology Committee, she led the development of the first resource-based recommendations for cervical cancer prevention. She was the first doctor from India to Chair the International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics (FIGO) Committee for Gynecologic Oncology and led the 2018 revision of the FIGO staging of cervical cancer.