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Shrenik Shah: A Wake-up Call for Medical Students on Life Beyond Cancer

Shrenik Shah/triagecancer.org

Jun 10, 2025, 21:47

Shrenik Shah: A Wake-up Call for Medical Students on Life Beyond Cancer

Shrenik Shah, Patient Ambassador and Moderator of Fridays with Shrenik Live webinar at the Indian Cancer Society, shared a post on LinkedIn:

“This is the dream college every medical student aspires to attend. A college that has produced some of the world’s finest doctors; brilliant minds, compassionate hearts, and leading oncologists who have shaped the future of cancer care. And in 2019, I had the privilege of speaking there. B. J. Medical College, Ahmedabad.

The topic? Life after cancer. But the message went far deeper Why India doesn’t just need more oncologists? It needs doctors who truly understand what it means to live beyond the disease.

I walked into a hall full of white coats and restless minds. But what I didn’t expect? The Dean himself stayed from the first slide to the final word. Not out of obligation but intention. For 90 minutes, I spoke. About fighting cancer. About losing my natural voice. About the silence that followed and the louder mission that took its place.

I didn’t hold back.
I showed them the real gaps:
→ In empathy
→ In access
→ In specialised care

Because cancer doesn’t wait for systems to catch up. It doesn’t pause for paperwork. And India has just 1 oncologist for every 2,000+ cancer patients. In rural belts, it’s worse. Yet most students choose what’s “safe.” What’s “predictable.” What’s “scalable.”

So I asked them: What if you chose differently? What if you became the doctor who helps someone live after cancer, not just survive it? That day, something shifted. That talk was later featured twice by the college. Because it wasn’t just a guest lecture. It was a wake-up call. We don’t just need degrees in oncology. We need devotion in it. And unless we make it aspirational today, we’ll keep losing lives tomorrow. Not every stage needs a mic. Not every message needs a voice. Sometimes, it just needs to be felt.

And that day, I saw it. In the eyes of every student in that room.”