St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences shared on LinkedIn:
“This week, St. Jude hosted the Nature Portfolio Conference, ‘Accelerating Pediatric Cancer Innovation: From Research to Real-World Impact,’ bringing together experts from around the world, including members of our MS in Global Child Health program community.
Dr. Venkatraman Radhakrishnan, a 2021 St. Jude Graduate School alumnus, was invited by Nature to present ‘From protocols to populations: Health-system strategies to improve survival in childhood cancer.’
His presentation explored aspects of patient care that extend beyond treatment protocols and the need to strengthen health systems in low- and middle-income countries. Radhakrishnan highlighted progress in India, including the ISCALL: ICiCLe Implementation Study he leads and the population-based childhood cancer registry (PBCCR) he established in Chennai.
‘Everything I’m doing currently is because of the master’s program. Before the program, I was a physician taking care of one child at a time, but after the program, it expanded,’
said Radhakrishnan.
‘It’s no longer one child in a clinic. It’s communities and larger populations at a policy level.’
The Chennai registry grew from Radhakrishnan’s master’s degree thesis and was implemented as his Global Scholars project. The registry is helping address gaps in reliable childhood cancer incidence and survival data.
His St. Jude connection has continued beyond graduation through ongoing mentorship, particularly from Nickhill Bhakta, Shaloo Puri, the Global Scholars Program team, and the St. Jude Global community.
‘The master’s program is two years, but it’s lifelong,’
said Radhakrishnan.
‘The Global Scholars program builds on what you’ve already learned and gives you opportunities for leadership and to implement change. It opened the world to me and gave me a perspective of true global health.’ “
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