Dr (Prof) Suresh VS Attili – India’s Pride in Oncology, Research and Advanced Clinical Care

 

1. Could you briefly introduce yourself and share the journey that led you to your current role?

 

My journey didn’t begin in a hospital—it began in a humble home shaped by devotion, discipline, and quiet ambition. I was raised by a truth-driven mother and a prayerful grandmother who insisted, year after year, that I must become a doctor and create something new. But the real spark came from watching my father, Mr. A.V. Ramana Murthy, a brilliant physics teacher who spent his own salary educating countless students. From him I learned that knowledge means nothing until it serves someone else.

 

Two more anchors shaped my path. My wife, Dr. Anuradha Vutukuru, is the backbone of both my home and my career—raising our three special-needs children while enabling me to build institutes, innovate with AI, and pursue stem-cell transplant research. And my brother, VS Prakash Attili, now Professor at IIM Lucknow, keeps me grounded with one reminder: “Impact matters more than titles.”

 

The first physician in our family, Dr. K. Subrahmanyam (my uncle), showed me what dignified clinical practice looks like. Later, mentors like Prof. P.P. Bapsy (Kidwai) and Prof. V.P. Singh (IMS-BHU) taught me to marry sharp science with compassion. Together, they built the person I am today: a clinician-scientist trying to make complex care both humane and accessible.

 

2. How does it feel to be featured in India’s Pride: Icons Who Inspire the Nation?

 

It feels less like a personal milestone and more like a tribute to the people who made me. If the book calls me an “icon,” I see my father distributing scholarships, my mother refusing shortcuts, my grandmother praying with fierce hope, my wife holding the family together, and the mentors who shaped my ethics. Professionally, the recognition is not a badge to wear—it’s a responsibility to carry. It demands that I stay a catalyst, not a celebrity.

 

3. What inspired your shift into oncology, and what keeps you committed?

 

Oncology was born out of curiosity, grief, and a calling. Losing my father to a blood cancer taught me that cancer does not attack a person; it attacks a family. Watching patients suffer because they arrived late, or couldn’t afford care, made me believe that our fight must go beyond drugs—we must redesign systems.

What keeps me going is the transformation I witness: a child returning to school after a transplant, a mother living to see her daughter get married, a tribal village where screening prevents advanced disease. Once you witness what timely, equitable cancer care can do, “quitting” stops being an option.

 

4. As an academician and researcher, how do you make interdisciplinary learning meaningful, and where do you see future breakthroughs?

 

I teach students to read cancer from four voices: the genome, the imaging, the data, and the patient’s silence. AI, radiomics, genetics, and clinical intuition are not separate subjects—they are one language. When fused well, care becomes predictive, not reactive.

Breakthroughs in oncology, especially for India, will come from:

 

• Multi-omics integrated with AI
• Early toxicity and relapse prediction
• Maternal-early life determinants of cancer risk
• Low-cost AI on existing X-rays, mammograms, and lab infrastructure
• Innovation must reduce inequity, not widen it.

 

5. What inspired you to build institutes and NGOs, and how do you measure impact?

 

The trigger was simple: helplessness. I saw families selling land, gold, and futures just to buy a few more weeks of treatment. With my wife’s strength and my father’s example of selfless scholarship, building accessible systems stopped being a choice—it became a duty.

 

For me, impact is not a headcount. Impact is when:

• A bus no longer travels 200 km for treatment.
• A family doesn’t choose between chemotherapy and school fees.
• A PHC doctor says, “I finally feel supported.”

 

Impact begins when dignity becomes part of healthcare.

 

People often ask why I build organizations and then step away. Because an NGO should outgrow its founder, not orbit around him. That belief shaped every transition at Fight Cancer Global, CCF, and Grace. I never wanted monuments—I wanted systems that run without me.

 

Our work has always been purpose-driven, not fundraising-driven. When MNJ needed a research wing or when Homi Bhabha Vizag needed a pediatric block, support came quietly—without galas, banners, or noise. Even our first major screening fund came through scientific lectures on cell-tower radiation, proving that clarity can create care.

 

My role is to catalyze, not cling—to build, empower, hand over, and move to the next vacuum where science, dignity, and access are missing. The moment PR, theatrics, or group agendas overshadow purpose, I step aside.

 

As for my entrepreneurial journey—people assume organizations are built for profit or power. Mine were built to create pathways. Over the years, I helped shape 18 social-health-education ventures supporting nearly 18,000 families. Some make profit, some run at a loss, some barely survive—and that’s the truth of service-driven entrepreneurship.

Institutions should inspire movement, not ownership. My work is to build possibilities, not empires.

 

6. What is your vision for cancer care in India over the next 10–15 years?

 

India must move from firefighting late-stage cancer to predicting and preventing it. The future is a three-layered system:

• Predictive layer using AI in PHCs, government screening, and routine imaging/labs
• Equitable treatment layer connecting district hospitals to expert protocols and tertiary hubs
• Palliative + psychosocial + financial support starting from Day 1, not the last week

 

If, by 2038, a tribal teen, a middle-class boy from a tier-2 town, and a billionaire in Mumbai all have access to timely and dignified care, then we have built something meaningful.

7. What advice would you offer to aspiring oncologists?

 

Don’t fear complexity. Oncology is where biology, economics, ethics, and technology collide.

Let grief make you better, not bitter. Loss should refine your systems, not numb your soul.

Learn AI and empathy equally. One diagnoses; the other heals.

Protect ethics like an organ. Never negotiate patient welfare.

Stay curious. Stay kind. Knowledge evolves, but kindness must remain constant.