Dr Vijay V. Haribhakti

Dr. Vijay V. Haribhakti is a Consultant Surgical Oncologist and Microvascular and Reconstructive Surgeon, with a 30-year experience. He has been a Consultant and Chief / Coordinator of Surgical Oncology at Jaslok Hospital, Breach Candy Hospital, Saifee Hospital, and briefly at the Hinduja Hospital. His major areas of interest include Head and Neck Cancer, Breast Cancer, and Reconstructive surgery, and his experience spans several thousand cases with a high success rate. Dr. Haribhakti’s academic contributions have been extensive, with numerous lectures, panels, and presentations at national and international forums. He is currently an active member of six societies. Dr. Haribhakti has had a distinguished academic career with three distinctions during the MBBS years at Seth G. S. Medical College, Mumbai and University ranks earlier. Following General Surgical training at KEM Hospital, he moved to Tata Memorial Hospital, Mumbai and trained for five years in various capacities. It is here that he got in touch with his major interest areas, for which he took further training abroad. This included a fellowship at the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York with Dr. Jatin P. Shah; Microsurgical training with Prof. Wily Boeckx in Leuven, Belgium; Laser Surgery with Prof. Wolfgang Steiner in Germany and Head and Neck Oncology at the Royal National Throat, Nose and Ear Hospital, London. Innovation has been his forte since long. As a resident at the Tata Hospital, he designed an instrument system for endoscopic assessment of the larynx, which was developed by the Karl Storz Company, Germany. He also designed an original test series for objective assessment of patients undergoing major oral reconstruction, which gained publication in the ‘Head and Neck’ journal. One of his most significant contributions to Head and Neck literature came in the form of an original anatomical study of the adult human mandible and its relevance in surgical decision-making. This was published in the ‘Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery’ journal. In addition to all this, Dr. Haribhakti has designed numerous appliances for Head and Neck cancer patients with a variety of needs. These have reached advanced stages of prototyping and await final production. For surgical management of complex and large tumours in forbidding locations in the Head and Neck, Dr. Haribhakti has devised three innovative surgical approaches, which were presented recently at the largest International Head and Neck Congress ever, held in July 2014 in New York. Apart from numerous papers and articles, he has authored all the Head and Neck chapters of a major Oncology textbook published recently. He has also been co-author for an educative booklet published for patients with Breast Cancer and titled ‘Whispering Hope’. Dr. Haribhakti’s passion for restoring Quality of Life to one and all led him to set up a ‘Quality of Life Foundation’, which is currently active