RESEARCH TEAM

Dr. Koppiker, is a Breast Oncosurgeon and the Medical Director, Orchids Breast Health Center, Pune. He is also the Director, Department of Oncosciences, Jehangir Hospital, Pune. Dr. Koppiker has a keen interest to explore the translational aspect in breast cancer to pave way for novel population specific management strategies. He is a pioneer of Breast Oncoplasty in India and has established the International School of Breast Oncoplasty in collaboration with University of East Anglia (UEA), UK. His primary interests lie in oncoplastic surgery for breast cancers, translational breast cancer research and TNBCs. He has many publications in national and international journals

Ms. Busheri is the CEO of PCCM. With her passion and acumen for social work, Ms. Busheri is instrumental in making PCCM provide free or affordable diagnosis, breast cancer treatment, patient support, and rehabilitation to breast cancer patients and their families from various social and financial strata. She is responsible for full administrative support at CTCR and also oversees the working of the Biobank. She  initiated the Biobank project with the vision that tissue repositories with annotated  patient data have been proven to be of immense importance to understand cancer profiles and identify targeted and personalized therapies

Dr. Joshi is the Head of Research & Senior Scientist at CTCR-PCCM.  She received her M.Sc from the University of Pune and obtained her Ph.D in Immunology from Rutgers University, NJ, USA. She completed her post-doctoral training at Columbia University, NY, USA in Osteoimmunology with a focus on Leukemia blasts. Apart from regular paper publications her research in collaboration with Stanford Medical School, focusing on the role of Vitamin D3 in ameliorating Th17 Autoimmunity went on to get press released. 

At CTCR-PCCM she leads and manages the research department and the clinical research projects. Her current ongoing projects involve assessing the oncological and cosmetic outcomes of oncoplastic surgeries. She also spearheads various multidisciplinary collaborative projects related to breast cancer. Additionally, she also supervises the capacity-building vertical of PCCM-CTCR including the research projects for Masters in Oncoplasty Program that runs in association with University of East Anglia. She also handles all the activities related to the e-learning platform BreastGlobal and its associated journal as well as the new launched RT-PCR course.

Dr. Aijaz Ul Noor is a senior scientist at CTCR-PCCM with a rich scientific background. He received pre-doctoral training at NCBS, Bangalore, under Prof. K Vijay Raghavan, and at Laval University with Prof. Jacques Cote. He earned his PhD in Biochemistry from the University of Kashmir. Dr. Noor’s postdoctoral work took place at SKIMS, Ohio State University, and FMRI, Gurugram. He has collaborated with renowned laboratories, including those of Spyros Artavanis-Tsakonas (Harvard University), Steven Gygi (Harvard University), Susan Celniker (Berkeley Laboratory) and Cellzome Gmbh. His research contributions are published in numerous national and international journals.

At CTCR-PCCM, his research focuses on establishing a clinical database, breast cancer genomics, and assessing surgical approaches to improve diagnosis, treatment, and patient quality of life (QoL).

Dr. Mayurika Lahiri is an Associate Professor at IISER, Pune. She graduated from the School of Applied Sciences at the University of Wolverhampton, UK. She joined Tufts University, Medford, Massachusetts, USA as a postdoctoral research associate. She later moved to the Department of Medicine, Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center, USA as a postdoctoral fellow. Dr Lahiri joined IISER, Pune in 2008. Her laboratory has focused on exploring the role of genome instability during breast cancer initiation, progression and pathogenesis using the 3D breast acinar model.

Ms. Pallavi Daphale serves as a Clinical Research Project and Data Coordinator at CTCR-PCCM. She holds a postgraduate degree in Pharma Management from Garware College, Mumbai University, Kalina. With over five years of experience in clinical research specializing in breast oncology, including her tenure as a Clinical Research Coordinator at Tata Memorial Hospital, Mumbai, she now efficiently manages and coordinates the workflow for ongoing research studies at CTCR-PCCM.

Ms. Asha has completed her BSc in Zoology from the University of Pune and a PG Diploma in Clinical Research from ICRI, Mumbai. She brings valuable experience in Clinical Research and Data Management, with expertise in handling clinical trial data, ensuring compliance, and supporting research advancements with precision and a commitment to ethical standards. At PCCM-CTCR, she currently manages the Biobank and oversees the clinical database.

Dr. Kainat Moosa is the Publications and Communications Manager for Prashanti Cancer Care Mission. She is a skilled homeopathic practitioner and a proficient medical content writer. At CTCR-PCCM, her focus is on producing scientific and medical manuscripts, book chapters, and protocols that pertain to breast cancer management and oncoplastic surgery. In addition, Dr. Moosa takes care of the Breast Global platform and the journal by developing and managing content, and also updates the CTCR and Breast Global websites and social media pages.

Dr. Vaibhav Jain is a Research Data Coordinator at Prashanti Cancer Care Mission. He has a master’s degree in hospital & healthcare administration from Symbiosis International University and has certifications in Data Analysis from ExcelR Edtech, Bengaluru and Data Visualization from IBM. He has prior experience of working as a Consultant in National Health Mission (M.P.) and in a New Delhi based research organization conducting collaborative, multi-disciplinary studies on high priority global health issues. Currently, overseeing the data within clinical & research databases, essentially updating and managing the databases, and developing Python-based solutions to automate the data management related processes.

Ms. Matthew is a Genetics Data Coordinator at Prashanthi Cancer Care Mission, specializing in coordinating genetic counseling for breast cancer patients and their families with a focus on addressing psychosocial needs and managing grief. She also curates, analyzes, and manages genetics and clinical data, contributing to various genetics-related projects. Christina holds an MSc in Biomedical Genetics with a specialization in Genetic Counseling and is BGCI certified. Her experience in pre-test counseling for adult oncology cases has provided her with valuable insights and the skills necessary to offer optimal patient support as a Genetics Data Coordinator.

Ms. Kuhuk holds a B.Tech in Biotechnology from Vellore Institute of Technology. She works with patient data and tissue samples, curating critical clinical information that supports translational cancer research. She is currently working as a Research Assistant with Dr. Madhura Kulkarni on a project investigating tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes across breast cancer subtypes with respect to BRCA mutation status, as well as studying benign breast diseases. Her work bridges clinical data analysis with pathology-based research, contributing to a deeper understanding of breast cancer biology and patient outcomes.