Our Bureau
Washington
An Indian-American physician Dr Geetika Srivastava is leading an initiative of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in collaboration with the White House Cancer Moonshot Program which will significantly enhance access to oncology clinical trials in India. Named ‘Project Asha’, it aims to enhance care and outcomes for cancer patients through joint efforts.
Dr Srivastava, a hematologist-medical oncologist and medical officer in the FDA’s Division of Oncology 3, Office of Oncologic Diseases, brings enormous expertise to this role, particularly in gastrointestinal malignancies. India’s population comprises nearly 20% of the global populace, yet only a mere 1.5% of global trials are conducted within its borders. Project Asha arises as a crucial response to this disparity.
The project’s focus on clinical trial/research training aligns with the priorities outlined in the US-India dialogue. It emphasises training for early career researchers and the facilitation of patient-centred clinical trials in low-resource settings, supported by Indian pharmaceutical expertise.
The project stems from the landmark Official State visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to the US in June 2023, where he and US President Joe Biden committed to alleviating the cancer burden in India. The two leaders announced a US-India Cancer Dialogue aimed at advancing cancer prevention, early detection, and treatment.
Prior to her tenure at the FDA starting in 2022, Dr Srivastava served as the Oncology Section Chief at Memorial Hospital, University of Colorado in Colorado Springs. She received her medical training at the prestigious All India Institute of Medical Sciences in New Delhi before pursuing a Master of Epidemiology degree at the University of Texas, Houston.
Her professional journey also included a stint as a graduate assistant at the renowned MD Anderson Cancer Center, followed by residency training in Internal Medicine at the University of Arkansas, Little Rock, and a hematology-medical oncology fellowship at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN.
The mandate of Project Asha involves conducting dialogues with stakeholders to assess the current landscape of interventional oncology clinical trials in India, navigating regulatory challenges, and pinpointing barriers to trial implementation. Collaborating closely with Indian regulatory authorities and the government, Project Asha seeks to expand access to oncology trials and share regulatory insights to enhance global cancer care standards.
