Center for
Global Health

Scholar

Languages: English (native), Hindi (fluent), Punjabi (fluent)

Bio statement

Dr. Surbhi Grover is an Associate Professor of Radiation Oncology, Director of Global Radiation Oncology at the University of Pennsylvania, Oncology Lead Botswana-UPenn Partnership, and an Adjunct Senior Lecturer at the University of Botswana. She is interested in addressing the growing global cancer burden by focusing on public health endeavors and cost-effective clinical initiatives to improve access to care and outcomes of care in low and middle-income countries (LMICs). Since 2011, Dr. Grover has been working with the Botswana-UPENN partnership, strengthening the oncology program in Botswana. She moved full-time to Botswana in 2014. In her current role, she is seeing cancer patients at the public hospital, conducting research and teaching. She led the implementation of a U54 NIH-funded study focused on cervical cancer and she is involved with mentoring several junior investigators at the University of Botswana through the mentoring core of U54. She has also completed an NIH-funded pilot prospective study studying the impact of HIV on cervical cancer. She has led the development of the first gynecological cancers, multi-disciplinary tumor board, to streamline patient treatment and follow-up care in the country. She currently has a K08 with Dr. Robertson as her mentor looking at HPV viral load as a biomarker for treatment response and recurrence in locally advanced cervical cancer in Botswana, and a U01 focusing on timely treatment adoption for women with cervical cancer presenting to care at the gynecological multidisciplinary clinic in Botswana.

Recent global health projects

Thibang Diphatlha: Testing adaptive strategies to close the gap from cervical cancer diagnosis to treatment in Botswana

This project will test the effectiveness of patient- and system-level strategies on timeliness of care among females diagnosed with cervical cancer in Botswana. The results of this project will yield fundamental knowledge about how to improve and sustain timely cancer care in Botswana, and, if successful, identify strategies that can be easily translated to address other areas of cancer control across LMICs. 

Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic on Timeliness of Cervical Cancer Care in Botswana

The objective of this administrative supplement (NOT-CA-21-033) is to evaluate multilevel factors contributing to timely cervical cancer treatment initiation and completion in Botswana before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. The results of this project will help to generate the evidence needed to mitigate harms from future pandemics and reduce cervical cancer mortality across LMICs.

Role: Co-Scientific Lead (Grover/Rendle)

HPV viral load as biomarker for treatment response and recurrence in locally advanced cervical cancer.

We will study 1) Role of subtype-specific HPV viral load as a biomarker for treatment response after 3 months post chemoradiation for locally advanced cervical cancer 2) Role of subtype-specific HPV viral load as a biomarker for treatment recurrence during 2 years of follow-up after chemoradiation.

Role: PI

Selected publications

BMC Infectious Diseases volume 22, Article number: 95 (2022) Cite
https://bmcinfectdis.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12879-022-07081-3

Grover S, Bvochora-Nsingo M, Yeager a, Chiyapo S, Bhatia R, MacDuffie E, Puri P, Balang D, Ratcliffe S, Narasimhamurthy M, Gwangwava E, Tsietso S, Kayembe M, Ramogola-Masire D, Dryden-Peterson S, Mahantshetty U, Viswanathan N, Zetola N, Lin LL (2018). "The impact of HIV infection on survival and acute toxicities from chemoradiation therapy for cervical cancer patients in a limited resource setting." International Journal of Radiation Oncology, Biology, Physics. epub 2018 Feb 1. doi: 10.1016/j.ijrobp.2018.01.067. 

Grover S, Chiyapo SP, Puri P, Narasimhamurthy M, Gaolebale BE, Tapela N, Ramogola-Masire D, Kayembe MKA, Moloi T, Gaolebale PA (2017). Multidisciplinary Gynecologic Oncology Clinic in Botswana: A Model for Multidisciplinary Oncology Care in Low- and Middle-Income Settings. J Glob Oncol. 2017 Feb 8;3(5):666-670. doi: 10.1200/JGO.2016.006353. 

Grover S, Gudi S, Gandhi AK, Puri PM, Olson AC, Rodin D, Balogun O, Dhillon PK, Sharma DN, Rath GK, Shrivastava SK, Viswanathan AN, Mahantshetty U. Radiation Oncology in India: Challenges and Opportunities. Semin Radiat Oncol. 2017 Apr;27(2):158-163. doi: 10.1016/j.semradonc.2016.11.007. 

Grover S, Longo J, Einck J, Puri P, Brown D, Chino J, Mahantshetty U, Yashar C, Erickson B. The Unique Issues With Brachytherapy in Low- and Middle-Income Countries. Semin Radiat Oncol. 2017 Apr;27(2):136-142. doi: 10.1016/j.semradonc.2016.11.005.

Last Updated: 20 February 2024