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, and Co-Director of the Center for Global Oncology at the University of Pennsylvania. She also serves as Oncology Lead for the Botswana-UPenn Partnership and is an Adjunct Senior Lecturer at the University of Botswana. Dr. Grover is dedicated to addressing the global cancer burden through public health initiatives and cost-effective clinical strategies that improve access and outcomes in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs).

Since 2011, she has worked with the Botswana-UPenn Partnership to strengthen oncology care in Botswana, where she has lived full-time since 2014. In her current role, she treats patients at the public hospital, conducts research, and teaches. She led an NIH-funded U54 study on cervical cancer, mentors junior investigators at the University of Botswana, and has completed an NIH pilot study on HIV and cervical cancer. Dr. Grover also established Botswana’s first multidisciplinary tumor board for gynecological cancers, improving care coordination and follow-up. She currently leads a K08 study on HPV viral load as a biomarker for treatment response in cervical cancer, and a U01 focused on improving timely treatment adoption for women presenting to 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: 04 September 2025