Professor Harshal Nandurkar, a Melbourne haematologist, has been appointed to the Order of the AM for the King’s birthday this year.
Dr. Nandurkar is currently Director of the Cancer Program at Alfred Health, Deputy Director of the Cancer and Medical Specialties Program and Director of Clinical Hematology.
He is also Professor of Hematology at Monash University and Director of its Australian Center for Blood Diseases.
He also leads the university’s Nandurkar Group, which conducts and directs research in vascular biology.
“I am delighted to have been recognized as an AM,” said Dr. Nandurkar India link. “I’m grateful that so many people thought I deserved it.
The Mumbai lad came to Australia in 1986 with a medical degree and later specialized in hematology and pathology.
He then spent four years doing a blood cancer PhD at Melbourne’s Walter and Eliza Hall Institute, Australia’s leading medical research institute.
A PhD at Monash Uni took another four years
“I did it at St. Vincent’s Hospital as a hematologist, but I also had my own research labs,” he described.
He spent fifteen years at the University of Melbourne as Professor and Head of Hematology until 2015, when he moved to The Alfred.
“Clinical work is an important part of what I do, including visiting patients at the Mildura Center twice a month,” described Dr Nandurkar. “And my own research goes hand-in-hand—I’m currently researching the design of new drugs for blood clotting.
He speaks passionately about hematology and the advances we can expect over the next decade.
Describing his area of specialization, he says: “We study blood diseases – cancer, clotting, DVT, bleeding disorders such as hemophilia. Pathologies and biopsies are also part of our practice. We also diagnose and treat patients, and treatment options are changing so quickly that it’s a great time to be a hematologist.
According to Dr. Nandurkar, hematology is at the forefront of innovation. Biologics, simply called “biologics,” must have a significant effect on treatment procedures. These are drugs that are proteins purified from living culture systems or from blood and plasma, and may include vaccines, immunomodulators, or monoclonal antibodies.
In his work, Dr. Nandurkar is excited about the development of antibodies to detect and eliminate blood cancers.
“Progress in blood cancer research is expanding exponentially. A big growth area is a new treatment procedure called CAR T cell therapy.
CAR T-cell therapy is a specialized type of immunotherapy in which the patient’s own immune system is “retrained” to identify and attack cancer cells. CAR T cell therapy, in use since 2017, has been successfully used to treat blood cancers such as lymphomas, leukemia and multiple myeloma.
Dr. Nandurkar is grateful for the research and clinical opportunities he has received in Australia.
“Moving to Australia was the best thing I ever did,” he remarked. “Of course, I have a deep sense of gratitude for India and the foundations it has given me, no doubt. But I feel great support here.
But he admitted: “The US and Europe have great research traditions, as well as greater funding, but Australia is catching up. I like to advise junior doctors to spend a couple of years outside Australia and gain experience.
According to Professor Harshal Nandurkar, MA accolades such as his can further encourage early career doctors. “We hope this will encourage young medical students and young doctors, especially those who have come from other countries, to do great things and recognize that Australia is a fair and just place to work.” The infrastructure is there to support you. If you apply yourself and work hard, success will come. Australia is a wonderful place to be a doctor.