Ranjana Srivastava


Ranjana Srivastava is an oncologist, Fulbright scholar and award-winning author from Melbourne, Australia. She is a regular columnist for The Guardian newspaper, where she writes about the intersection between medicine and humanity, and a frequent essayist for the New England Journal of Medicine. She was a finalist for the Walkley Award for Excellence in Journalism in 2018.
She has also written many non-fiction books related to health and medicine, has appeared frequently on TV and radio, and as a public speaker addressing various topics and events.

Early life and education

Ranjana Srivastava was born in Canberra, Australia in 1974. Her parents are Indian.
Her father's occupation as a Physicist meant the family moved around the world living near universities. Her schooling was mainly in India,
but also in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. She received her medical degree with first class honours from Monash University. In 2004, she received the distinguished Fulbright Award, which she used to obtain a fellowship in medical ethics and doctor-patient communication at the MacLean Center for Clinical Medical Ethics at the University of Chicago.

Career

Srivastava works in the public healthcare system in Victoria. She says that her early experiences have drawn her to the care of migrants and refugees and improving conditions in areas of disadvantage. Her own experience of losing twins in utero has led her to a keen appreciation of the need for honesty and truth-telling in medicine.
A regular contributor to the London The Guardian newspaper, she has also written a number of books, including Tell Me the Truth, Dying for a Chat, So It's Cancer: Now What, and After Cancer: A Guide to Living Well. In Dying for a Chat, she writes that increased medical specialisation means that doctors can fail to see the whole picture, with risks for patients from a failure of communication.
Srivastava is a frequent co-host on The Conversation Hour, a flagship radio program on the Australian Broadcasting Corporation Melbourne. She has also developed a podcast series on health and wellbeing for ABC Radio National]. These podcasts include: "The Ripple Effect of Cancer" and "An Illness in the Family". Srivastava has been a health presenter on ABC News Breakfast and has appeared on other programs, including: Counterpoint, Catalyst, Q&A, and Life Matters and the ABC current affairs show 7:30. She has been a regular columnist for the former Melbourne Magazine, a contributor to The Age, TIME Magazine Asia, and The Week.
She has addressed many graduation ceremonies, commencement ceremonies and major events, and has hosted several events at the Wheeler Centre for Events and Ideas. Srivastava was selected to deliver the Errol Solomon Meyers Memorial Lecture at the University of Queensland Medical School. She also delivered a TEDx talk in 2017 in Melbourne on The Art of Medicine.

Awards and honours