Dr. Seema Rao
Associate Director (Education & Research), Karunashraya Institute for Palliative Care Education and Research, Bangalore Hospice Trust – Karunashraya and Full-time Faculty and Consultant, Palliative Care Training Program for Cancer Treatment Centers in India
Dr. Seema Rao completed her postgraduate studies in Psychiatry in the year 2001 from Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences, Bangalore. Her work in the field of mental health involved working with the vulnerable and abandoned – the destitute elderly, those with dementia, and chronic mental illnesses in Mumbai. She completed the ‘National Fellowship in Palliative Medicine’ in 2013 and joined Tata Memorial Hospital, Mumbai as a Senior Research Fellow in the Geriatric Palliative Care Project.
During her tenure of six years at Tata Memorial Hospital she was responsible for the clinical and administrative functioning of the 13-bedded inpatient respite palliative care facility. Dr. Rao completed her Masters in Palliative Medicine with distinction from Cardiff University, United Kingdom in January 2019 after which she served as a Senior Consultant in the ‘Department of Palliative Medicine and Supportive Care’ at Kasturba Medical College and Hospital, Manipal until April 2021.
She subsequently joined the Karunashraya Institute for Palliative Care Education and Research as Associate Director (Education & Research) which is where she is currently posted.
As the Organizing Secretary of the 30th International Conference of the Indian Association of Palliative Care (IAPCON 2023), Dr. Rao was part of the team that organized the 2-1/2 day conference at NIMHANS Convention Center, Bengaluru. This path-breaking conference focused on subspeciality palliative medicine and explored the integration of palliative medicine into Nephrology, Neurology, Oncology, Cardiology, Pulmonology and Critical Care. The conference was attended by 703 national and international delegates.
She is a full-time faculty and consultant with the Palliative Care Training Program for Cancer Treatment Centers in India, which is a collaborative effort of Lien Collaborative for Palliative Care, Asia Pacific Hospice and Palliative Care Network, AIIMS – New Delhi, and Kasturba Medical College and Hospital, Manipal. She pens her creative thoughts in her blog http://www.randommusings69.wordpress.com.