Cover Dr Nirmala Bhoo Pathy (Photo: Fady Younis)
Dr Nirmala Bhoo Pathy (Photo: Fady Younis)
1 / 1
Lessons on thinking big from epidemiologist and University Malaya public health physician Prof. Dr Nirmala Bhoo Pathy, one of just three Asian commissioners to work on the ‘Women, Power and Cancer’ Lancet Commission report
Professor Dr Nirmala Bhoo Pathy has always been fascinated with how cancer impacts women. That, of course, includes women who have been diagnosed with cancer, as well as those who undertake roles as caregivers for loved ones with cancer and even healthcare professionals and researchers whose work has the potential to shape national healthcare policies. As someone on the latter part of that spectrum, Nirmala observed the challenges that affected women’s advancement in cancer research and policy-making.
“Once, at the end of a presentation I was giving, a very respected clinician from India came up to me,” says the professor of Epidemiology and Public Health in Universiti Malaya. “He said, ‘Nirmala, look around you. These are all women oncologists in the workforce who are all doing well. Back home, my wife manages my household finances. Don’t you think women have enough power?’”
Read more: Women’s health is in the spotlight—but beware companies cashing in on the movement
Above Nirmala is a professor of Epidemiology and Public Health at Universiti Malaya, and a Front & Female Awards Malaysia 2024 nominee (Photo: Fady Younis)
Nirmala is a professor of Epidemiology and Public Health at Universiti Malaya, and a Front & Female Awards Malaysia 2024 nominee (Photo: Fady Younis)
1 / 1
“I told him, this is exactly where equality is different from equity. It wasn’t about how many women were at that conference. It was about how hard they had to fight to get here compared to their male colleagues,” she says. “For many of our career paths in this industry, our distance is the same as men. We probably have the same skills and same opportunities when we start, but our paths are so different. From making sure the fridge is stocked to sending the kids to school and being the one to take leave when they fall sick–those things are also part of a woman’s job.”
On her part, Nirmala never felt the need to stay quiet about the issues that she feels strongly about. After returning from her training in the Netherlands years ago to work at the National Clinical Research Centre under the Ministry of Health while waiting to be gazetted as a public health physician, Nirmala’s supervisor recommended her to be the principal investigator on the landmark ACTION study that significantly policy changes about cancer in Southeast Asian nations.
“It was a big challenge for me because it was an economic study and I was not an economist, but a public health physician with training in epidemiology,” she says. “I told myself, let me say ‘yes’ first, and learn later. I won’t typically accept things when I don’t know how to do them, but it turned out to be the best decision.”
Above Photo: Universiti Malaya Department of Social and Preventive Medicine
Photo: Universiti Malaya Department of Social and Preventive Medicine
1 / 1
After speaking her mind on certain challenges in that project, she soon made a name for herself in international circles. It was not just for her team’s nuanced approach to measuring the financial impacts of cancer, or that the study they led was the first of its kind to adapt a different methodology and influence healthcare policymaking.
It was also her outspoken nature and willingness to challenge convention that got her the right attention from key leaders in the industry. At one point, she was known for being that ‘that loud woman from Asia’, and was eventually asked by the chair of a commission for The Lancet on a report titled Women, Power and Cancer.
“I had no clue what I was getting into,” Nirmala laughs. “I thought we were going to be talking mostly about women’s cancers. But the power aspect became the core theme. It explored the power that we held, or the power that we did not hold as female patients, caregivers, and also as healthcare professionals.”
Above Nirmala speaks to ecancer at SEABCS 2023 about using tools to measure the impact and implementation of cancer support group activities
Nirmala was one of just three commissioners from Asia to undertake the global commission that highlighted the need to integrate sex and gender into all cancer-related policies and guidelines in order to make them more responsive to the diverse needs of women. It also served to help both policymakers and the general public understand the interplay of cancer, sex, and gender in order to identify and dismantle power imbalances and discrimination and create a future in which women are truly empowered to overcome cancer.
“If we look at the international cancer organisations, how many are led by men?” she says. “Only 16 per cent of international cancer organisations or large organisations well known at a national level are led by women. When we talk about cancer drugs, a lot of clinical trials involve men and in the end the findings are inferred to women. We have learned that that’s not the right approach because the way the drugs work may be different. That sort of realisation started emerging across medicine, not just oncology.”
“I think the message is quite simple that we need to have more women in senior positions in the push to promote equity,” she says, highlighting the need for a gender framework to be embedded with training for medical professionals, taking into account the differences between men and women and how that affects their roles in the workforce.
“At the end of the day feminism isn’t about saying that women are better than men nor is it men versus women. It’s about women for everyone. Of course, it starts with women. But we also know that when we start with the women, the ripple effect will go to entire families and end up benefiting the whole of society.”
Topics
Previously contributing to Esquire Malaysia, Expat Lifestyle and Newsweek, Tania oversees digital stories across Tatler’s key content pillars, also leading the Front & Female platform exploring issues and topics affecting women today.
