ABOUT THE NATIONAL CANCER GRID (NCG)
The NCG is a network of major cancer centers, research institutes, patient groups, and charitable institutions across India with the mandate of establishing uniform standards of cancer care with initiatives for prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of cancer; providing specialized training and education in oncology; and facilitating collaborative basic, translational, and clinical research in cancer with a commitment for data sharing. Currently, NCG has more than 380 member centers, including some of the largest cancer hospitals in the country. Together, NCG hospitals support over 60% of cancer patients across India.
ABOUT KOITA FOUNDATION (KF)
Koita Foundation (www.koitafoundation.org) is a not-for-profit organization focused on driving Digital Health and NGO Transformation. In 2021, KF partnered with IIT Bombay to establish the Koita Centre for Digital Health (www.kcdh.iitb.ac.in). In 2022, KF partnered with Tata Memorial Centre and NCG to establish the Koita Centre for Digital Oncology (www.kcdo.in). In 2024, KF partnered with the Research Society for the Study of Diabetes in India (RSSDI) to establish the Koita Centre for Digital Diabetology (KCDD). KF is working on multiple Digital Health initiatives on a national scale, e.g., supporting national roll-out of ABDM (www.abdm.gov.in), supporting NABH (www.nabh.co), India’s large accreditation body for hospitals, with their Digital Health initiatives.
ABOUT KOITA CENTRE FOR DIGITAL ONCOLOGY (KCDO)
The Koita Centre for Digital Oncology (www.kcdo.in) was established about 2.5 years ago and has made significant progress towards its vision of accelerating the use of digital health tools to improve cancer care across NCG and NCG hospitals. Key focus areas of KCDO include enabling digital capacity building, improving cancer care access and quality, and advancing research and innovation.
Background and Context
Cancer care is changing rapidly worldwide, and using digital tools and technologies is key in driving this change, improving quality, access, and cost of care. Digital technologies are used across the entire patient journey—screening, diagnostics, treatment, home care, and survivorship. Digital technologies are being used for cancer care to:
- Provide tools for clinicians (incl. clinical decision support, evidence-based guidelines, image analytics & AI/ML, personalized medicine)
- Enable integrated care for patients (incl. cancer screening, telemedicine, remote monitoring, medication adherence, patient engagement, and patient education)
- Track quality of care delivery (clinical quality metrics, patient-reported outcomes)
- Share data, patient care, and best practices across health facilities (incl. data interoperability and disease registries)
- Engage with companies to build/test new solutions (incl. research, clinical trial automation, patient matching, real-world evidence, AI/ML)
- Collaborate with insurance companies and the government (incl. health policy, reimbursements)
Key Focus Areas
- Clinical Decision Support: NCG-KCDO is supporting the development of clinical decision-making tools that can help clinicians with better information at the point of care in making clinical decisions, such as Synoptic Reporting for Pathology, NCG Clinical Guidelines automation for driving standardization in care, and Virtual Tumor Board Library for training and treatment planning.
- Teleconsultation Initiative: NCG-KCDO is launching two pilots at TMH that will facilitate teleconsultation calls with cancer patients using an oncology-specific telemedicine platform with an assisted model where a junior doctor will provide a case summary to the oncologist to improve the efficiency of such calls and design the operating model for a national-scale teleconsultation solution across the NCG network.
- Web/Mobile Apps: NCG-KCDO is working on developing (a) the NCG Patient App, a comprehensive resource for patients and the general public to learn about cancer prevention, detection, and care across every stage of the cancer journey, and (b) the NCG Connect App, a comprehensive resource for NCG centers and doctors to collaborate and exchange information across a broad range of topics.
- AI/ML Initiative: NCG-KCDO is working on developing a comprehensive framework to advance oncology innovation through AI-ML solutions that will help promote the use of proven AI-ML solutions across NCG hospitals, accelerate the development of new AI-ML solutions by health tech companies, and transform cancer care by leveraging AI-ML technologies.
- EMR Initiative: NCG-KCDO published detailed oncology EMR requirements and empanelled 6 national-scale HMIS/EMR vendors that have customized their products to meet the unique needs for oncology. NCG also launched a support program—LEAP (Leading EMR Adopter Program)—for eligible hospitals to receive partial funding towards the cost of implementing the NCG EMR. The team is working on interoperability to enable electronic transfer of patients’ health records from one hospital/doctor to another for continuity of care, as well as on standardizing reporting and analytics for operational and clinical performance metrics.
EXPECTED ROLE
Drive programs and technology initiatives across NCG and NCG centers and measure, track, and report outcomes
- NCG EMR Initiative: Build strong relationships with empaneled EMR vendors, assist early adopter hospitals in implementation and validate interoperability between empaneled EMRs
- TMH/TMC Initiatives: Identify key TMH/TMC solutions, complete solution re-design /enhancements to meet NCG needs, and develop a playbook to accelerate the roll-out.
- New Solution Pilots: Support pilots of new solutions at interested NCG centers and support roadmap development to integrate deployed solutions with existing systems
- Project Management & Governance: Institute project management discipline with NCG centers and solution vendors and ensure capacity building for sustainability of solutions
- Outcomes Measurement: Create a business case and performance scorecard for each program, drive rigor in measurement, and publish output/outcomes.
- Team Building & Engagement: Develop strong team with expertise in digital solution implementation and capacity building; Establish strong relationships with internal champions
- Operations & Research: Support NCG internal digital transformation and KCDO organization development; Research successful program implementations and compile best practices
DESIRED PROFILE
Industry Experience and Qualifications
- Professional with 5+ years of experience in driving and managing program execution.
- Candidates with a clinical background will be preferred.
- Minimum 2 years of experience in the healthcare industry with direct involvement in clinical or healthcare technology project implementation and governance.
- Bachelor's degree required; MBA or equivalent degree preferred.
Skills and Attributes
- Proven track record in leading teams and organizations to achieve business objectives through technology implementations.
- Demonstrated experience in building multi-level relationships with clinical and business teams at public and/or private hospitals.
- Strong desire to contribute to social impact at scale with a long-term view.
- Solid understanding of internal/external motivations, decision-making process, and organizational cultures to constructively drive change management.
- Excellent communication skills (spoken and written), strong program management experience, business orientation, and ability to drive data-driven decision-making.
EMPLOYMENT DETAILS
- Position: Full-time project-based position employed by Tata Memorial Centre (TMC) with a renewable tenure of 2 years
- Location: Tata Memorial Hospital, Parel, Mumbai (No work from home provision)
- Timings: Monday to Friday (8.25 hrs.) and any two Saturdays in a month (5 hrs.)
- Leaves and Holidays: 15 days leave allowance every 6 months; 15-17 national holidays (includes weekend holidays where applicable)
- Benefits: Health insurance or provident fund is not included
NEXT STEPS FOR CANDIDATES
Please send your CV to [email protected] if you wish to apply for the position.
