Faculty & Staff

Qualification/ Education

Experience

Dr. Medha Sugara is currently Professor and Head of the Department of Surgical Oncology at St. John’s Medical College, Bengaluru, where she leads the MCh Surgical Oncology training program (2025–present). She has been on the faculty at St. John’s since 2019, serving previously as Associate Professor (2021–2023) and Assistant Professor (2019–2021).

She completed a highly competitive Vattikuti Foundation Fellowship in Robotic Surgical Oncology (2023–2024) at the Aster International Institute of Oncology, Bengaluru, under the mentorship of Prof. Dr. Somashekhar S.P. During this period, she gained advanced expertise in robotic oncologic surgery and contributed to the development and clinical application of indigenous robotic surgical platforms.

Her earlier training includes senior residency positions in Surgical Oncology at Kidwai Memorial Institute of Oncology, AIIMS New Delhi, and Fortis Memorial Research Institute, as well as experience as a surgical registrar at HealthCare Global (HCG). She completed her MCh in Surgical Oncology from Kidwai Memorial Institute of Oncology, MS in General Surgery from Bangalore Medical College, and MBBS from St. John’s Medical College.

In addition to clinical practice, she is actively involved in postgraduate education and assessment and is a recognized postgraduate dissertation guide under RGUHS.

Areas of interest

• Robotic surgery for gastrointestinal malignancies
• Development and implementation of robotic surgery programs in academic institutions
• Integration of indigenous robotic platforms into oncologic surgical practice
• Surgical oncology education and fellowship training

Field of Expertise

• Robotic surgical oncology (Da Vinci X and SSI Mantra platforms)
• Robotic colorectal, esophageal, stomach, thoracic, and gynecologic cancer surgery
• Surface robotic procedures including RAVEIL, robotic thyroidectomy, and nipple-sparin

Fellowship & Membership

1. Was awarded the prestigious Vattikuti foundation fellowship in Robotic Surgical  Oncology on completion of 1 year course (September 18,2023 to September 18, 2024) at  Aster International Institute of Oncology under mentorship of Dr. Somashekhar SP.  

2. Was awarded fellowship in Minimal Access Surgical Oncology by Rajiv Gandhi  University of Health Sciences in fulfilment of requirements and examination held in  August 2024.  

3. Fellowship in advanced laparoscopic surgery “FALS-Robotic surgery”, awarded by the  Indian Association Gastrointestinal Endosurgeons In June 2024.  

4. Trained in the technique of Pressurised Intraperitoneal Aerosol Chemotherapy (PIPAC)  including indications, technical aspects and safety operating procedures in March 2024. 

Other formal training/certification

Institutional portfolios/ Committees

• Organizing secretary for 3-day symposium-cum-workshop: Innovations in Heath care:  Design thinking & AI to solve today’s challenges, held on 7,13,14 July 2023 at St.  John’s medical college hospital 

• As a member of Diamond Jubilee academic committee at St.John’s medical college,  worked on organizing a session on Inspiring Clinician Scientists- what does it take to  succeed, held on 11th August, 2023 

• IASO- NATCON 2024- member of organizing committee for national conference  held by Indian Association of surgical oncologists. 

Membership of professional associations/bodies

• Indian Association of Surgical Oncology 

• Association of Surgeons of India 

• Bangalore Oncology Group 

• Indian Association of Gastrointestinal Endosurgeons 

• Society for Prevention of Cancer 

Awards and Recognitions

• Invited for oral video presentation titled “Robot-assisted nipple sparing mastectomy on  SSI Mantra” at the Vattikuti Robotic Surgery Academic Symposium: Humans at  the Cutting Edge of Robotic Surgery (HCERS),14-16 February 2025 at Jaipur 
• Winner of robotic surgery quiz conducted during the First Annual Conference of  Association of Robotic & Innovative Surgeons (ARIS), March 2024, New Delhi 
• Awarded first prize for Video case presentation titled Indocyanine green fluorescence  guided robotic transthoracic esophagectomy at the 1st Annual Conference of  Association of Robotic & Innovation Surgeons (ARIS - 2024) in collaboration with the Clinical Robotic Surgery Association (India) and Society for Surgery of the  Alimentary Tract (USA) on 1 – 3 March 2024, at The Lalit Hotel, Connaught Place,  New Delhi. 
• Awarded for video presentation of robotic low anterior resection on SSI  Mantra at the 5th Frontiers of Oncosurgery organized by HCG Manavata at Nashik on  4th May 2024. 
• Secured the third place in the Award paper category during the 14th annual conference  of India chapter of International hepato-pancreato-biliary association (IHPBA) India  2017  
• Certificate of honor for having secured 1st place in Mysore surgical society post  graduate Award paper for the year 2013 at the Karnataka State Chapter Association of  surgeons of India. 
• Secured the second place for the paper titled “Carotid body tumors- A case series”, at  the clinical meeting held by the Surgical Society of Bangalore/ASICC. 
• Invited to present video titled “Robotic excision of functional para-aortic  paraganglioma” at the 15th CRSA Worldwide Congress, held in Rome, Italy, November 21-22-23, 2024 
• Invited to present oral video titled, “Robotic hysterectomy on SSI Mantra, India's  first robotic surgical system- experience based procedure guide from tertiary care  centre in India” at the Annual meeting of Asian Society of Gynecologic Oncology  2024, held in Bali on 29 November – 1 December 2024. 
• Invited by Surgical oncology department IRCH, AIIMS New Delhi, as faculty  to demonstrate Robot assisted nipple sparing mastectomy on Hugo Medtronic
• Invited by RSU Bunda Hospital, Jakarta, Indonesia to demonstrate Robotic  nipple-sparing mastectomy for breast cancer using SSI Mantra Indian robotic  system, on 16th August 2025. 
• Invited by Association of Minimal Access Surgeons of India at the 109th AMASI  Skill Course to deliver lecture on Robot assisted Thyroidectomy, at Sparsh  Hospital, Bangalore. 
• Invited by Academy of Family Physicians of India to the one-day CME on  "oncology in primary care" to Debate on "Robotic surgery Vs Conventional  Surgery", on 15 March 2025, at St. John’s Medical College, Bangalore 
• Invited by the Indian Society of Oncology (ISO) and the Karavali Association of  Medical Oncologists and Hematologists (KAMOsH) to ISOKAMOsH-conference  2025 to discuss on oligometastatic breast cancer, on 24th May 2025 at Indiana  Convention Center, Mangaluru 
• Invited to the First Global - SS Innovations Multispecialty Robotic Surgery  Conference (SMRSC 2024)", from January 19-20, 2024, to present experience  based procedure card of robotic right hemicolectomy on SSI Mantra. 
• Invited guest faculty at the CADISECT3.0, CME on recent advances in head and  neck oncology, organized by ENT department, SJMCH, to deliver a lecture on  Robot assisted thyroidectomy-pearls and pitfalls on June 23, 2025.