KOCHI: Dr Jajini Varghese, a plastic surgeon and consultant in Oncoplastic Breast Surgery at Royal Free Hospital and University College London (UCL) has her roots in Muttom in Haripad. Winner of the Outstanding Young Person of the World 2020 by the Junior Chamber International (JCI) in the medical innovation category, 39-year-old Jajini is the only one to win the award among the 10 professionals who were nominated from the UK. She will receive the award at the International World Congress to be held in Yokohama, Japan, in November.
The JCI honours 10 incredible leaders and innovators of the future under the age of 40 from 110 countries for extraordinary contributions and accomplishments ranging from medical innovation, business and entrepreneurship, politics and government, scientific innovation, academic or cultural leadership, to contributions towards world peace.
The list of previous recipients include names like John F Kennedy, Henry Kissinger, Gerald Ford, Howard Hughes, Nelson Rockefeller, Anthony Robbins, Benigno Aquino, Jackie Chan and Elvis Presley. After finishing MBBS from MGR University, Coimbatore, Jajini became one of the few doctors to recieve the prestigious Cambridge Commonwealth Full Scholarship to the University of Cambridge to complete her MPhil (epidemiology) and PhD (genetic epidemiology of breast cancer).
Thereafter, her research focused on identifying susceptible women with high breast density and to find out genes associated with breast cancer. Her discovery of the ZNF 365 gene associated with breast cancer in collaboration with Harvard University and Mayo Clinic has helped the medical fraternity in early detection, prevention and prophylactic treatment of breast cancer.
“We were able to identify an SNP locus in a gene. Now, part of a panel of SNPs is used in microarray testing worldwide to identify women who are at higher risk of breast cancer,” she said. She is also a Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons in Plastic Surgery (FRCS) and a member of the Royal College of Surgeons (MRCS). Jajini has been featured on the University of Cambridge’s worldwide prospectus.
She is one of the few surgeons using advanced DaVinci robots and Raman Spectroscopy in surgery. Jajini grew up in Kuwait and used to come down to Haripad once a year, but with the pandemic, she is unsure of her next visit. Dr Jajini is also a trained classical dancer in bharatanatyam, kuchipudi and kathak. Her word of advice to all women? Be regular with your breast self-examination and access a mammogram every three years after you turn 50. She stresses that early detection is key.