Oncologist with cancer was dedicated to her patients

Oncologist and Clinical Professor Bhuvaneswari Ramaswamy was a champion for her patients at The James and an empathetic caregiver who worked for years while undergoing treatment for triple negative breast cancer—an aggressive disease she’d researched for more than a decade before her own diagnosis in 2016.

“After walking in my patients’ shoes, I understand even more about what they’re going through,” she said a few years later. “I know what it feels like when your head and body feel disconnected. I had heard many patients say this, and I didn’t fully understand. Now I do.”

Ramaswamy passed away in July, leaving a rich legacy as a trailblazing scientist, caring oncologist, mentor to young doctors and loving wife and mother. She was a breast cancer specialist at the Stefanie Spielman Comprehensive Breast Center, chair of the Clinical Scientific Review Committee at The James and leader of the Ramaswamy Lab. That group continues to explore, at the molecular level, factors that affect breast cancer risk, such as breastfeeding and obesity, as well as population disparities and resistance to endocrine treatment.

Ramaswamy was recruited to join The James in 2006 by Dr. Michael Caligiuri, then CEO of the cancer center. “I was immediately struck by her passion to not only be an extraordinary cancer doctor, but also to be an extraordinary cancer scientist,” Caligiuri says. “She made several important scientific contributions and ultimately obtained successful National Institutes of Health funding, something accomplished by only 10 to 15 percent of the scientists who apply. I watched her evolve into an extraordinary cancer physician, and her passing has left a large void in the hearts of many, including me.”

Ramaswamy was born in Chennai, India. She attended Kilpauk Medical College, graduating in 1987. She met her future husband, Chakravarthi Ramaswamy, now a kidney specialist and adjunct assistant professor, in medical school, and they married in 1989. The couple moved to the United Kingdom and then came to the United States in 1995, having three children along the way. Bhuvaneswari eventually completed a fellowship in hematology and oncology at The James and then joined the faculty.

Associate Professor-Clinical Sagar Sardesai, a breast cancer oncologist and researcher at the James, is one of the many young doctors mentored by Ramaswamy. “She was so approachable and immediately made me feel comfortable,” he says. “The coaching and advice she gave me were invaluable, and all of my successes at Ohio State are completely because of her.”

Over her years at the university, Ramaswamy worked hard to increase the number of clinical trials in every area of cancer science. “Clinical trials are the most important thing we do,” she said. “Every drug we use today was once part of a clinical trial, and we’re curing more people because of clinical trials.”

“She was an expert in explaining clinical trials to patients, how it would affect them and the benefits,” says Dr. William Farrar, a retired CEO of The James and the first director of the Spielman center. “She was an extraordinary physician, and her patients really loved her.”

Ramaswamy continued her work until the final weeks of her life. “Her resilience was amazing,” Sardesai says. “I don’t know how she did it, going through her own cancer treatments and still having the strength for her patients, her lab and mentees and her family. She was such an inspiration. We will carry on what she envisioned.”

Ramaswamy would be proud of her colleagues and their patients. “My patients inspire me,” she once said. “They are such advocates for their cure, and they ask so many questions and are so knowledgeable. And they do it because they are women and wives and mothers and they want to be there for their families, for their daughters and sons.”