Dr Ranjana Srivastava
About
Dr Ranjana Srivastava
Dr Ranjana Srivastava OAM, is an oncologist, Fulbright scholar and award-winning writer. She is the recipient of the Medal of the Order of Australia for her contribution to the field of doctor-patient communication and a 2004 Australian-American Fulbright Award to gain an ethics fellowship at the University of Chicago’s MacLean Center for Clinical Medical Ethics. In 2020, Ranjana received a second prestigious Fulbright award and the John F Kennedy Merit Award and a obtain a Master in Public Administration at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government.
Educated in India, the United Kingdom, the United States and Australia, Ranjana graduated from Monash University with a first-class honours degree and several awards in medicine. She has since worked in the public hospital system of Victoria and specialises in geriatric oncology, the holistic care of elderly patients with cancer. She has a keen interest in serving patients from culturally and linguistically diverse communities, who are often disadvantaged and vulnerable.
Since 2013, Ranjana has been a regular columnist for The Guardian newspaper, where her acclaimed writings on medicine and humanity have made her a two-time finalist for the Walkley Award for Excellence in Journalism. In 2024, Beehive News named her the top international health columnist for context and clarity out of a field of 15,000 journalists. The 2025 Kennedy Awards for Excellence in Journalism recognised her with the Peter Ruehl Award for Outstanding Columnist.
Her writing has been published worldwide, including in Time magazine and The Week, and in prominent medical journals including The New England Journal of Medicine, Lancet and the Journal of the American Medical Association. In 2008 her story Ode to a Patient won the Cancer Council Victoria Arts Award for outstanding writing. Ranjana’s inaugural column for the Melbourne Magazine was featured in the Best Australian Science Writing of 2012.
She is also a health presenter on television and radio and speaks frequently on health matters, ethics and doctor-patient communication at graduations, academic and community events. She has appeared at the Melbourne Writers’ Festival, the Wheeler Centre for Books and Ideas, the Sydney Writers’ Festival, the Adelaide Festival of Ideas, the Jaipur Literary Festival and many other events.
In 2014 Ranjana was recognised by Monash University as the Distinguished Alumni of the Year and later appointed a Professor of Practice in the Faculty of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences. Ranjana was included in Westpac’s 100 Influential Women of 2015. Her first book, Tell Me the Truth: Conversations with My Patients about Life and Death, was shortlisted for the New South Wales Premier’s Literary Award. Her second book, Dying for a Chat: The Communication Breakdown between Doctors and Patients won the Human Rights Literature Prize. Her two books on navigating cancer, A Cancer Companion and After Cancer: A Guide to Living Well have been warmly reviewed and widely used. Her fifth book, What It Takes To Be A Doctor: An Insider’s Guide, was a finalist in the Australian Career Book Awards. Her next book, A Better Death: Conversations about the Art of Living and Dying Well, has guided many people at the end of life. Her most recent book Every Word Matters: Writing to Engage the Public, celebrates the art and the discipline of writing.
