Dr. Harsh Dhar is a highly accomplished Head & Neck Oncologist with over a decade of experience in managing complex malignancies of the head and neck region. Trained at the prestigious Tata Memorial Hospital, Mumbai, he also holds advanced international exposure in Skull Base Surgery from the University of Pittsburgh (USA) and the University of Brescia (Italy). He is among the first in the region to routinely implement intraoperative nerve monitoring in thyroid surgeries and has played a key role in establishing a state-of-the-art Skull Base Surgery unit. Dr. Dhar is also deeply involved in training young surgeons and advancing oncological research.

Educational Qualifications:

• MCh (Head & Neck Surgery) – Tata Memorial Hospital, Mumbai
• MS (ENT) – Maharashtra University of Health Sciences (MUHS)
• MBBS – MGR Medical University

Professional Experience:

• Senior Consultant – Head & Neck Oncology
  Manipal Hospitals, E.M. Bypass, Kolkata – Present
• Extensive prior experience at leading oncology centres including
  Tata Memorial Hospital, Mumbai

Professional Memberships:

• Member of the Foundation of Head and Neck Oncology
• Member of the Indian Society of Thyroid Surgeons
• Member of the Asia Pacific Thyroid Society
• Member of the European Society of Medical Oncology

Awards and Achievements:

• Gold Medal in Surgical Oncology, Batch of 2017, Tata Memorial Hospital
• Silver Medal in ENT, MBBS (III Year)
• MUHS Silver Medicine in MS ENT
• MGR Medical University Silver Medal in Internal Medicine -Batch of 2009

Publications:

• Dr. Dhar has actively contributed to clinical research, with a focus on Neoadjuvant Chemotherapy in Oral Malignancies. His work supports organ preservation strategies and improves the quality of life for cancer patients.
• Lodha JV1, Dabholkar JP, Dhar H ; Fronto-ethmoid osteoma: addressing surgical challenges. J Postgrad Med. 2014 Apr-Jun;60(2):207-8. PMID:24823529.
• Dhar H, Dabholkar JP, Kandalkar BM, Ghodke R. Primary thyroid schwannoma masquerading as a thyroid nodule. J Surg Case Rep. 2014 Sep 23;2014(9) PMID: 25249001.
• Tuljapurkar V, Dhar H, Mishra A, Chakraborti S, Chaturvedi P, Pai PS. The Indian scenario of head and neck oncology – Challenging the dogmas. South Asian Journal of Cancer. 2016;5(3):105-110.
• Vaish R, Dhar H, DCruz A K .“Beyond Me, Too”. Journal of Global Oncology 2, no. 4 (August 2016) 248-249.
• Dandekar M, Tuljapurkar V, Dhar H, Panwar A, DCruz A K. Head and neck cancers in India. J Surg Oncol. 2017; 115:555–563.
• Dhar H, Thiagarajan S . Anomalous Radial Artery Bifurcation – Case report of 2 cases encountered during Radial Artery Forearm Flap Harvest. Images in Surgery, 2017.
• Dhar H, Deshmukh A. Basic Principles in Laser Surgery -Chapter in Handbook of Laser Surgery, published by Lumenis, October 2015.
• Deshmukh A, Mair M, Dhar H Surgeries for Tongue Cancer -chapter in Atlas of Operative Surgical Oncology, 2016 (published by the Tata Memorial Hospital).
• DCruz A K , Dhar H , Mair M , Stack B . Elective Neck Dissection in the Upper Aerodigestive Tract. Chapter in Journal of ENT Master Class special edition.
• Dabholkar J, Sharma A, Virmani N, Dhar H. Management of benign laryngotracheal stenosis – A 5-year experience of Indian tertiary care setup. J Head Neck Physicians Surg 2018; 6:3542.
• D'Cruz AK, Vaish R, Dhar H. Oral cancers: Current status. Oral Oncol. 2018 Dec; 87:64-69.
• Utility of response assessment PET-CT to predict residual disease in neck nodes: A comparison with the Histopathology.Fatehi KS, Thiagarajan S, Dhar H, Purandare N, DCruz AK, Chaukar D, Laskar SG, Prabhash K, Rangarajan V.Auris Nasus Larynx. 2018 Dec 26. pii: S0385-8146(18)30620-5.
• Thiagarajan S, Dhar H, Bhattacharjee A, et al. Patterns of failure and outcomes in cT4 Oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) undergoing upfront surgery in comparison to NeoAdjuvant Chemotherapy (NACT) followed by surgery: A Matched Pair analysis. Oral Oncol. 2020;100:104455. doi:10.1016/j.oraloncology.2019.104455.
• Dhar H, Vaish R, D'Cruz AK. Management of locally advanced oral cancers. Oral Oncol. 2020;105:104662. doi:10.1016/j.oraloncology.2020.104662.
• Dhar, H., Thiagarajan, S., Yousuf, A. et al. Referral Practice for Radioactive Iodine Ablation. (RAI) after ATA guidelines 2015: results from a Tertiary Cancer Care Centre. Eur Arch Otorhinolaryngol (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00405-020-05946-4.
• Dhar H, Datta S. Experience of treating head and neck cancers in government and private health-care systems during the COVID-19 pandemic: A viewpoint with summary of existing guidelines. Cancer Res Stat Treat 2020;3, Suppl S1:123-6.
• Balaji, A., Thiagarajan, S., Dhar, H. et al. The results of sequential swallowing assessments after total laryngectomy for laryngeal and hypopharyngeal malignancies. Eur Arch Otorhinolaryngol (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00405-020-06105-5.
• S Thiagarajan , A Yousuf , R Shetty , H Dhar , Y Mathur , D Nair , S Basu , A Patil , S Kane , S Ghosh-Laskar , D Chaukar. Poorly differentiated thyroid carcinoma (PDTC) characteristics and the efficacy of radioactive iodine (RAI) therapy as an adjuvant treatment in a tertiary cancer care centre . Eur Arch Otorhinolaryngol. 2020;277(6):1807‐1814.
• Chapter: Elective Versus Therapeutic Neck Dissection for Clinically.Node Negative Early oral Cancer, D’Cruz A K, Dhar H, Vaish R .Difficult Decisions in Head and Neck Oncologic Surgery edited by Zhen Gooi, Nishant Agrawal, Springer 2019.