Dr Ramakant Deshpande is presently the chief of thoracic surgical oncology at the Asian Institute of Oncology (S L Raheja Hospital, Mumbai). Formerly he was at the Tata Memorial Hospital as the chief of thoracic services till 2002. He graduated from Karnataka Medical College, Hubli and completed his post-graduation at the Tata Memorial Hospital, Mumbai. He was later trained at the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Centre and began his career at the Bangalore Kidwai Cancer Centre in 1982. He joined the Tata Memorial Hospital on staff from 1985 2002.He has over 50 publications to his credit in national and international journals including chapters on management of cancer in lung in the Textbook of Cancer published by the National Book Trust of India. He was the first person to introduce thoracoscopic surgery at the Tata Memorial Hospital. His interest is management of cancers in esophagus and lung.