Dr Bhavna Chawla

Humanitarian Surgeon

Dr. Bhavna Chawla started her clinical career in the Indian Army Medical Corps as a medical officer in 2005. She did her post-graduation in General Surgery in the Army Hospital Research & Referral, New Delhi; to become a graded specialist. From being a military surgeon, she evolved into humanitarian contexts when she first started with Doctors Without Borders in 2015. She has been working with the International Committee of the Red Cross since 2019. She has done 16 deployments so far- 9 with MSF and 7 with the ICRC in various contexts such as South Sudan, Nigeria, Yemen, Syria, Papua New Guinea, Jordan and very recently in Gaza. War- surgery / surgery for the weapon wounded is her forte and her academic interests are aligned with the surgical pathway she has chosen- surgery in resource limited and fragile contexts. She is determined to amalgamate recent advances with the reality of the field.