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www.desitalk.com – that’s all you need to know INDIA 7 CITY VIEWS June 27, 2025 Suresh Mohan Took His Surgical Skills To Ukraine—And Left With Newfound Appreciation I n August 2024, the war in Ukraine had been raging for over two years. Besides following the developments from afar, Suresh Mohan, MD, a facial plastic and reconstructive surgeon at Yale School of Medicine, felt little personal connection to the country. But that changed when a group of surgeons from Ukraine visited Mohan’s operating room at Yale New Haven Hospital to observe advanced surgical techniques. For Mohan, their arrival and the time he spent with them hearing their stories connected him to the far-away conflict. Less than a year later, in April, Mohan traveled to Lviv, Ukraine to treat war injuries and share his expertise. He was prompted by an unexpected email in Janu- ary 2025—an appeal for volunteers, like Mohan, with expertise in microvascular surgery to visit Lviv. Mohan had reservations; the trip could be dangerous, and it was coming up fast, scheduled for the spring. But he felt compelled to respond. “As a physician, it’s really hard to hear someone ask for help and say no,” he says. One of the doctors helping coordinate the trip was Volodymyr Vovk, MD, PhD, a Ukrainian surgeon who had visited Yale in August and with whomMohan stayed in touch. Soon enough, Mohan found himself on a planning committee messaging thread, where he connected with doctors who had been to Ukraine before. After getting the final word of approval from his spouse and kids, Mohan set his mind on the trip. He returned in early May, having glimpsed life and medicine amidst war. Here’s his account of how the expe- rience unfolded. THIRTEEN SURGERIES OVER 4,000 MILES AWAY The trip, funded by Doctors United for Ukraine—a non-profit formed by doctors at Yale that delivers medi- cal aid—would be just eight days, during which Mohan would both perform surgeries and teach the surgeons in Lviv how to do them. He was to be hosted by Superhu- mans Center in Lviv, Ukraine, which specializes in treat- ing and rehabilitating war victims with either extremity or facial trauma. For each of the 13 planned surgeries, the physicians in both countries had three to four Zoom calls, during which the surgeons in Lviv shared pictures and details of every case. Together, the doctors came up with detailed plans. On April 25, having flown his parents from Ann Arbor, Mich. to his home in Connecticut to help his wife with childcare, and having gathered necessary surgical equip- ment, Mohan and two other facial plastic surgeons—Ro- man Bukachevsky, MD, from California and John Frodel, MD, from NewYork—flew to Krakow, Poland. From there, it was a three-hour journey by road across the Ukrainian border. Driving into Lviv, Mohan was struck by signs of nor- mal life peppered with unmistakable hints of the danger that lurked not far away. Even the ordinary experience of checking into the hotel reflected this, as Mohan recalls. “They said, here’s where breakfast is, and here’s the pool, and here’s what you do if there’s an air raid alert.” Mohan had to put that last piece of advice to use on night three. REPAIRING COMPLEX BONE DAMAGE Over the eight days, Mohan worked with a team of surgeons on a total of 13 surgeries, reconstructing injured soldiers’ noses and lips. The two most complex cases involved soldiers who had lost parts of their jaws to explosive landmines. To piece the jaws back together, the surgeons used parts of the soldiers’ fibula bones, taking a 20-centimeter section from the middle and leaving behind the ends to stabilize the knee and the ankle. They hewed the excised bone into the shape of the gap left by the injury. But just placing the new bone in the jaw is not sufficient; it won’t survive without blood flow, Mohan explains. That’s where his specialty in microvascular surgery paid off. Peering through a microscope, armed with sutures the width of human hair, he sewed blood vessels from the leg bone—which can be as small as a few millimeters—to vessels in the face. It’s a complex, delicate procedure that requires steady hands and establishing connections between the right blood vessels, says Mohan. But it was a success. “It’s been a few weeks since the surgery, and both of the patients are continuing to do well,” he says. To train the Ukrainian surgeons, Mohan had to work around significant language and cultural barriers, but in only a few days, he saw tremendous progress in their technical abilities. During his short stay in Ukraine, Mohan remembers a sense of dread creeping into the everyday routine from a subconscious concern about safety. He found himself admiring Ukrainian health workers who show up “every single day, not worried about their own safety, focused on the task at hand and the people who need to be taken care of,” Mohan says. He has a newfound appreciation for being able to treat patients without worrying about his safety. Even so, Mohan spent part of his last day in Lviv discussing the procedures he would perform on his next trip—which is planned for the fall. Dr. Suresh Mohan is an Assistant Professor of Surgery (Otolaryntol- ogy), Director, Facial Nerve Center at Yale) - (This article appeared in the Yale School of Medicine news site on June 10, 2025. Usedwith express permission fromYale – https://medicine.yale.edu/ news-article/suresh-mohan-took-his-surgical-skills- to-ukraineand-left-with-newfound-appreciation/) By Siddhant Pusdekar PHOTO:SUPERHUMANS CENTER LVIV Dr. Suresh Mohan, right, performs harvest of a fibula free flap for jaw reconstruction alongside Ukrainian surgical colleagues. PHOTO:Yale.edu By RajivVijayakar Actor-Politician Kangana Ranaut Is Brand Ambassador For World Para Athletics Championships 2025 A powerful voice in Indian public life, the actor’s association brings energy, visibility and a renewed focus to para-athletics in India. s Brand Ambassador, she will champion the values of resilience, inclusion, and excellence — the very ethos of the Cham- pionships. Sharing her thoughts on this new role, Kangana said: “India’s para-athletes are rewriting what is possible every single day. I am deeply honored to support them and help raise awareness about their incred- ible achievements. Para sport is not just about competition — it is about cour- age, and I am proud to stand behind our champions.” The Paralympic Committee of India believes that Ms. Ranaut’s voice will significantly amplify public engagement with para sports and inspire the next generation of athletes and fans across the country. Devendra Jhajharia, President of PCI and a two-time Paralympic gold medal- ist, remarked: “We are thrilled to have Kangana-ji on board. Her passion, influ- ence and commitment to India’s athletes make her a perfect ambassador for the New Delhi 2025World Para Athletics Championships.” The New Delhi 2025World Para Athlet- ics Championships will welcome athletes from over 100 countries and is poised to be the biggest para-sporting event ever hosted by India. With Kangana support, PCI aims to “Bring para sports into every Indian home, school, and heart.” Kangana, now the BJP Member of Par- liament fromMandi, Himachal Pradesh, her home district, is the recipient of four National Film awards and four Filmfare awards, and has featured six times in Forbes India’s Celebrity 100 list. In 2020, the Government of India honored her with the Padma Shri, the country’s fourth- highest civilian award. Having made her film debut in 2006 with Gangster, Kangana is also a producer under her banner of Manikarnika Films and also writer and director. She has played three real-life personae—Rani Lax- mibai, film star and politician Jayalalitha and Indira Gandhi as well. Her biggest hits are TanuWeds Manu Returns (2015), the sequel to her hit TanuWeds Manu (2011), and Queen (2014). She has also starred in the occasional Tamil and Telugu film. PHOTO:Prajakta Belekar Kangana Ranaut is Brand Ambassador for the 2025 World Para Athletics Championship.