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Krishnan Suthanthiran doesn't do things by half. “Whatever I do, I want it to be the best,” he says. That's why the engineering company he founded in 1977 is called Best Medical International. Today, the Best name is synonymous in the medical world with high-quality products, service, and reliability. And Founder-CEO Suthanthiran is a multi-millionaire philanthropist. Clearly, his confidence and motivation paid off.
It's been like that all his life. Through sheer hard work and determination, Suthanthiran has achieved his goals, often against the odds. Born into a poor family in Dindigul, southern India, in 1947, Suthanthiran's prospects of a college education were dim until neighbors stepped in to help raise the fees. In 1969, the young man moved to Canada, where he paid his way through engineering studies at Carleton University, Ottawa, with a research assistantship from the National Research Council of Canada and by doing casual work such as dishwashing.
Before he left for Canada, Suthanthiran's father died of colon cancer. “Watching my father die left a lasting impression on me,” he remembers. “I wanted to be able to contribute something to help, to advance cancer research and treatment.” His chance came a few years later while working as an engineer at Howard University Hospital in Washington, DC, when he teamed up with eminent radiation oncologist and brachytherapy pioneer, Dr. Ulrich K. Henschke. Since then, Suthanthiran's life has been committed to developing new technologies to fight cancer and save lives.
In its early days, Best Medical concentrated on the production of brachytherapy equipment for the US market but it has since expanded and diversified into a broader range of sophisticated medical devices, now used around the world. As the business grew, so too did Suthanthiran's philanthropy. To pay back the debt of trust shown in him as a young man, he made donations to his home town in India including a school building and many scholarships a year. In addition, he supports almost 6,000 students there with lunch supplement, purified drinking water and healthcare needs. To Carleton University, he donated an engineering scholarship and funding.
Now Best Medical is partnering with the IAEA's PACT in its drive to make radiotherapy accessible to people in low-resource countries within the context of comprehensive cancer control programs. And typical of Krishnan Suthanthiran's can-do philosophy, two Equinox teletherapy units have already been donated by MDS Nordion and Best Theratronics to PACT project countries Tanzania and Nicaragua, thereby doubling these countries' cancer treatment potential.
Education is another subject close to Suthanthiran's heart. “Education is the most effective way to eliminate poverty and promote global understanding and peace,” he says. Never a man to rest on his laurels, in recent years Suthanthiran has set his sights on ever-higher goals, saying he wants to “revolutionize” education as well as healthcare, reaching out to women in particular. “If we're going to eliminate poverty and promote good health care, we need to empower women,” he says. “Especially women in the developing countries.”
Suthanthiran sees the Cure Foundation, Best's not-for-profit arm established in 2007, as the vehicle to help deliver high quality, low-cost healthcare where it's most needed. “Our goal is to manufacture affordable technology and, under the Cure Foundation, set up clinics around the world so that we can provide all people with the good healthcare they deserve,” he says. “Ultimately, our aim is what we call total health: that means prevention, early detection, effective treatment and total cure.”
In the fight against cancer, Suthanthiran believes his aims are very similar to those of the IAEA and that there is much common ground to be explored. He applauds the recent IAEA call for medical equipment manufacturers to produce more affordable, easy-to-use technology suitable for resource-poor countries. And he welcomes the just-launched WHO-IAEA Joint Programme on Cancer Control. His support of PACT's collaborative approach to promoting cancer care and control in low-income countries is demonstrated in the newly-formed partnership between Best and PACT.
It promises to be a fruitful collaboration. The radiotherapy machines donated to Tanzania and Nicaragua, and the comprehensive follow-up support offered by Best Theratronics, are important steps in Suthanthiran's healthcare crusade. Yet in both countries they represent even more: for thousands of cancer patients, the increased treatment capacity means relief, and hope for the future.
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