# Cancer Institute (WIA), Adyar

Source: https://onco.cc/institutions/cancer-institute-adyar/  
OnCo record `cancer-institute-adyar` (Institution). Data CC BY-NC 4.0, attribute "Data from OnCo (onco.cc)"; commercial use needs a licence.

## TL;DR

India's second oldest cancer hospital (1954), founded by Muthulakshmi Reddy and led for decades by V. Shanta, and the home of India's first population cancer registry.

## Summary

The Cancer Institute (WIA) was founded in 1954 in Adyar, Chennai, by Dr Muthulakshmi Reddy under the Women's Indian Association and built by Dr S. Krishnamurthi and Dr V. Shanta into a charitable comprehensive cancer centre that treats most patients free or at subsidised cost. It established India's first population-based cancer registry (Madras Metropolitan Tumour Registry, 1982), installed India's first cobalt teletherapy unit and later its first medical cyclotron in a cancer hospital, and pioneered Indian clinical trials in cervical cancer, paediatric leukaemia and oral cancer, including the landmark cluster-randomised trials of visual inspection screening for cervical cancer with IARC. It hosts a WHO collaborating centre for cancer registration and the Dr Krishnamurthi college of oncological sciences.

## Fields

- Kind: Institution
- Last checked: 2026-09-09
- Also known as: Adyar Cancer Institute; Cancer Institute WIA
- City: Chennai, IN
- Type: cancer-center
- Website: https://www.cancerinstitutewia.in

## Sources

- Cancer Institute (WIA): https://www.cancerinstitutewia.in

## Connected records

- technologies: [Brachytherapy](https://onco.cc/technologies/brachytherapy/), [Cancer registries and population surveillance](https://onco.cc/technologies/cancer-registries-surveillance/), [Global oncology and access in low- and middle-income countries](https://onco.cc/technologies/global-oncology-access/), [HPV & HBV vaccination](https://onco.cc/technologies/hpv-vaccine/)
- cancers: [Acute lymphoblastic leukaemia](https://onco.cc/cancers/all-leukemia/), [Cervical cancer](https://onco.cc/cancers/cervical/), [Head and neck squamous cell carcinoma](https://onco.cc/cancers/head-and-neck/), [HR-positive / HER2-negative breast cancer](https://onco.cc/cancers/breast-hr-positive/)
- fronts: [Prevention & Risk](https://onco.cc/fronts/prevention/), [Radiation Therapy](https://onco.cc/fronts/radiation/)
- institutions: [International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC / WHO)](https://onco.cc/institutions/iarc/), [National Cancer Grid of India](https://onco.cc/institutions/national-cancer-grid/), [National Cancer Registry Programme (ICMR-NINE, Bengaluru)](https://onco.cc/institutions/icmr-ncrp/)
- people: [Rengaswamy Sankaranarayanan](https://onco.cc/people/sankaranarayanan-rengaswamy/), [V. Shanta](https://onco.cc/people/shanta-v/)
- trials: [IARC India HPV vaccine dose study (one, two or three doses)](https://onco.cc/trials/iarc-india-hpv-dose-study/)

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