Centre for Women's and Child Health: Care Across the Life Course at IIT Madras

Centre for Women's & Child's Health

Objective

• To reduce the burden of preventable maternal and neonatal mortality, especially in regions with poor access to specialized care and interventions, Early detection revolution: detect fetal anomalies and growth deviations earlier than conventional methods through advanced imaging and predictive modeling, Precision risk assessment: refine risk stratification for preterm birth, fetal neurodevelopmental delay, and congenital heart disease using data-driven approaches, Comprehensive childhood solutions: deploy technological solutions for malnutrition and diseases, spanning prevention, detection, intervention, and monitoring throughout childhood, To establish an integrated translational breast cancer precision oncology platform combining advanced preclinical modeling, real-time imaging, molecular profiling, circulating tumor cell analysis, and clinical validation for early detection, metastasis monitoring, and personalized therapeutic development, Comprehensive and normative musculoskeletal health biomarker profiling of perimenopausal and menopausal women across knee, hip and spine, Redefining breast MRI through normative Indian atlases and contralateral risk assessment in unilateral breast cancer

Description

• The Centre for Women's and Child Health at IIT Madras addresses women's health across three life stages through integrated clinical care, research and evidence-based intervention. Its young-age programme covers fetal cardiac imaging AI, digital twins of structurally abnormal fetal hearts, behavioural psychosis pre-screening and a fortified salt trial in diabetes; its middle-age programme builds a translational breast cancer precision oncology platform; and its elderly programme develops normative musculoskeletal and breast MRI atlases for Indian women.

Impact

• Earlier detection, with AI flagging fetal structural anomalies at 18-22 weeks to enable earlier intervention and counselling, and automated pipelines removing the need for an expert paediatric cardiologist at the point of scan in low-resource settings, Indian normative Z-score data eliminating reliance on Western reference standards, with 3-5 times faster reporting, Virtual surgical planning that reduces operative mortality in complex congenital heart disease and provides simulation environments for training paediatric cardiac surgeons, Identification of individuals at ultra-high risk of psychosis before a psychotic break, with targeted screening addressing the gender gap in psychosis recognition and care access, A low-cost, scalable fortified salt intervention addressing concurrent zinc, vitamin D, B12 and iodine deficiencies prevalent in Indian diabetic populations, with results able to inform FSSAI and ICMR guidelines, Early detection and precision care in women's cancer leading to improved survival and reduced metastatic burden, addressing underrepresentation by building India-specific genomic and epigenetic data, A first-in-world normative bilateral breast MRI atlas for Indian women, and predictive models identifying perimenopausal and menopausal individuals at elevated risk of rapid joint degeneration, Protection of women as key caregivers and reduction of the economic burden of advanced disease, preventing treatment-driven financial distress