Dr. Vishal is the Group Director for Head & Neck Surgical Oncology and Robotic Surgery at HCG Cancer Centre, Bengaluru.
He is also the dean for the Centre for Academic Research, HCG Academics.
He is well-experienced in the treatment of both benign and malignant tumours in the regions of the oral cavity (mouth), thyroid, neck, voice box, parotid and salivary glands.
Dr. Vishal is also an expert in performing complex neck surgeries like radical and modified neck dissections, carotid body tumours, other vascular tumours, and parapharyngeal space tumours.
He also has a keen interest in cancer prevention and tobacco control programmes.
Dr. Vishal has handled more than 10000 cases so far.

Training and Certifications

Dr. Vishal is a Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons FRCS (Glasgow), Fellow of the American College of surgeons FACS (USA), Member of the Royal Society of Medicine, fellowship in Head & Neck Oncosurgery from Tata Memorial Hospital, Mumbai.
He is certified and trained in Minimally Invasive Head Neck Surgical Oncology with Robotic Surgery and Laser Surgery

Recognition

Dr. Vishal is the inventor of Aum Voice Prosthesis - a $1 speaking device designed for throat cancer patients.
Dr. Vishal is recognised by BBC, Harvard Business Review & Forbes for his work on treatment techniques, drugs, medical devices and theories. He has over 18 patents named under him for his innovation in multiple areas.
His contribution to the oncology field has been recognised with the Honorary FRCS from the Royal College of Surgeons in Glasgow.
He is also honoured with the Judy Wilkenfield award for Global Excellence in Tobacco Control.
Dr. Vishal is an international advisor to WHO's Tobacco Free Initiative partners.
The other positions held by Dr Rao are, Member of the Union for International Cancer Control (UICC) Globalink - Global Tobacco Control; a Member of National Executive Committee for the Foundation of Head and Neck Oncology (FHNO); Executive Board Member of the State Association for Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, Karnataka and a Member of the Action Council against Tobacco (ACT) - India.
Dr. Vishal is a visiting faculty of John Hopkins University leadership programs.
He also serves as editor of the journal of precision oncology and has over 100 national & international publications to his credit.
He has been a recipient of several awards: Kempegowda Award - highest civil award conferred by the Bengaluru Corporation, the Varshada Kannadiga Award 2018 (Kannadiga of the Year) for his contributions to Science and Technology.
He is also the recipient of the Rotary Vocational Training Award 2016 for inventing the voice prosthesis for his throat cancer patients.

Publications

Role of Adjuvant Radiotherapy in Early Stage Tongue Cancer: Need for Establishing Stringent Guidelines. Rao V, Subash A, Sinha P, Shetty S, Thakur S, Merchant Y, Kudpaje A, Arakeri G. Indian J Surg Oncol. 2021 Sep;12(3):549-553.
COVID-19 associated mucormycosis (CAM) in India: a formidable challenge. Rao VUS, Arakeri G, Madikeri G, Shah A, Oeppen RS, Brennan PA. Br J Oral Maxillofac Surg. 2021 Jun 29:S0266-4356(21)00245-X.
Transoral retroauricular neck dissection (TREND): A novel combination approach. Kudpaje A, BhanuPrakash B, Thakur S, Arakeri G, Rao VUS. Int J Oral Maxillofac Surg. 2021 Aug 7:S0901-5027(21)00245-9.
Decreased Cancer Consultations in the COVID-19 Era: A Concern for Delay in Early Cancer Diagnosis in India. Rao V, Arakeri G, Subash A, Ajaikumar BS, Patil R, Hale B, Amaral Mendes R. JCO Glob Oncol. 2021 Mar;7:408-409.
Selective embolization of lingual artery in transoral robotic surgery for the management of recurrent base of tongue carcinomas. Rao VUS, Subash A, R Bhargavi V, Sinha P, Bagadia RK, Kudpaje A, Arakeri G, Subbanna I. Head Neck. 2021 Apr;43(4):1174-1183.
Are carcinogens electron acceptors? A novel hypothesis. Vishal Rao US, Arakeri G, Subash A, Venkatesh M, Brennan PA. Med Hypotheses. 2020 Nov;144:110235.
Circulating tumour cells in head and neck cancers: Biological insights. Rao V US, Arakeri G, Subash A, Bagadia RK, Thakur S, Kudpaje AS, Nayar R, Patil S, Paiva Fonseca F, Gomez RS, Brennan PA. J Oral Pathol Med. 2020 Oct;49(9):842-848.
COVID-19: Loss of bridging between innate and adaptive immunity? Rao VUS, Arakeri G, Subash A, Rao J, Jadhav S, Suhail Sayeed M, Rao G, Brennan PA. Med Hypotheses. 2020 Nov;144:109861.
The E-cigarette ban in India-A step in the right direction? Vishal Rao US, Arakeri G, Ravishankar S, Kar A, Thakur S, Li RJ, Dhananjay KV, Surya T, Chaturvedi P, Gomez RS, Brennan PA. J Oral Pathol Med. 2020 Aug;49(7):617-620.
Carotid body tumours: objective criteria to predict the Shamblin group on MR imaging. Arya S, Rao V, Juvekar S, Dcruz AK. AJNR Am J Neuroradiol. 2008 Aug;29(7):1349-54.