Dr. Harsha Agarwal (Ph.D. Psychology, MITBCCT UK) has been recognized as Most Promising Psycho-Oncologist of the Year - 2022, Delhi by BusinessMint.

Dr. Harsha Agarwal is a compassionate psychologist committed to serving patients by listening to their concerns and guiding patients in approaching behavioral, mental, and emotional problems. She is certified, polished, and well versed in Psychometric assessment, Grapho analysis & therapy, and Behavioural Interviewing individuals. 

She has been actively leading patients’ and attendants’ counseling for Pre and Post-surgical cases, Chemotherapy, Radiation therapy, Pain and Palliative care, Myth Breaking, Treatment  adherence, and Bereavement sessions for families. She has also been prescribing psychological well-being sessions among doctors, nurses, hospital staff, and IPD COVID 19 patients, which helped in quick recovery and saved many lives.

As Head of the Psycho-Oncology Department at Rajiv Gandhi Cancer Institute and Research Centre (RGCI&RC), Dr. Harsha Agarwal collaborates with multidisciplinary treatment teams viz. Surgical, Medical, Radiation, and Interventional Oncology to influence patient’s and attendant’s behavior/mindset for acceptance of the disease and going ahead with prescribed treatment. She makes an effort to enable the treatment teams to be active listeners to patients' and caregivers concerns.

The department of Counselling Services was initiated and started by Ms. Meera Khetrapal at RGCI&RC in the early years of the establishment of the institute. For the growing need for mental health support and awareness in patients/caregivers journey with cancer, with the collaborated efforts from Governing Council and management of RGCI&RC, on-boarded Dr. Harsha Agarwal in 2017. 

As the HoD ‘Counselling Services’ , in 2019, she successfully redesigned the dedicated unit to identify psychological, emotional, or behavioral issues and diagnosis psychological disorders using contemporary evaluation techniques, now known as ‘Psycho-Oncology Department’ in RGCI&RC. With her vision, since 2020, Psycho-Oncology Department has started outpatient individual/couple/family therapy for clients to handle wide range of psychological problems. 

She continuously strives to define core problems and determine key strategies for investigating and remediating concerns of clients using varied psychological assessments and therapeutic techniques. She and her team (under her supervision), interacts with patients/clients to assist them in gaining insight, defining goals, and planning action to achieve effective personal development and adjustment. 

She also has a keen interest in research and teaching/training. Her several research papers and writings have got published in national and international journals, and leading newspapers and she has also edited a book on psychology. She is on the peer review board for the journal of DRDO. To date she has trained many future psychologists on best practices, counseling techniques, assessment, and consultation for effective treatment of mental health concerns of clients, before/during/post their treatment to manage negative emotions.

Dr. Harsha’s vision is to create an ecosystem in the society where people can exchange their problems openly without any hesitation and the receptor can acknowledge the problems of patients heartily and provide holistic treatment for the mental well-being of patients,  which enables a quick recovery from physical problems that they are facing.

On a personal front, Dr. Harsha Agarwal has completed her bachelor's (B.A. Hons) from Delhi University, master’ (M.A. Clinical, Child and Health Psychology), and Ph.D. (Health and Clinical Psychology) from Panjab University. She has worked with Bhagwati Hospital, Delhi, as a Consultant Psychologist; Peaceful Mind Foundation, Delhi, as coordinator and later as Director for education and training; Department of Psychiatry, DDTC, PGIMER, Chandigarh as Senior Investigator and now works with RGCIRC and lives in Delhi with her family.