Lucky are those who depart while doing the work they love most.

Such is the story of Dr. Anita Borges—a towering figure in Indian Oncopathology, whose sudden passing while teaching in Gorakhpur is both heartbreaking and profound. She left this world as she lived it—immersed in her craft, with no pain, in the service of knowledge and healing.

I, Dr. AVS Suresh, was privileged to have known her closely for over two decades. Ours was a professional relationship of calls at odd hours, discussions on perplexing cases, and shared battles against cancer’s cruelty. For 20 years, we went back and forth—sometimes with urgency, sometimes with reflection—but always with the singular goal of saving patients and shaping better doctors.

What made Dr. Borges extraordinary was not only her intellect, which was unmatched, but her humility. She had the rare ability to see beyond the microscope—to understand not just the disease, but the human being behind every slide. In our interactions, I often saw her push boundaries of conventional thought, gently guiding us to re-examine, to question, and to find answers where others saw only dead ends.

She was a teacher in the truest sense. Her lectures were not merely about pathology—they were about life, about resilience, about the dignity of science practiced with compassion. The countless doctors she mentored, myself included, carry her voice in their conscience whenever faced with a difficult decision.

To the patients whose lives were saved because of her wisdom, she remains an unseen savior. To the students she shaped, she is a guiding light. And to colleagues like me, she is a permanent impression etched into the soul—a reminder that medicine is not just about knowledge, but about purpose and humanity.

Dr. Anita Borges did not just live a life—she lived a calling. She departed in the very act she cherished most: teaching. There could not have been a nobler farewell.

May her legacy continue to inspire every oncologist, every pathologist, every doctor who dares to believe that one life, lived with passion and conviction, can ripple across generations.

Rest in peace, dear teacher, colleague, and friend.

— Dr. AVS Suresh