St. Jude Cancer Survivor Comes Full Circle

Physical Therapist Surekha Murti-Fehr Pivoted During Pandemic to Working with Cancer Patients

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Surekha Murti-Fehr was just 2 when she was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia. Her earliest memories are of her treatment at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, losing her hair and watching television with her father, Gopal Murti, Ph.D., the retired director of Scientific Imaging at St. Jude.

She was in treatment for five years.

Since her treatment for cancer, she finished school, got married and had children. And she never forgot the gift of life she was given at St. Jude.

She had thought about becoming a doctor and wanted to work at St. Jude, which leads the way the world understands, treats and defeats childhood cancer and other life-threatening diseases. But life had other plans. She met her husband while an undergraduate in East Tennessee. They married after she earned a doctorate in physical therapy and settled down there.

"I really like physical therapy because of the one-on-one you have with the patients," said Surekha.