Bindu Sujeesh, Friends of Max (FOM), City Chapter Leader from Mumbai, is our Patient Advocate for April 2025.
Beyond the Brief: Embracing the FOM Mission
Today we feature Bindu Sujeesh. What began as a professional association soon evolved into a deep personal bond—making her an integral part of the FOM core family. Her contributions to FOM’s patient advocacy efforts are wide ranging- supporting Patient Group Meetings, developing awareness and educational content through Pointblank (a communications agency), organising and participating in Chai for Cancer Addas, hosting FOM Trustees AGM at her home in Panvel and supporting City Chapter Leaders in multiple ways.
Bindu holds a postgraduate in Biochemistry from LTM Medical College, Mumbai, followed by a Management degree in Marketing and formal training in counselling. She brings a unique blend of scientific knowledge, communication skills, and empathetic insight to her advocacy work. Her professional path, alongside her husband Sujeesh S, now a FOM Trustee, frequently brought her to Novartis in the early 2000s, where a chance meeting with Viji Venkatesh, Managing Trustee FOM, through a mutual friend, (which she recounts) marked the beginning of one of the most meaningful chapters of her life.
Early beginnings:
Together with Sujeesh, Bindu co-founded Pointblank, and began working closely with The Max Foundation. Through this collaboration, she found herself becoming deeply involved with its mission and FOM’s work. She recalls how her involvement organically grew over time, eventually leading her to become a committed volunteer. Today, FOM relies on her unwavering commitment and active contributions. No Leadership Summit feels complete without Bindu’s heartfelt rendition of “Hum Honge Kamyaab”, now popularly recognised as FOM’s anthem.
Her family reflects her values of purpose and action. Sujeesh, her husband, is not only a Trustee of FOM but also a marathon runner and co-founder of Pointblank. Their son Rohan, 25, is a biomedical engineer working in Germany, and their daughter Priyanka, 20, is a passionate football player pursuing a degree in Sports Management from the University of Arizona. As often as they can, the family makes sure to attend all FOM’s patient centered activities together.
Beyond FOM, she is also a long-time supporter and promotes awareness and action for organ donation.
Her advice to other CML Patients:
“You are not alone in this journey. Every member of FOM is there to support you just like you are there to support others in their journey. FOM needs all of us and we all need FOM. Together we can share and learn.”
