The Faculty of Public Health (FPH) Universitas Indonesia (UI) has once again produced a doctoral graduate from the Doctoral Program in Public Health Sciences. On Thursday, July 4, 2025, Bob Andinata successfully defended his dissertation on early detection of breast cancer during the doctoral promotion session held in the Doctoral Promotion Room, Building G, FPH UI. His dissertation, titled “A Predictive Model for Clinical Diagnosis of Breast Cancer in Primary Healthcare Using the ‘Probability of Breast Cancer (BOBAN)’ Malignancy Score,” presents a predictive model aimed at assisting the diagnosis of breast cancer at the primary care level.
Cancer remains one of the leading global health problems, including in Indonesia. According to GLOBOCAN 2022, Indonesia recorded 6,271 new breast cancer cases—about 16.2% of the world’s total new cases—with 22,598 deaths, making cancer the third leading cause of death in the country.
The high mortality rate from cancer is driven by three main factors: patient delay in seeking medical help, limited diagnostic ability of general practitioners (doctor delay), and lengthy referral systems in healthcare (system delay). These issues include public unawareness of cancer symptoms, low awareness of early detection, limited clinical knowledge of cancer among general practitioners, and long referral chains from primary to tertiary healthcare facilities.
Addressing these challenges, Bob Andinata developed a malignancy scoring tool called BOBAN, designed to support healthcare professionals in primary facilities to detect breast cancer more quickly and accurately. The score is based on seven clinical variables: age, first-degree family history, childbirth history, breastfeeding history, presence of a breast lump, axillary lymph node lump, and advanced cancer symptoms.
This study applied a mixed-method approach, beginning with a cross-sectional method followed by a qualitative study. The evaluation of the predictive model yielded a ROC-AUC value of 0.920 (95% CI: 0.892–0.947; p-value: 0.00), indicating excellent classification performance. Qualitative findings also supported that the BOBAN model is feasible for implementation in primary healthcare services and has the potential to be used as an early detection tool for breast cancer.
The examination committee included Prof. Dr. Evi Martha, M.Kes.; Prof. Dr. Rizanda Machmud, M.Kes., FISPH, FISCM; Dr. Eva Susanti, S.Kp., M.Kes.; Dr. Denni Joko Purwanto, SpB.Subsp.Onk.(K), M.M.; Dr. Emma Rachmawati, M.Kes.; and Dr. Mahlil Ruby, M.Kes. The dissertation was supervised by Promotor Prof. Dr. Adang Bachtiar, M.P.H., D.Sc., and Co-promotors Prof. Dr. Mondastri Korib Sudaryo, M.S., D.Sc., and Prof. Dr. Besral, S.K.M., M.Sc.
Bob Andinata’s achievement in earning his doctoral degree from FPH UI marks a significant contribution to strengthening early breast cancer detection services in Indonesia—especially at the primary healthcare level, which serves as the frontline of the national health system. (ITM)