Shrawan Kumar (geneticist)

Shrawan Kumar, Indian-American geneticist
Shrawan Kumar (also known as Sam Kumar) is an Indian-American scientist whose research interests are in molecular genetics, forensic science, biological anthropology, and population genetics. After completing his M.S. and Ph.D. in India, Kumar joined the University of Nebraska Medical Center as a Postdoctoral Fellow in Omaha, Nebraska, USA, in 1988 to work on coxsackievirus murine myocarditis in genetically defined inbred strains. After a year, he moved on to work on Gene|genes associated with hearing loss and kidney disorders at the Boys Town National Research Hospital, affiliated with Creighton University Medical Center as an Associate Professor and Staff Scientist.
While working on a National Institute of Health funded research grant as a principal investigator, he discovered two genes that have health benefits and life-saving consequences. The first gene named Branchio-oto-renal syndrome (BOR), is localized on chromosome 8q using genetic linkage studies, and several mutations have been found in the EYA1 gene. The second gene, Autosomal Dominant Polycystic Kidney Disease (ADPKD2) is mapped on chromosome 4q. Due to the genetic heterogeneity associated with BOR, some families did not link to chromosome 8q, and Kumar discovered another gene, branchio-otic (BO) type syndrome, on chromosome 1q31. More recently, Kumar has been working with Native-American communities, focusing on career pathways related to basic science and cancer education at the Munroe Myer Institute at the University of Nebraska Medical Center.
==Education and early life==
Shrawan Kumar was born and grew up in Calcutta (now Kolkata), India. His father, Fulchand Shah, was a businessman, and his mother, Chowrashi Debi, a housewife. His parents' three mantras—helping the needy, being an honest person, and focusing on education—were instrumental in shaping Kumar’s overall personality and his future goals. While Kumar was finishing his undergraduate degree from Calcutta University in 1972, he showed a keen interest in acting in the late seventies and eighties and appeared in several stage plays [./Https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Shrawan_Kumar_Tamrapatra_1979.jpg] at the Kolkata-based Indian theater Anamika Kala Sangam. 
Because of the lack of future opportunities in the acting field in those days, he decided to focus on education. He briefly joined Calcutta Homeopathic Medical College, but he left after two years and completed master's degrees in genetics and biological anthropology in 1976 from Ranchi University. He was interested in medicine (M.D.) but he changed his mind when, during that time, he received a scholarship from the Bureau of Police Research and Development, New Delhi, for doctoral research at the Department of Serologist and Chemical Examiner, Government of India, Kolkata, in Forensic Science. S. Kumar. An application of modified electroimmuno-diffusion technique in differentiation of the bloodstains of closely related animal species. XIth International Congress of Anthropological & Ethnological Sciences. Vancouver,Canada,1983 After receiving his Ph.D. degree in 1984, Kumar continued his zeal to do research and joined the Anthropological Survey of India, Government of India, where he worked on population genetics. He took on a very important assignment supported by the Anthropological Survey of India to do immunogenetic research on one of the vanishing tribes (totaling around 100 individuals in 1980), "ONGE," which inhabits the Andaman and Nicobar archipelago. The Onge, the last surviving hunter-gatherer population in the region, has declined considerably in the last few decades, and the purpose of his study [./Https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php%3Fsearch=onge+pictures&title=Special:MediaSearch&go=Go&type=image ] was to find the cause of their continuous decline. In 1988, Kumar received an offer, to do advance research, from the University of Nebraska Medical Center, Omaha, USA. 
==Research and career==
Kumar joined the University of Nebraska Medical Center as a postdoctoral research associate in 1988. After a year, he moved to Boys Town National Research Hospital, affiliated with Creighton University Medical Center. He was involved in research and teaching medical students and undergrads at Creighton University and the University of Nebraska at Omaha and rose to the position of Associate Professor and Staff Scientist. In an effort to pinpoint the genetic causes of hearing loss, deafness and kidney disorders, Kumar has collaborated with researchers from all over the world. His work was recognized by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and received funding from the NIH as part of a Program Project grant to discover and clone the Branchio-oto-renal and ADPKD2 genes. This was followed by an R01 grant from 2002 to 2007 from the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research administered through Father Flanagan's Boys' Home. Based on his significant scientific accomplishments, he was invited to serve as a committee member for four years at the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders, National Institute of Health, in 2002. Kumar also served on the editorial board of South Asian Anthropologist. Later in his career, he joined Qualia Clinical Pharmaceutical Company, becoming involved in early and late-phase clinical trials. After Qualia Clinical relocated, he then briefly worked in various hospitals in Omaha doing intraoperative neuromonitoring of spine surgery. Kumar is currently working at the Munroe Myer Institute, University of Nebraska Medical Center, to develop career pathways directed at underrepresented minority youth in health and science careers. Kumar participated in a number of workshops and consortia, related to human genome project, among them being: several International Workshops on Human Chromosome 8 Mapping. 
==Personal life==
Kumar lives in Omaha, Nebraska, and is married to schoolteacher Lina Kumar. They have one son and two daughters.
Category:People from Kolkata
Category:University of Calcutta alumni
Category:Ranchi University alumni
Category:Scientists