Kiran Kumar, M.D.

Biography

Kiran Kumar, M.D., M.B.A., is an Associate Professor at UT Southwestern Medical Center. He is Chief of the Lymphoma and Pediatrics Radiation Oncology Services, and specializes in the treatment of pediatric, sarcoma, lymphoma, and central nervous system (CNS) cancers through the use of radiation therapies.

Dr. Kumar grew up in Arizona, where he earned dual undergraduate degrees in biochemistry and health administration at the University of Arizona. He then moved to Chicago, where he completed medical school at the University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine, with a transitional year internship at Presence Resurrection Medical Center. Dr. Kumar followed that by completing his radiation oncology residency at Stanford University Medical Center, as well as graduate school at the University of California Berkeley-Haas School of Business, where he earned a degree in business administration.

Certified by the American Board of Radiology, he joined the UT Southwestern faculty in 2018.

Dr. Kumar’s clinical interests include using advanced radiation techniques such as adaptive radiation therapy (ART) or PULSAR (personalized ultra-fractionated stereotactic adaptive radiotherapy) to improve the clinical outcomes of patients with pediatric, sarcoma, and lymphoma/hematologic malignancies. He has expertise in the use of radiosurgery with Gamma Knife and CyberKnife for pediatric CNS malignancies, as well as superficial X-rays (Xstrahl) or brachytherapy for skin cancers and keloids.

In addition to his clinical duties, Dr. Kumar is involved in a number of research projects, including the use of radiation as a bridge before or early salvage treatment after CAR T-cell therapy for lymphomas, radiation therapy using PROMISE (pediatric radiation oncology with movie-induced sedation effect) technology to decrease the number of pediatric treatments requiring anesthesia, and the combination of immunotherapy with PULSAR for treatment of pediatric cancers, sarcomas, and metastatic tumors.

Dr. Kumar is passionate about medical and patient education, and consistently brainstorms innovative ways of improving patient education, such as audio and visual resources and novel curriculums. He currently serves as Director of the Medical Residency Program, as well as the Medical Student Specialty Advisor and Clinical Rotation Course Director for Radiation Oncology.

“My passion is to discover and use radiation therapy in innovative ways with novel technologies to improve outcomes and decrease side effects in a variety of patients, especially kids. The most gratifying thing for me is seeing a child I took care of several years ago who has now gone off to college or gotten married and started a family of his or her own,” he says.

Personal Note

In his free time, Dr. Kumar enjoys spending time with his wife Rupali (who is also a physician at UT Southwestern in PM&R), two boys Krishan and Roshan, and dog Leela (labradoodle). He is an avid AZ sports fan, enjoys playing tennis and golf, loves cars and gadgets, and delights in acting as an amateur mixologist at social gatherings.