FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE.

 

For more information, contact:

Elizabeth Maynard-Garrett, APR

UTHSC Communications and Marketing

(901) 448-4957 or

 

Anne W. Manning

(901) 448-4072

 

UTHSC’S KUMAR RECEIVES FOUNDATION GRANT

 

            Memphis, Tennessee (September 2, 2005) – Narendra Kumar, PhD, instructor in the University of Tennessee Health Science Center (UTHSC) Department of Physiology, has received a $141,456 grant from the Crohn’s & Colitis Foundation of America.  Among the top two percent of funded grants in terms of priority, Dr. Kumar’s research will focus on finding new therapeutic targets for treating inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) such as ulcerative colitis, Crohn’s disease and colon cancer.

            Cited as one of the up and coming researchers in his field, Dr. Kumar was recently invited to present his research to a panel of nationally recognized experts on IBD at Johns Hopkins University.

            “A young scientist with Dr. Kumar’s potential is uncommon. His findings to date have been presented at meetings in the U. S. and around the world and have been published in high-impact scientific journals,” said Sean P. Colgan, PhD, co-director of the Center for Experimental Therapeutics and Reperfusion Injury, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, a Harvard University affiliate.

            “Dr. Kumar has become nationally recognized in his relatively short academic career.  The caliber of his work, typical of many of our recently recruited faculty, illustrates the depth and breadth of young talent UTHSC is able to attract to our campus,” said Henry G. Herrod, MD, dean of the UTHSC College of Medicine.

            After receiving his PhD in microbial biotechnology from the Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur, India, Dr. Kumar earned a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Delaware before accepting his current position.

###