Vivek A. Kumar

Vivek A. Kumar (born August 8, 1984) is an American scientist, innovator and entrepreneur. He is faculty at the New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT) and the Rutgers School of Dental Medicine; he is also the Dhiraj Shah Faculty Fellow at the NJIT Albert Dorman Honors College.[1] At NJIT, he is the director of the KumarLab for Biomaterial Drug Discovery, Delivery, and Development Lab. [2]

Vivek A. Kumar
Born (1984-08-08) August 8, 1984
Abu Dhabi, UAE
CitizenshipUnited States
Alma mater
Scientific career
Fields
  • Biomedical Engineering
Institutions
Thesis
Websitekumarlab.njit.edu

Vivek has also co-founded several startups.[3]

Early life and education

Vivek was born an Indian citizen in Abu Dhabi, UAE to Indian parents. He grew up in Singapore where he attended Parry primary school, Kuo Chuan Presbyterian Secondary School for his O levels and Nanyang Junior College for his A levels.

He received a BSc in biomedical engineering from Northwestern University in 2006. During his undergraduate program in biomedical engineering at Northwestern University, he did research in synthetic biomaterials in the lab of Guillermo Ameer, ScD. In 2006, he started pursuing his doctoral in bioengineering with Elliot Chaikof, MD, Ph.D, at Georgia Tech and Emory University in Atlanta, where he was awarded the American Heart Association Predoctoral Fellowship, graduating in 2011.

Academic career

Vivek began his post-doctoral work in 2011 with Elliot Chaikof at the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, a teaching hospital of Harvard Medical School.[4] He continued his post-doctoral work with Jeffrey Hartgerink at Rice University in 2012 till 2016, and was awarded the NIH F32 fellowship for his work.

He currently serves at the New Jersey Institute of Technology as an assistant professor in biomedical engineering, chemical engineering as well as an assistant professor of restorative dentistry at Rutgers School of Dental Medicine.

He has co-authored over 30 peer-reviewed journal articles, over 4 dozen abstracts, co-invented over a dozen patents/applications; and is the director of the KumarLab for Biomaterials Drug Discovery, Delivery and Development. As of January 2020 Vivek has been cited over 1,100 times and has an H-index of 19.[5]

At Rice University, Vivek alongside Jeffrey Hartgerink created a new high-tech hydrogel to aid healing and make natural tissue recovery easier for humans. [6]

Business career

He is the President and founder of startups namely, SAPHTx Inc, NangioTx and Pullup Technologies. During his academic career, he has successfully mentored students who have received notable funding from NIH, NSF and other foundations.[7]

NangioTx, his Biotechnology startup, was awarded the TMCx Bioventures 2015 1st place award, 2016 OPEN prize and was the winner of the first pitch competition at the first Life Pitch Science Competition by Mid Atlantic Bio Angels in 2016.[8]. NangioTX was also a finalist for Mass Challenge 2016-2017 under the healthcare and life sciences category. [9][10]

References
  1. "Patents by Inventor Vivek Kumar".
  2. "Kumar, Vivek A. | BE".
  3. "Are You Ready to Start Your Own Startup?". mddionline.com.
  4. "Vivek Kumar". Kumarlab.njit.edu.
  5. "Vivek Kumar, PhD - Google Scholar Citations". scholar.google.com. Retrieved 2019-09-12.
  6. "Hydrogels deliver on blood-vessel growth".
  7. "NangioTx, Inc.Wins Mid-Atlantic Bio Angels' "Best of the Best" Year-End 1st Pitch Life Science Competition". Globenewswire.
  8. "NangioTx, Inc.Wins Mid-Atlantic Bio Angels' "Best of the Best" Year-End 1st Pitch Life Science Competition". Globenewswire.
  9. "MassChallenge Boston Announces 2016 Cohort". Mass Challenge.
  10. "NangioTx, Inc. Wins Mid-Atlantic Bio Angels 1st Pitch Life Science Competition". 1st Pitch Life Science.
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