Dr Nitya Kumar

Senior Lecturer in Public Health Epidemiology and Academic Director of Undergraduate Research (Interim)
nkumar@rcsi-mub.com
Office: +97316660138

Area of Expertise

Quantitative Research Methods, Epidemiology and Public Health Research. Current research interests include determinants of chronic breast cancer and other non-communicable diseases, health impact of indoor air pollution in low- and middle-income communities, determinants of severe outcomes in COVID-19 disease.

Qualifications

  • Fellow of Higher Education Academy (FHEA)
  • Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), University of Baroda, 2015
  • Master of Science (MS), Harvard University, 2018
  • Master of Family and Community Sciences (MFCSc), University of Baroda, 2008
  • Bachelor of Science (BSc), University of Baroda, 2006

Awards and Honors

  • 2008, Research Fellowship Award in Sciences for Meritorious Students, Government of India

Professional Affiliations

  • Society for Epidemiologic Research (SER)

Current areas of activity

  • Lead all teaching in the area of Public Health Epidemiology for students of medicine.
  • Specialism lead for Population Health Healthcare Deliver (PHHD).
  • Module lead for Epidemiology & Biostatistics module for Nursing Year 2.
  • Quantitative Research teaching for the Family Practice Research Workshops under Bahrain Ministry of Health (MOH) family practice residency.
  • Statistics Advisor and member of the RCSI Research and Ethics Committee.
  • Academic Director of Undergraduate Research (Interim) – Responsible for Research Summer School and external research opportunities for undergraduate students.

Current Research

  • Statin use and breast cancer recurrence in United States.
  • Interventions to reduce exposure to indoor air pollution in resource-poor communities in Malawi.
  • Students are welcome to contact me for participation in research.

Previous Research

  • Kumar N, Ehsan S, Banerjee S, Fernandez Perez C, Lhuilier I, Neuner J, Friebel-Klinger T, Fayanju OM, Nair B, Niinuma SA, Nampoothiri S, McCarthy AM. The unique risk factor profile of triple negative breast cancer: a comprehensive meta-analysis. JNCI: Journal of the National Cancer Institute. 2024 Mar 5:djae056.
  • Kumar N, Quadri S, AlAwadhi AI and AlQahtani M (2022) COVID-19 Recovery Patterns Across Alpha (B.1.1.7) and Delta (B.1.617.2) Variants of SARS-CoV-2. Front. Immunol. 13:812606. doi: 10.3389/fimmu.2022.812606.
  • Kumar N, Phillip E, Cooper H, Davis M, Langevin J, Clifford M Stanistreet D. Do improved biomass cookstove interventions improve indoor air quality and blood pressure? A systematic review and meta-analysis. Environmental Pollution. 2021 Dec 1; 290: 117997. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envpol.2021.11799.
  • Mallah SI, Alawadhi A, Jawad J, Wasif P, Alsaffar B, Alalawi E, Mohamed AM, Butler AE, Alalawi B, Qayed D, Almahari SA, Mubarak A, Mubarak A, Saeed S, Humaidan A, Kumar N, Atkin AL and Qahtani M. Safety and efficacy of COVID-19 prime-boost vaccinations: homologous BBIBP-CorV versus heterologous BNT162b2 boosters in BBIBP-CorV-primed individuals. Vaccine. 2023 Mar 17;41(12):1925-33.
  • AlQahtani M, Kumar N, Aljawder D, Abdulrahman A, Alnashaba F, Fayyad MA, Alshaikh F, Alsahaf F, Saeed S, Almahroos A, Abdulrahim Z, Otoom S and Atkin S. Randomised controlled trial of favipiravir, hydroxychloroquine, and standard care in patients with mild/moderate COVID-19 disease. Scientific reports. 2022 Mar 23;12(1):1-0.
  • Kumar N, AbdulRahman A, AlAwadhi AI, AlQahtani M. Is glucose-6-phosphatase dehydrogenase deficiency associated with severe outcomes in hospitalized COVID-19 patients? Scientific Reports 11, 19213 (2021).
  • Kumar N, AbdulRahman A, AlAli S, Otoom S, Atkin SL, AlQahtani M. Time Till Viral Clearance of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 Is Similar for Asymptomatic and Non-critically Symptomatic Individuals. Frontiers in medicine. 2021;8.
  • Al-Hindawi A, Kumar N and Gaynor D (2022) Exploring changes in levels and patterns of physical activity in undergraduate medical and nursing students during the COVID-19 pandemic. Front. Public Health 10:1042071. doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2022.1042071.
  • McCarthy AM, Kumar NP, He W, Regan S, Welch M, Moy B, Iafrate AJ, Chan AT, Bardia A, Armstrong K. Different associations of tumor PIK3CA mutations and clinical outcomes according to aspirin use among women with metastatic hormone receptor positive breast cancer. BMC cancer. 2020 Dec;20(1):1-0.
  • Phillip E, Langevin J, Davis M, Kumar N, Walsh A, Jumbe V, et al. (2023) Improved cookstoves to reduce household air pollution exposure in sub-Saharan Africa: A scoping review of intervention studies. PLoS ONE 18(4): e0284908. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0284908.
  • Stanistreet D, Phillip E, Kumar N, Anderson de Cuevas R, Davis M, Langevin J, Jumbe V, Walsh A, Jewitt S, Clifford M. Which Biomass Stove (s) Capable of Reducing Household Air Pollution Are Available to the Poorest Communities Globally? International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. 2021 Jan;18(17):9226.
  • Moin AS, Kahal H, Al-Qaissi A, Kumar N, Sathyapalan T, Atkin SL, Butler AE. Amyloid-related protein changes associated with dementia differ according to severity of hypoglycemia. BMJ Open Diabetes Research and Care. 2021 Apr 1;9(1):e002211.
  • Liu JC, Ismael AA, Zaidi A, Ban W, Almutawa SE, Chatha AA, Abuzeyad FH, Jaafar RI, Alghanem SA, AlQassim G, Kumar N, Corbally M. Epidemiology of pediatric trauma in the Kingdom of Bahrain: a national pediatric trauma registry pilot study. Injury Epidemiology. 2021 Dec;8(1):1-2.