Meet Nagi Kumar, PhD, RD, FADA

Senior Member and Director of Cancer Chemoprevention

"Every book I've ever written, every speech I've ever given, I always acknowledge the courage of the patients and their families."

Dr. Kumar comes from a family of 36 physicians, including her mother, who is still a practicing OB-GYN at the age of 81.

You might say healthcare is in her DNA.

As for her specialty, Dr. Kumar was inspired to focus on cancer after losing her father to Hodgkin’s Lymphoma at the age of four. Not long after completing school and beginning her career, she became one of the founding members of Moffitt and established the center’s department of clinical nutrition while working as a cancer researcher.

Today, Dr. Kumar’s work revolves around cancer chemoprevention – helping to make treatments more effective and remedying the side effects of treatment. Her accomplishments in research have yielded immense recognition, but she’s quick to tell you that’s not what it’s all about.

"It's not just about me. It's not about egos of scientists. We collaborate with researchers with similar ideas around the country and get them to participate in our work and as a team we develop good scientific projects that we then take to the clinic, where the patient can actually be benefitted.”

As for the future of cancer treatment, Dr. Kumar feels there’s much greater hope than there was 30 years ago. And she couldn’t be prouder to be a part of it.