Faculty Directory

A. Pratap Kumar, Ph.D.

Professor and Vice Chair

Department of Molecular Medicine

Zachry Distinguished Chair in Molecular Medicine

CTRC 40th Anniversary Endowed Distinguished Professor in Oncology

Dr. Pratap Kumar, Ph.D., is a tenured Professor in the Department of Molecular Medicine with cross appointments in the Departments of Urology and Pharmacology, and a graduate faculty in the School of Biomedical Sciences at UT Health San Antonio. He is a co-leader of the Population Sciences and Prevention Program of the NCI designated Mays Cancer Center, and a Research Health Scientist at the South Texas Veterans Health Care System, San Antonio, Texas.

The major focus of Dr Kumar’s research program is to identify molecular alterations associated with development of therapeutic resistance to inhibit/delay cancer progression to reduce cancer burden and improve outcomes for patients. Seminal contributions from his research program include the development of natural products as adjuvants for cancer therapy and molecular marker signature for cancer prognosis. Basic science discoveries from the laboratory have been translated to the clinic. Current projects include understanding (i) the role of ribosomal protein, S6K and histone deacetylases in therapeutic resistance and developing approaches for therapeutic sensitization; (ii) cancer and microenvironment cell communication under nutrient deprivation that promote tumor growth and therapeutic resistance. The goal of these basic science projects is to determine which of these interactions can be exploited as an intervention strategy for treatment of pancreatic cancer.  We use a combination of biochemical and omics approaches in various models including cell culture, preclinical animal models and human cancer samples.

Related diseases: Malignancies and non-malignant disease states of the genitourinary and gastrointestinal organs

Techniques: A host of state of the art cellular, biochemical, molecular biology and genetic techniques using cell culture, preclinical and human explant models are used in the laboratory.