Dr Kanta Kumar

School of Nursing and Midwifery
Associate Professor
Affiliated with Department of Applied Health Sciences
Affiliated with Department of Inflammation and Ageing

Contact details

Email
k.kumar@bham.ac.uk
View my research portal
Address
University of Birmingham
Edgbaston
Birmingham
B15 2TT
UK

Dr Kanta Kumar is an Associate Professor at the University of Birmingham  and Honorary Professor, PGI, Chandigarh, India. Kanta’s work expands across the UK, India, USA, and Australia Rheumatology Departments.

She is a member of the National Rheumatoid Arthritis Society Medical Board and the Founder of NRAS Apni Jung (our fight) against rheumatoid arthritis innovation.  Kanta is the College Lead for Public and Patient Involvement and Engagement.  Her clinical role is based at the Royal Wolverhampton (Rheumatology Department).

Qualifications

  • PhD 2015

  • MSc in Rheumatology Practice 2011

  • BSc in Rheumatology 2009

  • NMC, 1996 

Teaching

Kanta teaches postgraduate healthcare professionals and contributes to developing health service workforce and capacity. She is a Programme Director for the Masters programme that serves International and home healthcare professionals.

Kanta is also involved in setting up CPD in UAE and AFME rheumatology regions.

 

Postgraduate supervision

Behavioural medicine
Impact of Ethnicity on musculoskeletal disease
Long-term disease management
Management of co-morbidities
Clinical improvement
medication adherence
Training of healthcare professionals

Research

 

Clinical speciality: Rheumatology

Research: Behavioural medicine and impact of ethnicity on rheumatological diseases

 

Dr Kanta Kumar - Associate Professor: Advanced Clinical Practice

Hon Visiting Professor, Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education & Research, Chandigarh, India 

Clinical role: Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust

Dr. Kanta Kumar held a position as a Lecturer at the University of Manchester until 2017, focusing her research on behavioural medicine and investigating the influence of ethnicity in rheumatology practice. Her extensive publications in these areas have earned her national recognition and five prestigious awards for her exceptional contributions.
Her research has had a profound impact on patient care, garnering support from key stakeholders, including the British Society of Rheumatology (BSR), patient charities, industry, and the NHS. Dr. Kumar's dedication to improving patient care for those with rheumatoid arthritis led her to collaborate with the National Rheumatoid Arthritis Society (NRAS) and other rheumatology teams across the UK and abroad. An exemplary initiative arising from this collaboration is the "Apni Jung" project (our fight against rheumatoid arthritis), designed to actively involve South Asian patients in managing their disease (www.nras.org.uk/apnijung).


Looking ahead, Dr. Kumar is committed to conducting future research aimed at addressing health inequalities in rheumatology practice, thereby making a significant and positive impact on patient outcomes.

National and International collaborations: National Rheumatoid Arthritis Society, Lupus UK, University of Southampton, University of Sheffield, University of Nottingham, University of Manchester, Australia, India, USA, and Canada

PhD supervision:

Impact of Covid on the mental health of diabetic type 2 patients in Saudi

Other activities

  • Developing innovation within British Society for Rheumatology Educational Committee for rheumatology healthcare professionals
  • Innovating PPIE in the College of Medicine and Health
  • Developing innovation with Pharma Industry in UAE/AFME regions in rheumatology

Publications

Recent publications

Article

Deshmukh, A, Roberts, L, Adebajo, A, Kamal, A, Armitage, CJ, Evison, F, Bunting, H, Dubey, S, Moorthy, A, Reehal, J, Dogra, N & Kumar, K 2024, 'Development and testing of a bespoke cultural intervention to support healthcare professionals with patients from a diverse background', Rheumatology, vol. 63, no. 5, kead383, pp. 1352–1358. https://doi.org/10.1093/rheumatology/kead383

Russell, MD, Gibson, M, Zuckerman, B, Kumar, K, Dubey, S, Adas, MA, Alveyn, E, Patel, S, Yang, Z, Bechman, K, Price, E, Gallagher, S, Cope, AP, Norton, S & Galloway, JB 2024, 'Factors associated with biological and targeted synthetic disease-modifying antirheumatic drug initiation for rheumatoid arthritis in underserved patient groups in England and Wales, UK: a national cohort study', The Lancet Rheumatology. https://doi.org/10.1016/S2665-9913(24)00221-2

Busili, A, Kumar, K, Kudrna, L & Busaily, I 2024, 'The risk factors for mental health disorders in patients with type 2 diabetes: An umbrella review of systematic reviews with and without meta-analysis', Heliyon, vol. 10, no. 7, e28782. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.heliyon.2024.e28782

Tiwana, R, Kamal, A, Singh, D, Misra, D, Usman, F, John, H, Kitas, GD, Greenfield, S, Kumar, P, Ray, C, Bosworth, A, Ahmad, A, Reehal, J & Kumar, K 2023, 'Cultural adaptation and development of an educational intervention ‘Meri Sehat, Mere Rules’ relating to cardiovascular disease associated with rheumatoid arthritis for South Asian people.', Mediterranean Journal of Rheumatology. <https://mjrheum.org/assets/files/inpress/MJR%202023-0104_in%20press.pdf>

Simkins, J, Breakwell, R & Kumar, K 2023, 'Physiotherapists' views and experiences of health literacy in clinical practice', Musculoskeletal care. https://doi.org/10.1002/msc.1800

Adas, MA, Norton, S, Balachandran, S, Alveyn, E, Russell, MD, Esterine, T, Amlani-Hatcher, P, Oyebanjo, S, Lempp, H, Ledingham, J, Kumar, K, Galloway, JB & Dubey, S 2023, 'Worse outcomes linked to ethnicity for early inflammatory arthritis in England and Wales: a national cohort study', Rheumatology, vol. 62, no. 1, keac266, pp. 169-180. https://doi.org/10.1093/rheumatology/keac266

Sharma-Oates, A, Zemedikun, D, Kumar, K, Reynolds, J, Jain, A, Raza, K, Williams, J, Bravo Merodio, L, Roth Cardoso, V, Gkoutos, G, Nirantharakumar, K & Lord, J 2022, 'Early onset of immune-mediated diseases in minority ethnic groups in the UK', BMC medicine, vol. 20, no. 1, 346. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12916-022-02544-5

Mahmood, F, Acharya, D, Kumar, K & Paudyal, V 2021, 'Impact of COVID-19 pandemic on ethnic minority communities: a qualitative study on the perspectives of ethnic minority community leaders', BMJ open, vol. 11, no. 10, e050584. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2021-050584

Ubhi, M, Dubey, S, Gordon, C, Adizie, T, Sheeran, T, Allen, K, Jordan, R, Sadhra, S, Adams, J, Daji, R, Reynolds, J & Kumar, K 2021, 'Understanding the impact of Systemic Lupus Erythematosus on work amongst South Asian people in the UK: an explorative qualitative study', Lupus, vol. 30, no. 9, pp. 1492-1501. https://doi.org/10.1177/09612033211022816

Kumar, K, Arya, S, Nightingale, P, Sheeran, T & Aggarwal, A 2020, 'Cardiovascular risk knowledge in patients of South Asian origin living with rheumatoid arthritis: data from India and the UK', BMC Rheumatology, vol. 4, no. 1, 57. https://doi.org/10.1186/s41927-020-00156-1

Kumar, K, Bradbury-Jones, C, Armitage, CJ, Peters, S, Raizada, S & Wong, P 2020, 'Comparing reactions to written leaflets, online information and real-time Doppler images among South Asian patients with rheumatoid arthritis', Rheumatology Advances in Practice, vol. 4, no. 1, rkaa009. https://doi.org/10.1093/rap/rkaa009

Comment/debate

Ravindran, V, Kumar, K, Bhandari, S, Chattopadhyay, K, Payyappallimana, U, Morandi, A & Gupta, R 2024, 'Can Ayurveda Medicine supplement modern medical treatments in chronic disease management?', Journal of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. https://doi.org/10.1177/14782715241273738

Editorial

Kudrna, L, Lilford, R, Adebajo, A & Kumar, K 2024, 'Peer review of funding applications for health research in ethnic minority groups must improve', BMJ, vol. 384, q274. <https://www.bmj.com/content/384/bmj.q274>

Bosworth, A, Dubey, S, Adebajo, A, Moorthy, A, Arora, S, Salim, A, Reehal, J, Paudyal, V, Gupta, M & Kumar, K 2021, 'Patient empowerment: Apni Jung (our fight) against rheumatoid arthritis for South Asian population', Mediterranean Journal of Rheumatology, vol. 32, no. 2, pp. 93-95. https://doi.org/10.31138/mjr.32.2.93

Letter

Gay, C, Kudrna, L, Kumar, K, Yates, J & Dubey, S 2024, 'The need for effective workplace interventions for ethnic minorities living with rheumatological conditions', Rheumatology. https://doi.org/10.1093/rheumatology/keae563

View all publications in research portal