Aravind S. Ravi Kumar has deservedly been appointed to Honorary Clinical Associate Professor in the Sir Peter MacCallum Department of Oncology at the University of Melbourne.

Aravind Ravi Kumar

Aravind S. Ravi Kumar has been appointed to Honorary Clinical Associate Professor in the Sir Peter MacCallum Department of Oncology at the University of Melbourne in recognition of his years of service to oncology.

Associate Professor Aravind S. Ravi Kumar commenced working at Peter Mac as a nuclear medicine physician in 2016 to pursue his clinical and research interest in theranostics.

Aravind gained his fellowship with the Royal Australasian College of Physicians (FRACP) in 2003 and worked at the Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital for 12 years.  While there, he rose to the position of acting Deputy Director.

Throughout his career Aravind has participated in over a dozen clinical trials and has authorship of over 50 peer-reviewed publications.  His publications include practice changing and highly cited research on Lu-PSMA therapy in metastatic prostate cancer.

Aravind has achieved both national and international peer recognition.  He has designed and supervised research which has led to two of his trainees receiving the Australian registrar research award.  In 2018 Aravind received the Society of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging (SNMMI) Image of the Year Award.

Aravind is well regarded and respected for his research with over 20 invitations to present at national and international conferences, and reviews manuscripts for ten journals.

He also makes a significant contribution to nuclear medicine specialist training through his roles at the Nuclear Medicine Specialist Society and the joint nuclear medicine training committee of the Royal Australasian College of Physicians and the Royal Australia and New Zealand College of Radiologists (RACP/RANZCR).

Aravind has chaired the joint college committee for nuclear medicine training in Australasia from 2013 to 2017. During his time as chair he was responsible for overseeing the training and certification of all specialists in nuclear medicine across Australia and New Zealand.  Aravind introduced innovations to the training program such as theranostics training, and the oral assessment task.

Aravind takes great pleasure in developing medical trainees and scientific colleagues.  He takes great pride in having seen many go on to highly successful careers.

He has been the formal specialist college supervisor for over two dozen trainees undergoing ‘core advanced training’ in nuclear medicine.  He has also supervised at least the same number of ‘non-core’ trainees, and numerous visiting international fellows and radiology trainees.

Currently, Aravind is the nuclear medicine lead in an innovative investigator-initiated international multi-centre trial exploring the role of Lu-PSMA theranostics in earlier stage oligometastatic prostate cancer.  Aravind is also the nuclear medicine principal investigator for the ENZA-P randomized phase II study at Peter Mac. The study uses PSMA as a therapeutic agent and prognostic indicator in men with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer treated with enzalutamide.

Aravind is a Peter Mac faculty member for the “Your Thoughts Matter” program because he believes in clear compassionate communication with patients. “Your Thoughts Matter” is an evidence based program aimed at enhancing communication with patients so staff can focus on “what matters to them” as well as “what is the matter with them”.