Staff Profile

Educational Qualification

MBBS, MPH

Personal Statement

With great interest in research, completed six months of Fogarty research fellowship in TB, HIV/AIDS/ clinical trials in 2006 in Brown University, USA, summer course in Biostatistcs & Epidemiology in Johns Hopkins University, USA and attended Grant writing workshop in Harvard University, USA. Was involved in major clinical trials, operational and Clinical research in TB, HIV/TB, and HIV of ICMR-NIRT, as Coordinator, Co-Investigator and Principal Investigator. Coordinator of NIRT ADR Monitoring centre, member of external expert of SEARN WG-3, member in drafting the National Formulary of India. Member of LRAC, MRU, Madurai Medical College, and Nodal Officer of MRHRU Madurai

Research Focus

• • Clinical trials in TB: Focussing on shortening TB treatment duration and improving TB treatment outcomes
• • Smoking Cessation in TB: focusing on TB treatment outcome
• • Public health: In improving various relevant health issues
• • Adverse Drug Reaction in TB: Management as well as reporting of ADRs
• • Research Capacity strenthening: Especially in strengthening of Medical Faculties and students

Ongoing projects as Principal investigator

1. 3HP study: Scaling up short course TB preventive regimen containing Isoniazid and Rifapentine given once-weekly for three months (3HP) among household contacts of sputum positive pulmonary TB patients in India: A demonstration project (3HP study)

2. Smoking Cessation study in TB: Smoking Cessation among TB patients in Madurai district Corporation centres: aiding TB free Madurai (Smoking cessation study)

3. Population Based Health Survey: A common protocol for MRHRUs to assess health status and annual trend of change in health status of communities residing in the field practice areas of MRHRU (For MRHRU Madurai, it is Valayankulum block)

Significant Publications

• S.Ramesh Kumar, Soumya Swaminathan, Timothy Flanigan, Kenneth Mayer, Raymond Niaura. HIV & Smoking in India . Indian J Med Res 130, July 2009, pp 15-22

• Swaminathan S, Narendran G, Venkatesan P, Iliayas S, Santhanakrishnan Rameshkumar, Menon PA, Padmapriyadarshini C, Ramachandran R, Chinnaiyan P, Suhadev M, Sakthivel R, Narayanan P. Efficacy of 6 vs. a 9-month intermittent treatment regimen in HIV- infected TB patients: A randomized clinical trial. Am J Respir Crit Care Med Vol 181. pp 743–751, 2010

• S Ramesh Kumar, Narendran Gopalan, Paru Patrawalla, Pradeep Menon, Kenneth Mayer, and Soumya Swaminathan. Immune reconstitution inflammatory syndrome in HIV-infected patients with and without prior tuberculosis. International Journal of STD & AIDS 2012; 23: 419–423

• Swaminathan S, Menon PA, Narendran G, Venkatesan P, Rameshkumar S et al. Efficacy of a Six-Month versus a 36-Month Regimen for Prevention of Tuberculosis in HIV-Infected Persons in India: A Randomized Clinical Trial. PLOS ONE www.plosone.org December 2012 | Volume 7 | Issue 12 | e47400

• Padmapriyadarsini C, Ramesh Kumar S, Norma Terrin, Narendran G, Pradeep A Menon, Geetha Ramachandran, Sudha Subramanyan, Perumal Venkatesan, Christine Wanke, Soumya Swaminathan. Dyslipidemia among HIV-infected tuberculosis patients taking Once-daily Non-Nucleoside Reverse Transcriptase inhibitor based Antiretroviral Therapy in India. Clin Infect Dis 2011; 52(4):540-6.

• R. S. Kumar, A. M. V. Kumar, M. Claassens, V. V. Banurekha, G. Sekar, P. Venkatesan, S. Swaminathan. Are we justified in treating for multidrug-resistant tuberculosis based on positive follow-up smear results?. INT J TUBERC LUNG DIS 18(4):449–453

• S. R. Kumar,N. Pooranagangadevi, M. Rajendran, K. Mayer, T. Flanigan, R. Niaura, S. Balaguru, P. Venkatesan, S. Swaminathan. Physician’s advice on quitting smoking in HIV and TB patients in south India: a randomised clinical trial. PHA 2017; 7(1): 39–45

• Gopalan N, Santhanakrishnan RK, Palaniappan AN, Menon PA, Lakshman S et al. Daily vs Intermittent Antituberculosis Therapy for Pulmonary Tuberculosis in Patients With HIV: A Randomized Clinical Trial. JAMA Intern Med 178(4):485-493

• S Ramesh Kumar , Chandrakumar Dolla M Vasantha, Pradeep Aravinda Menon, G Venkatesan P Venkatesan. Strategies for smoking cessation (pharmacologic intervention versus enhanced motivation vs. standard motivation) in TB patients under treatment in the RNTCP, India - A cluster - Randomized trial. Indian J Tuberc. 2020 Jan;67(1):8-14

• Kumar SR, Hissar SS, Ramesh PM, Shanmugam M, Kalaiselvan V, Prakash J, Padmapriyadarsini C. Ethambutol-induced optic neuropathy: should we mandate ophthalmic examination in TB treatment? Int J Tuberc Lung Dis. 2024 Jan 1;28(1):51-53. doi: 10.5588/ijtld.23.0304. PMID: 38178302

Awards and Honours

• The paper titled “Impact of HIV Infection on Chest Radiographic findings in patients with pulmonary tuberculosis” which was presented at the National Conference on Management of HIV/AIDS in Resource restricted settings at Mumbai during Feb 2004 bagged the 2nd prize for the best poster presentation

• Received Gold medal as a first rank holder in MPH course at SRM University, receiving from the Vice President of India

Research Profiles