our team

kevin k. kumar, md, phd

pediatric neurosurgeon

dell children’s medical center

assistant professor of neurosurgery 

Kevin K. Kumar, M.D., Ph.D., specializes in the treatment of pediatric brain and spine tumors, vascular malformations, developmental anomalies and epilepsy. He practices as a pediatric neurosurgeon at Dell Children’s Medical Center, and he is board-eligible by American Board of Neurological Surgery and American Board of Pediatric Neurological Surgery.

Dr. Kumar completed his undergraduate education at Cornell University in 2009, where he graduated cum laude with distinction in research. He then received his M.D. (2016) and Ph.D. (2014) degrees from Vanderbilt University’s National Institutes of Health-funded Medical Scientist Training Program. He was a member of the laboratory of Aaron Bowman in the Vanderbilt Brain Institute. His dissertation focused on investigating neuronal manganese regulation Parkinson’s and Huntington’s disease using high throughput screening, induced pluripotent stem cells and chemical biology approaches.

Dr. Kumar subsequently completed his neurosurgery residency at Stanford University from 2016-2023, including serving as chief resident from 2022-2023. At Stanford, he completed a two-year NIH NINDS R25-funded research fellowship in the laboratory of Marius Wernig in the Stanford Institute for Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine. His work focused on developing a platform to replace microglia in the brain as a novel therapy for neurodevelopmental disorders. This work ultimately resulted in the publication of the first proof of concept of this technology in a mouse model of a lysosomal storage disorder. In addition to his basic science efforts, Dr. Kumar was active in clinical research, publishing multiple articles studying neuromodulation, epilepsy, pediatric trauma, spine and vascular pathologies. From 2023-2024, Dr. Kumar completed his fellowship in pediatric neurosurgery at Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital at Stanford.

Upon joining the faculty at The University of Texas at Austin, Dr. Kumar launched his research laboratory seeking to develop novel cellular-based therapeutics for pediatric neurological disorders. He has published over 35 peer-reviewed scientific articles and given over 30 presentations at national and international meetings. He has received multiple awards including the Donald O. Quest Medical Student Basic Science Award by the American Association of Neurological Surgeons, the Elaine Sanders-Bush Neuroscience Research Prize from the Vanderbilt Brain Institute, John G. Coniglio Prize in Biochemistry from Vanderbilt University, Edwin Boldrey Young Investigator Award from the San Francisco Neurological Society, the Philip L. Gildenberg Resident Award from the AANS, and the Resident Basic Science Research Award from Stanford University.

pierrick “rick” millet, md

biobank senior research program coordinator

Pierrick "Rick" Millet was born in France and spent the last couple of years in Lodz, Poland where he obtained his medical doctorate.  He previously obtained a Bachelor's in Biology at Northeastern in Boston.  He has since worked for Astra Zeneca as an external consultant and used his knowledge in regulatory affairs as a research coordinator at Texas State University.  He currently manages the Neurosurgery Department's Biobank and is interested in gene therapy for stroke research.   

cheyenne ahamed, bs

medical student (MS1),  ut austin dell medical school

Cheyenne received her Bachelor of Science in Biomedical Engineering with a concentration in Cellular and Biomolecular Engineering and a Pre-Health Professions certificate from UT Austin in May 2023. During her undergraduate studies, she conducted sono-optogenetic research with applications to Parkinson’s disease in the Wang Lab at UT Austin. In her gap year, she worked as a research assistant in the Dunsmoor Lab at Dell Medical School, where she conducted behavioral and fMRI studies investigating how emotion shapes memory and learning, particularly in relation to PTSD. She is currently an MS1 at Dell Medical School and is interested in investigating novel therapeutics for neurodegenerative disorders in pediatric populations.

ayla farzamnia

undergraduate student, ut austin

Ayla is an undergraduate senior at The University of Texas at Austin, majoring in Psychology with minors in Pre-Health Professions and Forensic Science. She will graduate in May 2025 and plans to continue working in the Kumar Lab during her gap year. Early in her academic career, she gained hands-on experience as a Certified Medical Assistant for two years, working in clinical, hospital, and pathology lab settings. Her passion for research grew after she began her work at the Addiction Research Institute, where she focused on various psychology and neuroscience case studies. She later contributed to Dr. Gonzalez-Lima's lab at UT Austin, studying the neurocognitive benefits of non-invasive transcranial infrared laser stimulation using multimodal imaging. She plans to apply to medical school and is particularly interested in neuroscience.

lam nguyen, bs

medical student (MS1),  ut austin dell medical school

Lam received his Bachelor of Science in Chemistry with a concentration in Organic Chemistry from Rice University in May 2024. Early in his undergraduate career, he conducted research into immunoprotective biomaterials for implanted medical devices. He has also collaborated with clinicians abroad to develop low-cost medical technologies for low-resource settings through the Rice360 Institute for Global Health Technologies. He is now a first-year medical student at Dell Medical school and is interested in developing novel therapeutics for pediatric brain tumors.