Dr. Kumthekar is a UCNS certified neuro-oncologist from Northwestern University dedicated to patient and care and moving the field of brain tumor forward primarily through her leadership on clinical trials. She is currently involved in and lead many clinical trials including being the overall principal investigator of five investigator initiated treatment trials as well as the site principal investigator (PI) of over a dozen additional collaborative brain tumor treatment trials. Dr.Kumthekar is the planned study chair/overall PI for a multicenter, international breast cancer leptomeningeal clinical trial scheduled to open in Q4 2020. Dr.Kumthekar has also been  actively involved in the NCI funded clinical trials for many years. Within the NCTN (National Clinical Trials Network) and serves in leadership roles, particularly with the Alliance for Clinical Trials (“Alliance”) for several years.  In 2016, Dr.Kumthekar was appointed as the national Executive Officer of Neuro-Oncology at the Alliance. In this role, she oversees the conception and development of clinical trials in these two areas from early phase through registration studies.  Dr.Kumthekar has teamed with various scientists both at Northwestern and at other institutions with the goal of using translational research to advance the field. These partnerships allow for cutting edge scientific discoveries to be successfully brought to the clinic for brain tumor patients to benefit.