Niraj Kumar

Key facts

• The prion case series names Niraj Kumar as first author, with affiliations in Neurology at AIIMS Rishikesh and at AIIMS (Bibinagar) Hyderabad; coauthors Govind Madhaw, Mritunjai Kumar and Ashutosh Tiwari are all from AIIMS Rishikesh Neurology.
• In the six sCJD patients abnormal gait, myoclonus, cognitive impairment and parkinsonism were present in all, MRI showed bilateral striatal diffusion restriction in all, and periodic sharp wave complexes appeared on EEG in four of six.
• He is last author of the review Prion Disorders Update: An Indian Perspective (Ann Mov Disord 9(2):126-132, online 2026-05-29), written entirely from AIIMS Bibinagar Neurology.
• That review states that diffusion MRI is the most sensitive test, brain biopsy has been done in fewer than 50 Indian cases, RT-QuIC is as accurate as histopathology but not available in India, and a nationwide prion registry is needed.
• A 2023 Indian Academy of Neurology CV excerpt says he is Professor and Head of Neurology at AIIMS Bibinagar and was founder Professor and Head of Neurology at AIIMS Rishikesh from January 2018 to March 2023.
• His November 2025 Muscle Nerve paper lists him at AIIMS Bibinagar Neurology, and from 2023 his papers carry both Rishikesh and Bibinagar affiliations.
• He trained in movement disorders with a two-year postdoctoral fellowship at Western University, London, Ontario, and an ICMR registry network profile lists his interests as movement disorders, neuroimmunology, stroke and sleep medicine.
• His movement disorder work includes a five-year series of 1,140 movement disorder patients at AIIMS Rishikesh (October 2024) and coauthorship of nationwide Indian Parkinson disease studies, including a 2025 profile of 7,918 patients from 18 hospitals and a 2024 study of the genetics of young onset Parkinson disease.
• The AIIMS Rishikesh Neurology page now lists Mritunjai Kumar as head and names Niraj Kumar only as site investigator on two Indian Parkinson disease genetics projects; the services listed include EEG and lumbar puncture but no prion fluid test or genetic test.
• He has coauthored with Anita Mahadevan of NIMHANS Neuropathology (2021 and 2025 case reports), a documented link between the Rishikesh group and the NIMHANS prion pathology group.
• None of the 18 papers indexed under his ORCID is a prion paper; his prion output found is the two Annals of Movement Disorders papers.

Timeline

1. 2018Department of Neurology at AIIMS Rishikesh founded, with him as founding head; case series window opens the same month.
2. 2022Listed as Additional Professor and Head, Department of Neurology, AIIMS Rishikesh.
3. 2023End of the case series recruitment window.
4. 2023Ends tenure as founder head of Neurology at AIIMS Rishikesh.
5. 2023Indian Academy of Neurology CV records him as Professor and Head of Neurology at AIIMS Bibinagar.
6. 2024Five-year AIIMS Rishikesh movement disorder series of 1,140 patients published.
7. 2025Coauthor of the nationwide Indian Parkinson disease profile in Mov Disord.
8. 2025Northern India prion case series published online (print issue May 2025).
9. 2025Muscle Nerve paper published with his affiliation at AIIMS Bibinagar Neurology.
10. 2026Review Prion Disorders Update: An Indian Perspective published online, with him as last author at AIIMS Bibinagar.