Dr R. Kishore Kumar | 2025 recipient
Dr Kishore Kumar has made significant contributions to the healthcare of pregnant women, premature babies, and children in India. After earning his MD in Paediatrics with a Gold medal from the prestigious Mysore University in India in 1989, he obtained MRCP (Paed), FRCPCH, and FRACP, working across India, the UK, and Australia.
His notable work in Australia includes serving as a neonatologist at the remote North West Regional Hospital in Burnie, Tasmania between 1997 and 2001, where he played a crucial role in the establishment of the Rural Medical School and the Commonwealth’s Pilot project of rural postings for University Medical Students with the Late Prof. Alan Carmichael.
Dr Kumar decided to move back to India in 2006 after working in Perth, WA, for a few years with the late Prof. Alfred Grauaug. During that time, he was instrumental in establishing the first private NICU in Australia, in collaboration with Notre Dame University and St John of God Hospital in Subiaco, with the aim of reducing maternal and neonatal mortality.
Dr Kumar founded Cloudnine Hospitals, which has since grown into a trusted network of 40 hospitals across India. Cloudnine is renowned for its excellence in maternal & newborn healthcare, clinical governance, education and research, and has achieved what is considered nearly impossible in India, maintaining maternal mortality rates below 3 per 100,000 over the last 18 years, despite delivering more than 300,000 babies to date, and achieving the highest intact survival rates of preterm infants.
He has pioneered the implementation of holistic care of pregnant women, improving breastfeeding rates to 95% in Cloudnine Hospitals. Dr. Kumar is now firmly focused on enhancing healthcare access for disadvantaged communities in India through the Cloudnine Foundation.
See our past RACP International Medal recipients.