Artistic mindset guides Dr. Avi G. Kumar’s hand when creating the patented anatomic humeral plate

Dr. Avi G. Kumar always dreamed of following in the footsteps of Spanish Catalan architect Antoni Gaudi.

With a passion for drawing, painting and architecture, Dr. Kumar was inspired by Gaudi’s artistic designs and initially thought his artistic nature would lead him toward a career as an artist.

“Everyone has different ideas of what they want to do when they grow up,” says Dr. Kumar. “I’ve always had more of an artistic mind combined with an engineering mind.”

Although Dr. Kumar’s artistic aspirations shifted once he was accepted into Emory University’s medical school. At that point, Dr. Kumar had decided he wanted to be an orthopedic surgeon.

Initially, Dr. Kumar thought about being a transplant surgeon, but a simple rotation revealed a hectic lifestyle that wasn’t conducive to the family life that Dr. Kumar envisioned for himself one day.

It wasn’t until Dr. Kumar studied the shoulder that he realized he had found his specialty.

“I fell in love with the shoulder,” Dr. Kumar says. “It’s a complicated joint and a lot of other surgeons are scared of it. It’s very complex, but the more I studied it, the more and more interested I became.”

Dr. Kumar completed his residency at Tufts University, New England Medical Center. In 2001, Dr. Kumar completed an orthopedic shoulder and elbow surgery fellowship at Florida Orthopaedic Institute and then joined the staff of Coastal Orthopedics Sports Medicine and Pain Management in 2004.

Today, Dr. Kumar is a board certified shoulder and elbow specialist, who specializes in traumatic, acute and chronic injuries of the shoulder and elbow. He is one of only a few physicians in the United States who has performed near one thousand Reverse Total Shoulder Replacements.

Dr. Kumar also is at the forefront of a possible shift in the way physicians are able to stabilize proximal humerus fractures during surgery.

In December, Dr. Kumar secured a patent for an anatomic humeral plate — an implanted medical device that’s contoured for the shoulder and designed to provide better fixation for the different types of fractures of the upper end of the humerus. Specialized screws are matted to the plate to stimulate a callus response.

“The goal is to create natural bone healing,” Dr. Kumar says. “The plate allows physicians to not only fix the fracture but may also reduce the time it takes to heal.”

Having spent the past 15 years as a shoulder and elbow specialist, Dr. Kumar noticed a lot of problems with the current technology that physicians have while following his patients’ progress after surgery.

“It’s difficult to fix the fracture because often times the shoulder muscles tend to shift or move the fractured pieces,” says Dr. Kumar. “I wanted to design a device that would provide physicians with more options to better stabilize the fracture in surgery.”

Dr. Kumar began working on different iterations of the project a little more than 10 years ago before filing a patent in 2014. In December 2016, Dr. Kumar secured the patent for both the system and the method that provides better fixation for humeral fractures.

When he’s not busy with patients or conducting groundbreaking research, Dr. Kumar enjoys spending time with his wife, Lana, 18-year-old daughter Madelyn and 15-year-old son Alexander. Together, the Kumar’s enjoy traveling to different parts of the world and exploring cultural similarities and differences. Last year, they went to Indonesia.

“It was fascinating,” Dr. Kumar says. “The people there were very similar to us even though it’s on the other side of the world.”

The Kumar’s also have been to Japan and recently visited Morocco this spring. As a family, the Kumar’s typically pick three or four places they have yet to visit and collectively make a decision on that year’s destination.

In addition to traveling and spending time with his family, Dr. Kumar enjoys running and cooking with Mediterranean chicken – his favorite meal to whip up.