Board certified in general pediatrics and pediatric rheumatology by the American Board of Pediatrics and by the American College of Rheumatology, Dr. Sukesh Sukumaran comes to Valley Children’s with a decade of experience in pediatric rheumatology.
Prior to being medical director of rheumatology at Valley Children’s, Dr. Sukumaran served as the section chief of pediatric rheumatology at University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences. He also served in the academic realm as an Associate Professor in the section of pediatric rheumatology in the department of pediatrics at University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences. He has also worked as the Assistant Professor for the division of immunology, rheumatology and infectious diseases at Shands Children’s Hospital through the University of Florida.
His expertise and years of research has resulted in his work being published in a variety of peer-reviewed journals, including Clinical Pediatrics, Pediatric Neurology and Scientific Reports. Dr. Sukumaran has been invited to share his research at both national and international conferences in EULAR and APLAR. He has presented about topics such as dermatological manifestations in pediatric rheumatology and new biological medications at the 14th international clinical and experimental dermatology conference, as well as inflammatory eye disease for rheumatologists at the Rheumatology and Association of Rheumatology Health Professionals national meeting.
His special interests include yoga in children with autoimmune diseases and incorporation of complementary and alternative medicine in the management of autoimmune diseases. His clinical interests include juvenile dermatomyositis, idiopathic uveitis, pediatric sjogren syndrome, juvenile idiopathic arthritis and several other autoimmune conditions. He is also interested in adaptive sports programs for children with disabilities.
Dr. Sukumaran is active in several professional societies, including the Pediatric Rheumatology Collaborative Study Group, the Childhood Arthritis Rheumatology Research Alliance and the American College of Rheumatology. He is also a juvenile arthritis foundation ambassador for the Arthritis Foundation. He previously served as a patient experience champion at Arkansas Children’s Hospital, as well as on the executive planning committees for both the Juvenile Myositis Foundation and the Arthritis Foundation.
In 2014 and 2016, Dr. Sukumaran was recognized as a Medical Physician Honoree by the Arthritis Foundation, a nonprofit organization that is dedicated to addressing the needs of people living with arthritis in the United States. Dr. Sukumaran has also spent multiple years volunteering for groups and organizations such as Camp Aldersgate, a summer camp which serve children with medical, physical and developmental needs and Arthritis Family Day through the Arthritis Foundation.
After completing his Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery (M.B.B.S) and residency in physical medicine and rehabilitation from Medical College Trivandrum in Kerala, India, Dr. Sukumaran moved to New Jersey. While in New Jersey, Dr. Sukumaran completed his internship and residency in pediatrics at the Children's Regional Hospital at Cooper Medical Center. He then went onto complete a fellowship in pediatric rheumatology at the Children’s Hospital Los Angeles.
His multilingual capabilities include Malayalam, Hindi, Sanskrit and Tamil. In his free time he enjoys teaching cricket to children.