{{short description|British medical researcher (born 1965)}} {{Infobox person | name = Sir Harpal Kumar | birth_name = Harpal Singh Kumar | birth_date = {{birth year and age|1965}} | image = Harpal Kumar Z6Q6532 RT(1).jpg | caption = Kumar in 2014 | alma_mater = St John's College, Cambridge <br /> Harvard Business School }}

'''Sir Harpal Singh Kumar''' (born 1965) is a British medical researcher of Indian descent who was chief executive officer of Cancer Research UK<ref>[http://www.totalpolitics.com/print/317027/cancer-research-uk-dr-harpal-kumar-interview.thtml Caroline Crampton interviews Harpal Kumar about cigarette marketing.] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304062643/http://www.totalpolitics.com/print/317027/cancer-research-uk-dr-harpal-kumar-interview.thtml |date=2016-03-04 }} ''Total Politics''.</ref><ref>[https://www.theguardian.com/healthcare-network/2013/jan/11/cancer-research-uk-dr-harpal-kumar Five minutes with Dr Harpal Kumar of Cancer Research UK.] ''theguardian''.</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V9YV609BcIs |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211214/V9YV609BcIs |archive-date=2021-12-14 |url-status=live|title=Dr Harpal Kumar talks about the work of the NCRI partnership|last=NCRI Cancer Conference|date=21 May 2013|publisher=|via=YouTube}}{{cbignore}}</ref> from April 2008 until June 2018,<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://fundraising.co.uk/2017/10/02/sir-harpal-kumar-leave-cancer-research-uk-next-year/|title=Sir Harpal Kumar to leave Cancer Research UK next year {{!}} UK Fundraising|date=2017-10-02|work=UK Fundraising|access-date=2018-11-09|language=en-GB}}</ref> when he became senior vice president and head of innovation EMEA at Johnson & Johnson. He left the company in April 2020 and is now president of GRAIL Europe.<ref name="GRAIL">{{cite web |title=GRAIL Appoints Sir Harpal Kumar as President of GRAIL Europe |url=https://grail.com/press-releases/grail-appoints-sir-harpal-kumar-as-president-of-grail-europe/ |website=GRAIL |access-date=19 May 2024}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.jnjinnovation.com/team/sir-harpal-kumar|title=Sir Harpal Kumar|date=2018-09-10|work=JNJ Innovation|access-date=2018-11-09|language=en|archive-date=2018-11-09|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181109234656/https://www.jnjinnovation.com/team/sir-harpal-kumar|url-status=dead}}</ref>

==Early life== Kumar's parents were refugees. As Sikhs, they chose to leave what was to become Pakistan and move to India during the Partition of India in 1947, where they ended up in refugee camps. Later they moved to England from India, where his father was employed sweeping factory floors, before eventually starting his own grocery store.<ref name=NYT>{{cite news|last1=Werdigier|first1=Julia|title=Judging What's Important|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/07/business/global/07iht-manager07.html|accessdate=12 January 2015|work=New York Times|date=6 January 2013}}</ref><ref>[https://www.civilsociety.co.uk/news/sir-harpal-kumar-charities-could-be-more-ambitious.html "Sir Harpal Kumar: 'Charities could be more ambitious"], Tania Mason,interview, ''Civil Society'', 4 Jun 2019</ref>

Kumar attended Latymer Upper School in Hammersmith before taking up a place to study Chemical Engineering at the University of Cambridge. He graduated with Master of Engineering and Master of Arts degrees and was awarded the Mobil Prize, Metal Box Prize, and Hughes Prize during his time at Cambridge. He subsequently gained a Master of Business Administration degree with High Distinction as a Baker Scholar at Harvard Business School where he won the Ford Prize and the Wolfe Prize.<ref name=Deb/><ref name=can/>

==Career== After graduation, Kumar was employed by McKinsey and Co. as a healthcare consultant. In 1992 he was appointed chief executive of the disability charity the Papworth Trust.<ref name=civilsoc>{{cite web|url=http://www.civilsociety.co.uk/events/conferences/user/Harpal%20Kumar/|title=Charity events - trustee training - Harpal Kumar|publisher=|access-date=2016-09-07|archive-date=2016-10-12|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161012061331/http://www.civilsociety.co.uk/events/conferences/user/Harpal%20Kumar/|url-status=dead}}</ref> In 1997 he founded Nexan Group, a venture capital-backed medical devices company.<ref name=civilsoc/> He joined Cancer Research Technology Limited as chief executive in 2002 and became chief operating officer of Cancer Research UK in 2004. He became chief executive officer in April 2007<ref name=can>[http://www.cancerresearchuk.org/about-us/how-we-are-run/chief-executive-and-executive-board Chief Executive and Executive Board.] Cancer Research UK. Retrieved 11 January 2015.</ref> and led the charity for more than a decade before departing for Johnson & Johnson Innovation.

Among his other roles, Kumar is a trustee of the Francis Crick Institute and the Institute for Cancer Research, and chairman of the Board of the National Cancer Research Institute. He is also chairman of the Cancer Outcomes Strategy Advisory Group in England and co-chair of the National Awareness and Early Diagnosis Initiative,<ref name=can/> the senior Senior Independent Director of Innovate UK and a board member of UK Research and Innovation.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.ukri.org/about-us/governance-and-structure/uk-research-and-innovation-board/sir-harpal-kumar/|title=Sir Harpal Kumar - UK Research and Innovation|website=www.ukri.org|language=en|access-date=2018-11-09|archive-date=2018-11-09|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181109193754/https://www.ukri.org/about-us/governance-and-structure/uk-research-and-innovation-board/sir-harpal-kumar/|url-status=dead}}</ref>

On 10 April 2020 GRAIL Inc. announced Kumar's appointment as President of GRAIL Europe.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://grail.com/press-releases/grail-appoints-sir-harpal-kumar-as-president-of-grail-europe/|title=GRAIL Appoints Sir Harpal Kumar as President of GRAIL Europe|website=grail.com|language=en|access-date=2020-04-10}}</ref>

==Awards and honours== Kumar was knighted in the 2016 New Year Honours for services to cancer research.<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=61450|supp=y|page=N2|date=30 December 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=New Year's Honours 2016 list|url=https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/489049/NY2016HonoursFullList.pdf|website=GOV.UK|accessdate=30 December 2015|date=30 December 2015}}</ref>

==Personal life== Kumar is a British-Indian, a British-Punjabi and a British-Sikh.

Kumar lists his recreations as theatre, opera and football.<ref name=Deb>[http://www.debretts.com/people-of-today/profile/25760/Harpal-Singh-KUMAR "Harpal Singh KUMAR"] ''Debrett's People of Today''. Retrieved 11 January 2015.</ref>

==References== {{Reflist|35em}}

{{Francis Crick Institute}} {{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kumar, Harpal}} Category:Living people Category:1965 births Category:English people of Indian descent Category:English people of Punjabi descent Category:English Sikhs Category:British people of Punjabi descent Category:Harvard Business School alumni Category:British chief executives Category:Alumni of St John's College, Cambridge Category:Knights Bachelor