I was trained in Medicine, and Obstetrics/Gynecology. Early in my career as a physician I recognized the critical importance of public health in influencing healthcare delivery and health outcomes. This resulted in shifting my career from building an outstanding clinical service provider in Pakistan to a population and public health focus where I would achieve a much broader impact than can be achieved through hospital care alone. I recognized the need to bring much greater attention to the quality teaching and evidence that was influencing policy and practice in the field, where many teaching programs and health interventions suffered from a lack of quality training and evidence, potentially wasting valuable resources that could be more effectively allocated to programs with proven benefit. This transition towards public health and more particularly the health system persuaded me to do Master of Science in ‘Health Management’ from University of Heidelberg /Germany in the year 1997. I acquired a competitive full scholarship with stipend from German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) for my graduate studies in the University of Heidelberg /Germany. This scholarship supported my studies in Germany as well as my thesis research in Nepal. I secured additional funding in the form of Faculty Development Award from AKU. I subsequently did my Fellowship in Community Medicine from the College of Physicians & Surgeons (FCPS) in the year 2005.

Key to my success was joining the preceptor program in 1992 in the Community Health Sciences, Aga Khan University that has a team of outstanding academic and research mentors. Thirty-three years of extensive and intensive teaching experience at an international university under the supervision of national and international academics has enabled me to design, develop and conduct courses in various programs of Aga Khan University including undergraduate, postgraduate, graduate, and continuing education programs.  During this period, I have transformed from an inexperienced medical doctor to a qualified public health expert and my thinking has changed from an individual to collective approach.  I have been involved in active teaching and administrative responsibilities in various educational programs of the Aga Khan University including under-graduate, post-graduate, graduate, and continuing education.  In recognition of my efforts, I was awarded ‘AKU Outstanding Teachers Award’ in 2016.

My graduate studies from Germany and my fellowship from College of physicians and surgeons further enhanced my understanding of the health issues, healthcare delivery challenges, and health system management and research. The thesis research studies of the Masters and Fellowship program improved my research capabilities and skills.  In the middle of my career, I realized that the highest level of impact can be successfully achieved through training of health managers working in public and private sectors and provision of technical assistance to the government and development partners. Therefore, through the Continuing Medical Education (CME) platform of AKU, I developed several short courses including ‘Health System’s Strengthening’, ‘Addressing Gender, Governance and Disrupted Health Systems in Fragile Countries’, ‘Private Sector Engagement’, ‘Epidemiology’, ‘Gender’, ‘Family Planning’, ‘Tuberculosis’, and ‘HIV-AIDS. Through these efforts there has been a significant increase in the quality of healthcare planning being done in the government and non-governmental organizations and a collective improvement of the overall performance of the health programs. I also contributed to teaching/learning activities at Health Services Academy, Ministry of Health, Government of Pakistan. 

I have provided technical assistance to the Government of Pakistan and national and international organizations and development partners for several public health programs.

These assignments included: ‘Mapping and analysis of implementation of Human Development Programs/Projects implemented in Sindh Province during 2010-2018’ funded by World Bank; ‘Assessment of the Capacity and Readiness of District/Tehsil Headquarter Hospitals for Essential Surgical Care/Services in Pakistan’ funded by Aga Khan University Research Committee; ‘Gender and its Concepts’ funded by World Bank and Packard Foundation; ‘Gender and Gender-based Research Methodologies’ funded by United Nations Development Fund and National Commission on the Status of Women (NCSW), Pakistan; ‘Gender, Rights, Nutrition and Reproductive Health’ funded by Population Council.; ‘Addressing Governance, Gender and Disasters in a Fragile Health Systems’ funded by Nuffic, Netherlands; and ‘Standardization of Training Programme of Community Mid-Wives (CMWs)’ funded by Department of International Development, UK and ‘Sukh Initiative’ for enhancing contraceptive use in Karachi funded by Bill Gates & Malinda, Packard and Aman Foundations. 

Based on these assignments, I have documented 39 assessment and evaluation reports.

I also have assisted public and non-governmental institutions for analyzing the data for making evidence-based decisions, and creation and disseminate of new knowledge in the scientific community.

In scientific research, I received a total of fifteen research grants: of these eleven as PI or Co PI. I have published 33 papers in peer-reviewed national and international journals.  In addition, I also mentored more than twenty-five students for transformation of their thesis work or CHS clerkship projects into publishable manuscripts, of these, thirteen students successfully published their academic research in peer reviewed journals; nine of these were based on graduate theses while the other four were based on undergraduate year IV Community Health Sciences Clerkship. I have also contributed to research activities by serving as the Chair of the CHS Departmental Ethical Review Committee from 2016 to 2022.