Our People
Pakistan
Dr. Salman Kirmani is a distinguished Medical Geneticist and Pediatric Endocrinologist with over two decades of clinical, academic, and research experience. He currently serves as the Director of the Centre of Excellence in Women & Child Health at Aga Khan University (AKU), overseeing regional initiatives in Pakistan and East Africa.He also holds the Parveen Kanji Irshad-ud-din Endowed Chair in the Division of Women and Child Health and is a Professor of Paediatrics & Medicine at AKU Medical College. Dr. Kirmani completed his MBBS from Dow Medical College and pursued his residency and fellowships at the Mayo Clinic, USA, where he obtained board certifications from the American Boards of Pediatrics, Medical Genetics, and Pediatric Endocrinology. His scholarly interests focus on genomics in underrepresented populations, precision therapies for Mendelian disorders, hereditary endocrine/bone diseases, and genomics education in low-resource settings.
At AKU, Dr. Kirmani has played a pivotal role in advancing pediatric neurology, genetic testing, and rare disease research networks in Pakistan. He established and introduced the country’s first genetic counselling program and a gene therapy program, making them a cutting-edge healthcare solution with accessibility. An active researcher and educator, Dr. Kirmani has authored nearly 100 peer-reviewed publications and book chapters. He has presented his work at international platforms, including the Undiagnosed Disease Network International (UDNI), where he serves on the board. His contributions have been recognized with several awards, including the Outstanding Teacher Award and the Young Investigator Award from the American Society for Bone and Mineral Research.
Beyond academia, Dr. Kirmani is deeply involved in public health and policymaking. His advocacy extends to supporting parent groups for rare diseases, and policy development in pediatric genetics. Dr Kirmani’s work continues to shape the future of Genomic medicine and a robust health care system in Pakistan and beyond. View Profile
Dr Sajid Bashir Soofi is a distinguished professor who integrates his roles as a clinician, researcher, and public health scientist. He demonstrates exceptional expertise in each field and extensive experience in hospital and community-based research. His passion lies in improving maternal, neonatal, child, and adolescent health, focusing on nutrition and infectious diseases.
Dr. Soofi has a proven track record of leading high-impact research initiatives. He has spearheaded multiple clinical trials and large-scale national and international nutrition surveys & program evaluations that have garnered significant attention. A key focus of his research is the integration of interventions for newborns and children, especially nutrition and malnutrition, into existing health system programs. The robust evidence generated through these trials has demonstrably influenced policy and program development, improving MNCH (maternal, neonatal, and child health) survival rates and reducing malnutrition in mothers and children.
Dr. Soofi's research excellence is evident in his success securing 75 highly competitive research grants. He fosters strong collaborations with leading funding agencies and academic institutions, further solidifying his research impact. His achievements are further validated by prestigious research excellence awards and over 250 publications in top-tier international journals.View Profile
Mr Imtiaz Hussain, joined Aga Khan University as Research Officer in 2002 and at present presently holds the position of Director Research Operations at Centre of Excellence in Women and Child Health Aga Khan University. He has more than 20 years’ experience of implementing different community based research projects and surveys at National and International scale under the umbrella of division of Women and Child Health Aga Khan University. During his 20 years of association in the field of public health research, his focus is to improve Maternal and Child Health, Nutrition and Essential Immunization in Pakistan and globally, to foster a research culture with highest scientific and ethical standards and to promote an environment conducive for its researchers to engage in scientific inquiry. He worked closely with the national stakeholders, private partners, ministries and the sponsor agencies to develop research ideas and innovations and implementing the evidence in programmatic settings to influence policy makers in the country. His research work enabled him to undertake several high impact research studies and key surveys such as the National Nutrition Survey in Afghanistan, Maldives, Eritrea and Pakistan and Polio Seroprevalence surveys in Pakistan and Afghanistan.
During his association with The Aga Khan University, Mr. Hussain contributed as a lead in more than 40 national, international and provincial scale research projects, submitted more than 50 technical reports/manuscripts, coordinated with more than 20 institutions/organizations [International Universities, UN agencies, INGOs such as The Harvard school of Public Health, World Bank, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF), Centre of Disease Control (CDC), Swiss Red Cross, World Health Organization]. He experiences the translation of his theoretical knowledge and experience to a broader scope and was awarded with Young Professional researcher award in Micronutrient forum held in Beijing in 2008. He aims to rigorously contribute in the research being done in Pakistan to achieve the MDGs and SDGs. View profile
