Seven out of the top ten researchers in health sciences in Pakistan are working at Aga Khan University, according to the 2016 Productive Scientists of Pakistan directory produced by the Pakistan Council for Science and Technology (PCST).
The rankings found AKU’s Professor Zulfiqar Bhutta, founding director of the Centre of Excellence in Women and Child Health at the University, to be the highest-rated health researcher in the country with a composite score of 58.6, more than twice the score of
Professor Zulfiqar Bhutta was the top-rated health scientist in the country, according to the rankings produced by the Pakistan Council for Science and Technology.
the second-highest researcher, Dr Sania Nishtar, president of the NGO Heartfile. Also, 23 of the 78 researchers in the directory are faculty at AKU.
Besides Professor Bhutta, six other faculty members from the University have been judged to be among the top 10 health scientists in the country. They include Professors Rabia Hussain and Rumina Hasan of the department of pathology and microbiology; Professor Mohammad Wasay, department of medicine, Dr Zafar Fatmi, associate professor in the department of community health sciences, Professor Muhammad Iqbal, department of biological and biomedical sciences, and Dr Romaina Iqbal, associate professor in the department of community health sciences.
The 2016 directory produced by PCST ranks researchers in the fields of agriculture, biology, chemistry, earth and environmental studies, engineering, health, mathematics, pharmacology and physics. It rates scholars on a variety of research and academic parameters. These include the number of books published, patents and research grants secured, number of doctorates supervised, awards received, number of citations, and the total articles published in high-impact journals.
The PCST is an advisory body on issues related to research in the sciences that works under the Ministry of Science and Technology. Its council includes the chair of the Higher Education Commission, the Pakistan Academy of Sciences and the Pakistan Science Foundation as well as leading officials from other public and private sector organisations.