Rozina Karmaliani
Associate Director, South and Central Asia
Dr Rozina Karmaliani is a longtime prominent member of the Aga Khan University, AKU, where she currently holds the positions of Implementation Scientist and Associate Director for the Brain & Mind Institute, AKU, overseeing the South and Central Asia region.
Dr Karmaliani was the first Pakistani to obtain a PhD in Nursing in 2000, from the University of Minnesota. She also holds a Master of Public Health and a Master of Science in Nursing from the same institution, along with a Bachelor of Science in Nursing from AKU. Additionally, she has obtained diplomas in midwifery and nursing from the Aga Khan Health Services and AKU, respectively.
She served as Dean of the AKU School of Nursing and Midwifery from 2019-2022 and steered AKU- SONAM to use its institutional excellence to advance nursing and develop leaders and educators in healthcare. Besides Pakistan, she has worked for the development and promotion of higher education in nursing in East Africa, Afghanistan, Syria and Egypt.
A recipient of various national and international research grants, Dr Karmaliani's areas of research include women, child and adolescent health, with special focus on the prevention of gender-based violence, promoting mental health and preventing suicides from a health systems perspective.
Dr. Karmaliani's outstanding contributions have garnered her various accolades, including the Juran Fellowship Award for "Leadership in Quality" and the "Distinguished Leadership Award for Internationals" from the University of Minnesota. She was recognized as one of WHO's Global 100 Nurse and Midwife Leaders in 2020 and received the Women Leaders Award from the Hum Television Network in 2022. Most recently, she became the first nurse from Pakistan to be inducted into the American Academy of Nursing, a prestigious honor.
