​Biorepository and Omics 

About the group

Biorepositories have become a unified scientific resource necessary to answer a wide range of questions for the benefit of human health beyond individual collection of biological samples for specific studies. In this milieu, the Alliance for Maternal and Newborn Health Initiative/Improvement (AMANHI), a multi-centre collaboration between Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Tanzania under the leadership of WHO, embarked upon establishing the first in-country, population-level biorepository in low resource settings. The AMANHI biorepository was initiated in 2013 under the supervision of Dr. Fyezah Jehan and Dr. M. Imran Nisar from the Department of Paediatrics and Child Health, AKU with the aim of collecting cause-specific data on maternal and neonatal morbidities and mortality, from a well-characterized cohort of pregnant women. Recently, AMANHI has successfully become a part of a Multi-omics for Mothers and Infants (MOMI) consortium, an initiative funded by the Gates Foundation, that directly addresses complex health concerns by predicting new genetic and biological markers of adverse pregnancy outcomes (APOs) that can enable better diagnosis and prognosis. In addition, the rich phenotypic data will identify new biological mechanisms underpinning the causes of such adverse conditions. These proposals will provide a community of experts in clinical, epidemiologic, and –omics skills the opportunity to work together, to generate new approaches for treatment and prevention of neonatal and maternal deaths.​​

Aims and Objectives

  1. To progress biobank research by establishing and strengthening in-country expertise for appropriate collection, storage, retrieval, and utilization of biological samples.

  2. To establish local capacity for performing sequencing and various analysis that allow investigations into health and disease conditions of patients and populations.

  3. To promote Bioinformatics skills and next-generation sequencing (NGS) data analyses to address focused research questions.

  4. To utilize ​various omics data by integrating machine learning (ML) strategies.

Research Themes

  • Maternal and Child Health: To address major health problems of maternal and child health through a discovery-care continuum, particularly Adverse Pregnancy Outcomes (APOs), e.g., preterm birth, pre-eclampsia, stillbirth, miscarriage, Intrauterine growth restriction (IUGRs), Fetal growth restrictions (FGRs), Small for gestational age (SGAs), etc.,

  • Population and Public Health: To perform omics analysis on large country-based cohort to address important health-related problems by generating meaningful and actionable data that will help to achieve Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

  • Infectious Diseases: To study infectious diseases by using genomics approaches.

  • Biorepository: To develop, adopt and standardize high-quality practices in collecting, handling, processing, and archiving biological specimens.

  • Bioinformatics: To implement cutting-edge tools and algorithms for the analysis of NGS data, Bioinformatics pipelines and practices by sustaining a core platform, particularly for omics and metagenomics data.

  • Multiomics: To discover and explore various combinatorial methods, particularly machine learning (ML) methods to predict potential biomarkers of APOs.

  • Microbiome: To characterize human microbiome and its association with health and diseases.

  • Clinical Translational Medicine: Promoting and accelerating the translation of pre-clinical research to a clinical application, such as, predicting potential biomarkers by ML algorithms and decision support systems for clinically important outcomes. 

Membership

​Dr Fyezah Jehan

Department ​o​f Paediatrics and Child Health, Medical College, AKU

Group Lead

Dr. Fyezah Jehan is an Associate Professor and Chair of the Department of Pediatrics and Child Health. She is an infectious diseases pediatrician and an epidemiologist with expertise in leading large trials in maternal and child health. She, along with Dr. Imran Nisar has established the first in-country biorepository in Pakistan and is Pakistan lead for the Multiomics in Mothers and Infants (MOMI) consortium.

​​​​

​Dr M. Imran Nisar

Department of Pediatrics & Child Health, Medical College, AKU​

Dr. Imran Nisar is an Assistant Professor, Vice Chair Research, and a leading infectious diseases epidemiologist. He has a vast research grant portfolio addressing major public health issues of maternal and child health, and other vulnerable populations.​

 

​Dr Rumina Hasan

Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Medical College, AKU

Dr. Rumina Hasan is an expert in the field of microbiology and helped developed the clinical laboratory at AKU. Her research interests are infectious diseases, tuberculosis, and antimicrobial resistance.

​

Dr Kulsoom Ghias

Department of Biological and Biomedical Sciences, Medical College, AKU

Dr Kulsoom Ghias is an Associate Professor and Chair of the Department of Biological and Biomedical Sciences. She is a cancer biologist with a focus on the onset and progression of head and neck cancers, colorectal cancers and pediatric leukemias. Her interest in biorepositories and “omics” is linked to vast amounts of valuable data that can be mined to directly benefit the local population.

​

​Dr Waqasuddin Khan

Department of Paediatrics and Child Health, Medical College, AKU

Dr. Waqas, Assistant Professor is responsible to develop core Bioinformatics lab and the analysis of multiomics data at the Aga Khan University. As we are anticipating a large amount of NGS data to be returned to us from the lab partners, proper capacity for utilization and storage will be leveraged with the AKU’s well-developed IT support staff.



​Dr Ambrin Fatima

Department of Biological and Biomedical Sciences

Dr. Fatima, Assistant Professor has more than 11 years of experience in genomics and disease modelling with 6 years of international experience at University of Copenhagen, Denmark and Uppsala University, Sweden. She will be responsible for establishing genomics core, and generation of genomics and transcriptomics data using NGS platforms.

​

​Javairia Khalid

Department of Paediatrics and Child Health, Medical College, AKU

Javairia Khalid is a Biomedical scientist with specialization in reproductive and developmental biology from Imperial College London and has prior research experience in pregnancy complications and assisted reproduction. She is currently overseeing projects related to the improvement of maternal and child health from the Karachi, Pakistan site.

​

​Farah Khalid

Department of Paediatrics and Child Health, Medical College, AKU

Ms. Farah is a Biostatistician and leads the formulation, implementation, and evaluation of statistical analysis. She is also responsible for the harmonization of epidemiological and biological databases, and for providing derived datasets for genomics and multi-omics analysis.

​

​Furqan Kabir

Department of Pediatrics and Child Health, Medical College, Aga Khan University

Furqan Kabir is heading the Molecular Core of IDRL and mainly be responsible for development, optimization, generation, and supervision of sequencing assays and all related wet-lab components that include but not limited to nucleic acid extraction, quantification, QC, library preparation, sequencing, and preliminary analyses of sequencing output.

​

​​Samiah Kanwar

Department of Paediatrics and Child Health, Medical College, AKU

Samiah Kanwar is responsible to manage, process, and analyze NGS data, deploy Bioinformatics pipelines locally and maintain current knowledge of emerging computational methods and technologies.

​

​M. Farrukh Qazi

Department of Paediatrics and Child Health, Medical College, AKU

M. Farrukh Qazi is responsible for data management, running cleaning and quality checks of clinical data. He is also responsible to perform data analysis and results report writing for different projects under the Aga Khan University.

​

Publications

  • AMANHI (Alliance for Maternal and Newborn Health Improvement) Bio–banking Study group), Baqui AH, Khanam R, Rahman MS, Ahmed A, Rahman HH, Moin MI, Ahmed S, Jehan F, Nisar I, Hussain A, Ilyas M, Hotwani A, Sajid M, Qureshi S, Zaidi A, Sazawal S, Ali SM, Deb S, Juma MH, Dhingra U, Dutta A, Ame SM, Hayward C, Rudan I, Zangenberg M, Russell D, Yoshida S, Polašek O, Manu A, Bahl R. Understanding biological mechanisms underlying adverse birth outcomes in developing countries: protocol for a prospective cohort (AMANHI bio-banking) study. J Glob Health. 2017 Dec;7(2):021202. doi: 10.7189/jogh.07.021202. PMID: 29163938; PMCID: PMC5665675.

  • AMANHI (Alliance for Maternal and Newborn Health Improvement), Baqui A, Ahmed P, Dasgupta SK, Begum N, Rahman M, Islam N, Quaiyum M, Kirkwood B, Edmond K, Shannon C, Newton S, Hurt L, Jehan F, Nisar I, Hussain A, Nadeem N, Ilyas M, Zaidi A, Sazawal S, Deb S, Dutta A, Dhingra U, Ali SM, Hamer DH, Semrau KE, Straszak-Suri M, Grogan C, Bemba G, Lee AC, Wylie BJ, Manu A, Yoshida S, Bahl R. Development and validation of a simplified algorithm for neonatal gestational age assessment - protocol for the Alliance for Maternal Newborn Health Improvement (AMANHI) prospective cohort study. J Glob Health. 2017 Dec;7(2):021201. doi: 10.7189/jogh.07.021201. PMID: 29163937; PMCID: PMC5665676.

  • AMANHI study group. Maternal, neonatal deaths and stillbirths mortality cohort study. Burden, timing and causes of maternal and neonatal deaths and stillbirths in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia: protocol for a prospective cohort study. J Glob Health. 2016 Dec;6(2):020602. doi: 10.7189/jogh.06.020602. PMID: 27648257; PMCID: PMC5019013.

  • AMANHI Maternal Morbidity study group. Burden of severe maternal morbidity and association with adverse birth outcomes in sub-Saharan Africa and south Asia: protocol for a prospective cohort study. J Glob Health. 2016 Dec;6(2):020601. doi: 10.7189/jogh.6.020601. PMID: 27648256; PMCID: PMC5019012.

  • Jehan F, Sazawal S, Baqui AH, Nisar MI, Dhingra U, Khanam R, Ilyas M, Dutta A, Mitra DK, Mehmood U, Deb S, Mahmud A, Hotwani A, Ali SM, Rahman S, Nizar A, Ame SM, Moin MI, Muhammad S, Chauhan A, Begum N, Khan W, Das S, Ahmed S, Hasan T, Khalid J, Rizvi SJR, Juma MH, Chowdhury NH, Kabir F, Aftab F, Quaiyum A, Manu A, Yoshida S, Bahl R, Rahman A, Pervin J, Winston J, Musonda P, Stringer JSA, Litch JA, Ghaemi MS, Moufarrej MN, Contrepois K, Chen S, Stelzer IA, Stanley N, Chang AL, Hammad GB, Wong RJ, Liu C, Quaintance CC, Culos A, Espinosa C, Xenochristou M, Becker M, Fallahzadeh R, Ganio E, Tsai AS, Gaudilliere D, Tsai ES, Han X, Ando K, Tingle M, Maric I, Wise PH, Winn VD, Druzin ML, Gibbs RS, Darmstadt GL, Murray JC, Shaw GM, Stevenson DK, Snyder MP, Quake SR, Angst MS, Gaudilliere B, Aghaeepour N; Alliance for Maternal and Newborn Health Improvement, the Global Alliance to Prevent Prematurity and Stillbirth, and the Prematurity Research Center at Stanford University. Multiomics Characterization of Preterm Birth in Low- and Middle-Income Countries. JAMA Netw Open. 2020 Dec 1;3(12):e2029655. doi: 10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2020.29655. Erratum in: JAMA Netw Open. 2021 Feb 1;4(2):e210399. PMID: 33337494; PMCID: PMC7749442.

  • Aftab F, Ahmed S, Ali SM, Ame SM, Bahl R, Baqui AH, Chowdhury NH, Deb S, Dhingra U, Dutta A, Hasan T, Hotwani A, Ilyas M, Javaid M, Jehan F, Juma MH, Khalid F, Khanam R, Manu AA, Mehmood U, Minckas N, Mitra DK, Nisar I, Polasek O, Rahman S, Rudan I, Sajid M, Sazawal S, Yoshida S; AMANHI biobanking study group. Cohort Profile: The Alliance for Maternal and Newborn Health Improvement (AMANHI) biobanking study. Int J Epidemiol. 2021 Aug 24:dyab124. doi: 10.1093/ije/dyab124. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 34426827.

  • Ghanchi NK, Nasir A, Masood KI, Abidi SH, Mahmood SF, Kanji A, Razzak S, Khan W, Shahid S, Yameen M, Raza A, Ashraf J, Ansar Z, Dharejo MB, Islam N, Hasan Z, Hasan R. Higher entropy observed in SARS-CoV-2 genomes from the first COVID-19 wave in Pakistan. PLoS One. 2021 Aug 31;16(8):e0256451. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0256451. PMID: 34464419; PMCID: PMC8407562.

  • Monangi N, Xu H, Khanam R, Khan W, Deb S, Pervin J, Price JT; INTERBIO-21st Study Consortium, Kennedy SH, Al Mahmud A, Fan Y, Le TQ, Care A, Landero JA, Combs GF, Belling E, Chappell J, Kong F, Lacher C, Ahmed S, Chowdhury NH, Rahman S, Kabir F, Nisar I, Hotwani A, Mehmood U, Nizar A, Khalid J, Dhingra U, Dutta A, Ali S, Aftab F, Juma MH, Rahman M, Vwalika B, Musonda P, Ahmed T, Islam MM, Ashorn U, Maleta K, Hallman M, Goodfellow L, Gupta JK, Alfirevic A, Murphy S, Rand L, Ryckman KK, Murray JC, Bahl R, Litch JA, Baruch-Gravett C, Alfirevic Z, Ashorn P, Baqui A, Hirst J, Hoyo C, Jehan F, Jelliffe-Pawlowski LL, Rahman A, Roth DE, Sazawal S, Stringer J, Zhang G, Muglia L. Association of maternal prenatal selenium concentration and preterm birth: a multicountry meta-analysis. BMJ Glob Health. 2021 Sep;6(9):e005856. doi: 10.1136/bmjgh-2021-005856. PMID: 34518202; PMCID: PMC8438754. 

Grants

  • Alliance for Maternal and Newborn Health Initiative (AMANHI) Biorepository Study, Funded by World Health Organization and Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (2014 – 2021). PI: Fyezah Jehan, Co-I: M. Imran Nisar

  • Multi-Omics for Mothers and Infant (MOMI): Baseline Grant, Funded by Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (2019 – 2021). PI: Fyezah Jehan, Co-I: M. Imran Nisar

  • Metagenomics for Discovery of Novel Pathogens in Infectious Childhood Illnesses, Funded by Grand Challenges Exploration (GCE) – Chen Zuckerberg (CZ) BioHub (2019 – 2022). PI: M. Imran Nisar, Co-I: Fyezah Jehan and Furqan Kabir (https://www.aku.edu/news/Pages/News_Details.aspx?nid=NEWS-001847)

  • MOMI Platform Grant: AMANHI Pakistan, Funded by Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (2020 – 2023). PI: Fyezah Jehan, Co-I: M. Imran Nisar and Waqasuddin Khan.

  • COVID-19 Biorepository, Funded by The Aga Khan University (2021 – 2022). PI: Rumina Hasan

  • Sub-Grants Promoting Sustainable Development in Bioinformatics to Support Public Health: Implementation of Standardized Bioinformatics Practices, Pipelines, and Data Structures in SARS-CoV-2 Sequencing Laboratories in LMICs, Funded by The University of Western Cape (July 2021 – Nov 2021). PI: Waqasuddin Khan, Co-I: M. Imran Nisar and Fyezah Jehan. 

  • Experimental Medicinal Platform (EMP) Planning Grant; MBQ1: MOMI - Maternal GI Microbiome Analysis, Funded by Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (2021 – 2022). PI: Fyezah Jehan, Co-PI: M. Imran Nisar, Waqasuddin Khan, Javairia Khalid, Najeeha Iqbal, Ambrin Fatima, Furqan Kabir and Aneeta Hotwani.

  • MOMI Ideas Fund 2021: Cervicovaginal Fluid Markers in PTB, Funded by Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (2021 – 2022). PI: Waqasuddin Khan, Co-I: Javairia Khalid, Fyezah Jehan, and M. Imran Nisar 

Projects / Studies

  • To derive and validate inflammatory and immunological signatures of preterm birth using state-of-the-art machine learning and multi-omics techniques.

  • To determine the suitability and overall value of placental samples collected for future analyses at morphological, RNA and protein levels.

  • Genetic markers of preterm birth, and role of metals in adverse pregnancy outcomes (APOs).

  • Estimating gestational age using metabolic biomarkers measured on cord and newborn blood specimens.

  • Discover novel pathogens of early childhood infections.

  • Testing of 13 biochemical analytes in 1,938 maternal samples during the second trimester to draw associations with stunting at birth by knowledge integration approach.

  • Systematic Identification and Differential Expression Profiling of Preterm Birth-Associated Plasma ncRNAs in Pregnant Women of LMICs Cohort.

  • Establishing a model analytical lab for processing microbiome samples across the region specifically as part of Experimental Medicine Platform (EMP).

  • Using cervicovaginal fluid as a resource for validation and discovery of novel biomarkers of preterm birth.

  • Implementation of standardized Bioinformatics practices, pipelines and data structures in SARS-CoV-2 sequencing laboratories in Pakistan. 

Engagement and Involvement: Public and private

External collaborations 

  • Stanford University

  • Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center (CCHMC)

  • University of California, San Francisco (UCSF)

  • The University of Iowa

  • The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC)

  • Global Alliance to Prevent Prematurity and Still Birth (GAAPS)

  • Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF)

  • Chan Zuckerberg BioHub (CZ Biohub)

  • National Institutes of Health (NIH) in the United States

  • World Health Organization (WHO)

  • Translational Health Science and Technology Institute (THSTI),

  • Center for Public Health Kinetics (CPHK), India

  • International Center for Diarrhoeal Disease Research (icddr,b), Bangladesh,

  • University of the Western Cape, South Africa​

Internal Collaborations 

  • Infectious Diseases Research Lab (IDRL),

  • Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine,

  • Department of Biological and Biomedical Sciences,

  • Department of Pharmacy,

  • National Institute of Health, Pakistan,

  • AKU, Nairobi, Kenya


Data Partners

  • Synapse | Sage Bionetworks

  • AKU IT and Data Centre


Our research group has vast experience of engaging with communities at private and public level:

Dr. Fyezah Jehan

  • 2020 - Awarded Outstanding Senior Faculty Researcher at AKU,12th Health Sciences Research Assembly

  • 2020 - Invited member for Fighting for Breath: The Global Forum on Childhood Pneumonia, a group of high-level representatives from governments in high-burden countries, UN and multilateral agencies, the private sector, academic and research communities, donors, and civil society organizations

  • 2019 - Selected as a WHO Strategic and Technical Advisory Group of Experts (STAGE) for Maternal, Newborn, Child and Adolescent Health and Nutrition (MNCAH & N) member reporting directly to Dr Tedros Adhanom

  • 2019 - Invited Plenary at the 22nd National Health Sciences Research Assembly at Aga Khan University

  • Invited Speaker for Student Research Forum, “Healthy Skepticism”, Aga Khan University; September 2021.

  • Invited panelist for Department of Medicine Virtual Grand Rounds | Communicating with Patients & Families – Part II. August 2021.

  • Invited Speaker for Faculty Forum, Department of Pathology & Lab. Med “Building Resilience for Omics and Bioinformatics in LMICs”, AKU; July 2021.

  • Invited Speaker for presenting “National Guidelines for the Management of Covid-19 in Children” at National Reproductive Maternal Newborn Child and Adolescent Health and Nutrition (RMNCAH-N) technical working group meeting, Islamabad; July 2021

  • “Neonatal Health Epidemiology” in Quantitative Research Methods in Sexual and Reproductive Health (SRH) Mar 2021

  • Panelist - Townhall - Dispelling COVID-19 Myths, Aga Khan University Hospital | March 2021

  • Panelist - Townhall | COVID-19 Vaccination, Aga Khan University Hospital | April 2021

  • Panelist for Expert Consultancy Session on the Benefits and Risks of Mass Drug Administration of Antibacterials, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health; June 2021.

  • Panelist for CME Webinar by PPA on “Paediatric Infectious Disease, Right Bug, Right Antibiotics”; June 2021.

  • Panelist for ““COVID-19 Vaccines: Priorities and Challenges” at 18th MMIDSP Conference; May 2021.

  • Panelist for “COVID-19: Vaccinations and New Strains, Sindh Club; June 2021.

  • Proposal development workshop for research study of management of growth failure in 0-6 month infants. WHO group. March 2021.

  • Invited panelist for Department of Medicine Virtual Grand Rounds | COVID-19 Vaccines. March 2021.

  • Workshop facilitator and speaker for “Outbreak Investigation and Pandemic Preparedness” at 18th MMIDSP Conference; May 2021.

  • “Neonatal Health Epidemiology” in Quantitative Research Methods in Sexual and Reproductive Health (SRH) Mar 2021

  • Moderator for session on COVID-19 Vaccines at 23rd National Health Sciences Research Symposium, Feb 2021

  • Moderator for oral presentations at 12th Health Sciences Research Assembly, Dec 2020

  • Invited talk on “Nourishing Moms” at Rotary Club of St. Catharine’s South District, Canada Dec 2020

  • Invited Panelist for seminar on “Ethics of Adaptive Trial Designs”, by Public Health Emergency Preparedness and Response Ethics Network (PHEPREN) and the Global Forum on Bioethics in Research (GFBR) a WHO-led initiative. (Nov 2020)

  • National Facilitator for “National Training of Trainers on Management of COVID-19 in Children Pakistan (Aug 2020)

  • Lead Facilitator for “Management of COVID-19 in children” lead by UNICEF Pakistan (Jul 2020)

  • Speaker at The Student Research Forum Journal Club Series – What results should you trust? Separating the signal from noise (July 2020)

  • Invited Plenary speaker at National Health Sciences Research Assembly (Nov 2019)

  • Invited speaker at 3rd Pakistan International Biennial Conference on. Ramadan & Health (Aug 2019)

  • Facilitator at Childhood Malnutrition Scientific Evidence Seminar arranged in collaboration with PPA and MMIDSP (Jul 2019)

  • Facilitator at CTU Good Clinical Practice Workshop (Mar 2019 and 2020)

  • Facilitator for Short Symposium Deep Breaths: Childhood Pneumonia arranged in collaboration with PPA and MMIDSP (Mar 2019)

  • 2nd Pediatrics research Day, Marriott Hotel, Karachi, Pakistan (Dec 2018)

  • Chairperson Scientific session on Pneumonia, Respiratory Infections and Tuberculosis, American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene (ASTMH) 67th Annual Meeting, New Orleans, USA. (Oct 2018)

  • Facilitator for “Pediatrics Research Methods” Course held every Thursday from 2 to 3:30 pm since July 2018

  • Instructor for “Infectious Diseases in Humanitarian   Crises” course conducted for WHO EMRO region participants in Dubai, UAE from 10-12 September 2018

  • Invited speaker at Workshop on Pneumonia Innovations at the 2017 Annual Meeting of the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, Baltimore, USA (Oct 2017)

  • Speaker at Conference on Stress Response and Conditioning at AKU, Pakistan (Jan 2017

Maternal and Child Health and COVID-19: Struck by the impact of COVID-19 on children in Pakistan, Dr. Jehan led the formulation of the guidelines for management of COVID-19 in children at AKU and initiated advocacy efforts with UNICEF-Pakistan and the Ministry of National Health which resulted in creation of a group to formulate national guidelines. She also led the national training of master trainers for the guidelines. She along with her mentees have published the following blog material and I have spoken on several seminars for public consumption:

  • Implications of Covid-19 on maternal health: Lessons from the 2014 Ebola outbreak. (link)

  • Routine immunization in the time of COVID-19: What should happen next? (link)

  • Are children largely spared from COVID-19? Think again. (link)

  • COVID-19 Webinar for Genes & Machines Apr 2020

  • Management of COVID-19 Webinar for GETZ pharmaceuticals

  • School Reopening Webinar for GETZ pharmaceuticals

  • Second Wave of COVID-19 in Pakistan, BBC News Hindi Nov 2020 (3:26)

  • Jan – Feb 202 Established procedures for COVID-19 Vaccination of Employees as Chair, Immunization Subcommittee at AKUH

  • Sept 2020 Guest speaker for AKU Health Board on Vaccination during COVID-19

  • Nov 2019 Speaker at Karachi Press Club Briefing on Typhoid Vaccines

  • Jun 2019  Featured guest on BBC program “Sairbeen” on vaccination https://www.facebook.com/AKUPakistan/posts/immunisation-is-not-just-the-governments-job-but-a-shared-responsibility-of-all-/2426173854070025/

  • May 2019 Led immunization quiz show at AKU for World Immunization Week

  • April 2019 Featured interview for World Immunization week in Jang Magazine

  • April 2019 Featured guest on World Immunization week on FM 107

  • June 2018 Invited guest to speak on childhood vaccination in Mukamal Clinic at FM107

  • April 2018 Op Ed in the Dawn News on Vaccine Concerns

  • Jan 2018 Written blog in dawn “Flu cases and deaths are on the rise in Pakistan—but should we be alarmed?”

Media Appearance

  • HOT FM 105 program Health for Everyone, talk on “Caring for your child during pandemic”, Dec 2020.

  • COVID-19 and its impact on children: is this outbreak making you worried about your child?  – Expert Team Pediatric. AKUH FB Live (link)

  • Reopening schools: it is complicated. ARY News. (link) (57:29)

  • Immunization is not just the government’s job, but a shared responsibility of all of us to communicate that vaccines work, BBC Urdu Program Sairbeen. (link) (7:20)

  • Reopening school & its risk, Aaj News (link) (25:00)

  • Typhoid Vaccine being administered during the Typhoid Vaccination Campaign is SAFE for your child; AKUH FB. (link)

  • COVID-19 Pediatric Guidelines. Getz Pharma (link)Public Awareness Webinar | School Re-opening. #March to School. Getz Pharma. (link)

Articles & Blogs Published

  • Seroprevalence study sheds light on Pakistan’s pandemic; AKU; Sept 2020. (link)

  • 5% of Karachi’s Covid-19 patients asymptomatic. Tribune; Sept. 2020. (link)

  • As Karachi downsizes coronavirus wards, experts warn against complacency. Samaa; Sept. 2020 (link)

  • Implications of Covid-19 on maternal health: Lessons from the 2014 Ebola outbreak. Dawn; June 2020 (link).

  • Routine immunization in the time of Covid: What should happen next? Dawn; May 2020. (link)

  • Prepared national guidelines for treating COVID-19 in children– Section of Pediatric Infectious Diseases. (link) (guidelines)

  • Flu cases and deaths are on the rise in Pakistan—but should we be alarmed? Dawn; May 2020 (link)

  • Are children largely spared from Covid-19? Think again. Dawn; May 2020 (link)

  • Infection control experts highlight importance of vaccination. The Nation; Dec 2019 (link)

  • Exploring new pathogens of infectious childhood illnesses; AKU; June 2019 (link)

  • AI projects poised for greater impact; AKU; April 2019 (link)

  • Tackling the threat of typhoid; AKU; April 2019 (link)

  • Every Breath Counts: Medical oxygen shortage in Pakistan, May 2021 (The Guardian), (TBIJ)

  • Has Pakistan Tamed Fierce Delta Variant More Successfully Than India? (Outlook India)

  • Daily wagers worry about next meal during lockdown (Dawn News)

  • Health Sciences Innovations: Invited speaker for “Bioinformatics: A First in Pakistan with boundless potential”, Aga Khan University, September 2021.

  • ASTMH 2020: Late breaker oral presentation on “Serial population based serosurvey of antibodies to Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 in a high and low transmission area of Karachi, Pakistan” Nov 2020.

  • PPA 2020: COVID-19 Treatment Guidelines in Children at the Joint Seminar of UNICEF Pakistan, Pakistan Pediatrics Association

  • Every Breath Counts: Speaker at Every Breath Counts Oxygen Group & COVID-19 response: Pakistan update for partners WHO, UNICEF, funders.

  • ASTMH 2018  Oral presentation on “Results from a recently concluded Community Based Randomized Non-Inferiority Trial of Amoxicillin versus Placebo in Fast Breathing Pneumonia in low income communities in Pakistan”

  • ICEIEM 2021 – poster presentation at 14th International Congress of Inborn Errors of Metabolism “Prematurity and Low Birth Weight Effect on Reference Interval of DS TSH and 17-Hydroxyprogesterone in Neonates from A Community in Pakistan” November 2021.

  • ECCVID 2020- poster presentation at ESCMID Conference COVID. Epidemiology, Clinical characteristics, management, and outcomes of COVID-19 infection in children: a scoping review of the literature up to April 2020.

  • EAPS 2020 – Attended 8th Congress of the European Academy of Pediatric Societies; Oct 2020.

  • HSRA 2020 - Oral Presentation at 12th Health Sciences Research Assembly. Effectiveness of a universal screening protocol for all newborns and young infants (0- 59 days) vs. ad-hoc screening for neonatal sepsis: a systematic review – Ahmed Ayaz

  • Facebook Live session on “Misconceptions about medicines” | April 2021 (link)

  • Presenter at Deans Research Forum, AKU; April 2021.

  • Invited participant for “Workshops on Pregnancy, Child Care, Postpartum and Newborn Care (PCPNC)” WHO and Ministry of National Health Services Regulation & Coordination, September 2021.

  • Invited participant for UNICEF’s Sindh Provincial Consultation process themed on “Leave No Child & No Adolescent Behind 2023-2027”, September 2021.

​Dr. Imran Nisar

  • Mar 2012-16 Course Director for workshop on “Basics of Infectious Disease Epidemiology” at the annual Medical Microbiology and Infectious Disease Society of Pakistan (MMIDSP)

  • Course facilitator for Manuscript writing workshop (virtual course) conducted at Department of Community Health Sciences as part of MSc Epidemiology Program from June 2021

  • Awarded Best Junior Faculty Researcher at AKU,12th Health Sciences Research Assembly, Dec 2020

  • Appreciation from Dean for publishing an incredible article titled “Randomized Trial of Amoxicillin for Pneumonia in Pakistan” in the New England Journal of Medicine. 2020; one of the world's most prestigious scientific journals

  • Awarded for Most Supportive Research Faculty, Department of pediatrics & Child Health, Dec 2019

  • Awarded Charles C. Shepard Science Award from CDC, USA for scientific excellence demonstrated by the publication of ANISA study in Lancet, Jan 2019

  • Scholarship to attend Global Burden of Disease workshop in Eretria, Greece in May 2019

  • Poster presentation at NFID Vaccinology Symposium in April 2019, in Baltimore, USA

  • Scholarship to present at the 11th International Symposium on Pneumococci and Pneumococcal Diseases, Melbourne, Australia 15-19 April 2018 

  • Invited by WHO to come to its Geneva head office and draft a manuscript on preterm births based on the AMANHI study data in Dec 2017

  • Scholarship to present at the 10th Conference on Global Health and Vaccination Research in Trondheim, Norway, 13-15 March 2017. 

  • Scholarship to present at the 10th International Symposium on Pneumococci and Pneumococcal Diseases, Glasgow 26-30 June 2016 

  • Course facilitator for Manuscript writing course conducted at Department of Community Health Sciences as part of MSc Epidemiology Program from Oct-Dec 2019

  • Course Co-director for the Manuscript Writing Workshop organized in collaboration with Department of Community Health Sciences in Aug 2019

  • Course Director for the “Infectious Disease Epidemiology” course 2019 in MSc Epidemiology Program at AKU

  • Course Director for “Pediatrics Research Methods” Course held every Thursday from 2 to 3 30 pm since July 2018

  • Course Director for “Infectious Diseases in Humanitarian   Crises” course conducted for WHO EMRO region participants in Dubai, UAE from 10-12 September 2018Course Facilitator for “Manuscript Writing” workshop held in CHS, AKU from 3-6th September 2018

  • Course Facilitator for “Scientific Writing” course taught in the MSc Epidemiology program at CHS, AKU from July- Sep 2018

  • Course Co-director for the “Infectious Disease Epidemiology” course, since 2012, taught in MSc Epidemiology program at the Aga Khan University, Karachi, Pakistan. (have been teaching this course for five consecutive years and have received excellent evaluations from the students with a recent rating of best teacher by a student) 

  • Tutorial Facilitator “Critical Appraisal of Literature and identification of a Research Question” taught in MSc Epidemiology program at the Aga Khan University, Karachi, Pakistan, Jan-Mar 2017

  • Course Director for workshop on “Basics of Infectious Disease Epidemiology” at the annual Medical Microbiology and Infectious Disease Society of Pakistan (MMIDSP) Conference in Lahore in March 2016 (Have been teaching this workshop for last 4 years under the MMIDSP forum and have received encouraging evaluations)

  • Course Director for “Training course on Data Analysis under the Pandemic Influenza Preparedness program” held in Dubai, UAE for WHO EMRO region participants   from 23-26 Nov 2015 (This workshop had 19 participants from 7 EMRO region countries received excellent evaluation for the course and appreciation from the WHO EMRO office)

  • Course Director for training on “Ebola Virus Disease Rapid Response” for WHO EMRO region participants held in Dubai from 11th to 15th May 2015 (This was a huge course conducted with a Multidisciplinary collaboration between department of Medicine, Microbiology and Pediatrics. There were 45 Participants from 10 WHO EMRO regional countries.  Course received excellent evaluations and appreciation from WHO EMRO office and established AKU as a regional partner for conducting such trainings)

  • Course Co-director for a one-day workshop on “Viral Hemorrhagic Fever” held in Karachi in September 2015

  • Facilitator for a workshop on “Cochrane Systematic Reviews: Protocol Development” held in Karachi from November 5-6, 2015

  • Facilitator for a workshop on “Cochrane Systematic Reviews: Protocol Development” held in Lahore in May 2015

  • Invited speaker at the Grand Challenges in Global Health annual meeting held in Washington DC from 1-4th Oct 2017

  • Invited speaker at the 5th Annual Disease Modeling symposium April 18-20,2017 in Bellevue, Washington

  • Online poster presentation “Factors associated with vaccine type pneumococcal carriage in children under 2 years of age in a rural population in Pakistan” at 12th International Symposium on Pneumococci and Pneumococcal Diseases (ISPPD) held online in June 2020.

  • Online poster presentation ‘Sero-replacement with non-vaccine serotypes post introduction of PCV10 in nasopharynx of children in a rural community in Pakistan” at 12th International Symposium on Pneumococci and Pneumococcal Diseases (ISPPD) held online in June 2020

  • Online poster presentation “Direct and Indirect effect of PCV-10 on pneumococcal carriage in children under 2 years of age in a rural population in Matiari, Pakistan” at 12th International Symposium on Pneumococci and Pneumococcal Diseases (ISPPD)held online in June 2020

  • Plenary session on “Landscape of Maternal and Child Health in Pakistan” in the first KMDC alumni conference held on 21st December 2019

  • Invited speaker for a session on Epidemiological methods in Infectious diseases at the 17th MMIDSP conference in Lahore from 29th Feb to 1st March 2019

  • Oral presentation on “Burden, causes and risk factors of still births in a demographic surveillance system in Karachi, Pakistan” at the International Society of Disease Surveillance (ISDS) from 6-8th December 2016

  • Oral presentation on “Preliminary findings from the WHO AMANHI Late Pregnancy Biometry Study” at the Grand Challenges meeting in October 2016 in London

​Dr Waqasuddin Khan

  • At AKU CITRIC Center of Bioinformatics, Dr. Waqasuddin and his team under the supervision of Dr. Imran Nisar successfully deployed Nextstrain’s Pakistan build to study the genomic epidemiology of SARS-CoV-2 in Pakistan. This effort will help policy makers at government level to take prompt and appropriate actions (https://nextstrain.org/community/AKU-CITRIC-Center-for-Bioinformatics/ncov/Pakistan).

  • Dr .Waqasuddin is honoured as full member of prestigious International Society of Computational Biology. ISCB is a leading professional society for computational biologist and bioinformaticians to connect, train, advocate and empower them to maximize their global impact on science and society (https://www.iscb.org/index.php).

  • The Department of Pediatrics and Child Health at AKU Medical College conducted its first International Bioinformatics Virtual Course from June 8-October 18, 2021. This DCPE accredited course with 18 credits was led by Dr. Waqasuddin Khan at AKU with guest speakers Dr. M. Maqsud Hossain from North South University, Bangladesh, and Mr. Camilo Espinosa from Stanford University, USA. Bioinformatics is an evolving science, with only a handful of trained individuals in settings like Pakistan. This hands-on course with interactive learning on google classroom and weekly assignments aimed to create a basic understanding of the field. The virtual platform allowed us to reach out to over 100 participants in 6 countries. This course received excellent evaluations and appreciation from the participants. The course was jointly supported by grants from BMGF and the NIH.

  • Dr. Waqasuddin Khan invited as a keynote speaker, entitled, “Overview of SARS-CoV-2 Genome Sequencing: Where does Pakistan Stand?” at Public Health Alliance for Genomic Epidemiology (PHA4GE) monthly webinar series (https://youtu.be/irMj32_vpjA) (26th October, 2021).

  • Delivered lecture, entitled, “Systematic Identification and Differential Expression Profiling of Preterm Birth-Associated Plasma ncRNAs in Pregnant Women of LMICs Cohort” in the Research Day 2021 (Omics and Informatics) (15th October, 2021), Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, The Aga Khan University, Karachi, Pakistan.

  • Dr. Waqasuddin Khan invited as a keynote speaker, entitled, “Stats with R”, at concluding session in the Society for Promoting Innovation in Education (SPIE)-led R course (09th July, 2021) at The Aga Khan University, Karachi, Pakistan.

  • Dr. Waqasuddin Khan delivered invited lecture, entitled, “Genomics in the Era of Pandemics”, in the 18th Annual Medical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases Society of Pakistan (MMIDSP) Conference–Workshop on Outbreak Investigation and Pandemic Preparedness (27th May, 2021) at The Aga Khan University, Karachi, Pakistan.

  • Dr. Waqasuddin Khan presented poster, entitled, “Identification of Potential Therapeutic Intervening Targets for the Management of Preterm Birth: A Molecular Interactions Analysis Approach” in Great Lakes Bioinformatics Conference (11th – 13th May, 2021) at the International Society of Computational Biology (ISCB), USA.

  • Member of organizing committee and facilitated a full-day workshop, “COVID-19: Challenges and Way Forward” (16th February, 2021) for 23rd National Health Sciences Research Symposium, Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, The Aga Khan University, Karachi, Pakistan.

  • Member of organizing committee and facilitated a half-day workshop, “Bioinformatics hands-on on IMD genomics” (05th March, 2020) for Reframe Rare in Pakistan: Breaking Silos and Bringing Synergies; Multidisciplinary Conference on Rare Genetic Diseases in Pakistan, Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, The Aga Khan University, Karachi, Pakistan.

  • Member of organizing committee and facilitated a two-day workshop, “Exploring Bioinformatics” (20th – 21st December, 2019) at Department of Pediatrics and Child Health, The Aga Khan University, Karachi, Pakistan Supported by Fogarty International Center, National Institute of Health, USA.

  • Member of organizing committee of workshop and facilitated a full-day workshop, “Bacterial Genomics” (15th November, 2019) for 22nd National Health Sciences Research Symposium, Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, The Aga Khan University, Karachi, Pakistan.

  • Member of organizing committee of workshop, “Using R for Data Management and Analysis” (23rd – 25th September, 2019) Department of Pediatrics and Child Health, The Aga Khan University, Karachi, Pakistan Supported by Fogarty International Center, National Institute of Health, USA.

Postdoctoral opportunities/PhD opportunities

M. Phil. / Ph. D. opportunities in health sciences are available for potential candidates.

Contact

​Dr Fyezah Jehan

Group Lead

fyezah.jehan@aku.edu