Dr. Aamir Khan is a medical epidemiologist and social entrepreneur based in Singapore.

In 2004, Dr. Khan co-founded Interactive Research and Development (IRD), a Singapore-based not-for-profit committed to improving global health and development through process and technology innovations. IRD has global health delivery teams operating from offices in Dhaka, Dubai, Ho Chi Minh, Jakarta, Johannesburg, Karachi, and Lagos, supporting programs in over 20 countries. He has led large-scale service delivery grants from Global Fund for diagnosing, treating, and preventing TB, HIV, and Malaria. His research currently focuses on lung health and immunizations and sustainable free and low-cost health care models.

Dr. Khan is the Founder and CEO of Alcela, a healthcare delivery and technology accelerator based in Singapore. Alcela supports early-stage health technology and healthcare delivery companies to grow and scale through mentorship, market access, and investments.

Dr. Khan is also co-founder and director of two social businesses that have received over USD 20m of funding. Interactive Health Solutions, based in Singapore, utilizes information technologies and diagnostic market innovations to improve access to health care.  Community Health Solutions, based in Karachi, is an aggregator of affordable lung health and chronic disease care in the private sector.

Dr. Khan trained in medicine at Aga Khan University and has a Ph.D. in international health from Johns Hopkins University.

Dr. Lubna Samad is a pediatric surgeon at Indus Hospital & Health Network (IHHN) in Pakistan. In addition to clinical pediatric surgery, she is committed to improving patient outcomes with a specific focus on LMICs. Her experience in public sector hospitals in Pakistan has informed her understanding of the many individual, social and institutional barriers that result in poor access to, and provision of, quality surgical care. She has led the development of the National Vision for Surgical Care in collaboration with Pakistan’s Ministry of National Health Services, Regulations and Coordination, aimed at incorporating surgical care delivery within the country’s health plan. She has also contributed to the development of Pakistan’s Universal Health Coverage Benefits Packages based on DCP-3 recommendations.

As a Director at IRD Global and Chairperson Board of Directors IRD Pakistan, she has contributed to developing innovative strategies to overcome health delivery challenges in the Global South. She is a member of the Global Surgery Foundation’s leadership team and has remained actively involved through the Global Initiative for Children’s Surgery and G4 Alliance platforms, thus contributing to the global momentum to provide care to the neglected surgical patients.

Dr. Subhash Chandir is Senior Epidemiologist and Director at IRD Global, based in the vibrant city of Baltimore, MD, USA. He earned his medical degree from Pakistan, and went on to pursue a Masters in Public Health (Infectious Diseases) and doctorate in Global Disease Epidemiology and Control from Johns Hopkins University. Subhash has received certificates in Vaccine Science and Policy, and Clinical Vaccine Trials from Johns Hopkins, and Advance Course of Vaccinology from Merieux Foundation and the University of Geneva.

Over the past two decades, Dr. Chandir has conducted or participated in various studies and projects in Pakistan, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Kenya, Nigeria, Peru, Ecuador, UAE, and the USA. His research and teaching efforts have been focused on several critical areas, including infectious disease epidemiology, surveillance, immunizations, women and child health, economic incentives, training of frontline health workers, economic incentives, digital health, electronic registries, geospatial monitoring, big data analytics, and operational research. He established the Maternal & Child Health program at IRD Global, comprising a plethora of research and service delivery projects in communities and healthcare settings that have helped save countless lives.

Dr. Chandir serves on the faculty at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, and is a member of the WHO Digital Health Technical Advisory Group.

Saira is a program development and integrated program delivery expert based in Karachi, Pakistan. Over the last 17 years, Saira has vast experience working with teams at IRD and with its partners in the piloting and scaling of an integrated disease primary care network, and communicable and non-communicable disease programs across the IRD network. She has led surveillance implementation and piloting of new diagnostic technologies and therapeutics for TB, COVID, and other diseases across the IRD network countries (Pakistan, Bangladesh, Philippines, and South Africa).

Saira led the launch of Well Check a global initiative of IRD Global that aims to cater to the individual’s physical, mental, and emotional health needs across organizations, educational institutions, health facilities, and communities.

Saira has worked closely with multiple national stakeholders to help develop the USD 173 million budget for the Global Fund Round 9 application for scaling up MDR-TB control in Pakistan. She has previously been a core group member of the Global Drug Resistance TB Initiative under the STOP TB partnership. She was a private sector participant from Pakistan in Leadership for Universal Health Coverage (L4UHC) course – Asia Cycle.

Saira has an MSc in Social Development and Planning from the Columbia University School of Social Work and a dual degree BA in Chemistry and Psychology from the University of Rochester.

Dr. Hamidah Hussain passed away in October 2022. This introduction stands in memory of her contributions as a founding director of IRD Global.

Dr. Hussain was a public health professional with over two decades of experience in designing, implementing, and evaluating global health service delivery programs and epidemiological research in Pakistan, Bangladesh, Tajikistan, Indonesia, Philippines and South Africa. Her portfolio included her work on active case finding for susceptible and drug resistant TB, childhood TB, TB preventive services, childhood vaccines, and preventable diseases, Malaria control programs along with costing and cost effectiveness of these interventions.

She led the IRD’s flagship TB program based at the Indus Hospital in Karachi and was instrumental in scaling DR-TB treatment services in two provinces of Pakistan. She was also part of the team that received The Global Fund grant on TB and Malaria as Principal Recipient. Dr. Hussain was the Global Technical Lead for IRD’s TB Preventive treatment programs and have assisted Pakistan and Afghanistan to draft their national TB preventive treatment guidelines.

She was the founding country director for IRD Bangladesh where she also served as the senior strategy advisor to the National TB Control Program providing leadership in establishing vision and technical direction of USAID funded Challenge TB project. Previously, Dr. Hussain worked at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in Baltimore and BRAC in Bangladesh. Dr. Hussain received an MBBS. medical degree from The Aga Khan University, MSc, Master in Health Policy, Planning and Financing from London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and PhD in health economics from University of Bergen, Norway.

Christal is a highly credentialed | Inclusive | cultural professional with over 21 years of business administration management, operational acumen, and progressive experience managing all aspects of the HR/HR system function and Business Partnering in various industries, including Advanced Technology, Hospitality and Tourism, Consumer Products and Manufacturing, Property Development and Constructions, Car Rental Business and Property Management. . With an excellent track record in Change Management, Organisational Transformation and Development, Employee Relations and Operations, Total Rewards, Strategic Planning, Compensation Benchmarking, and Organizational Design/Development.

Christal is a counselling psychologist focusing on Industrial and Organizational Consulting. She is also certified as a Behavioural Analysis Practitioner using the DISC Behavioural Style Assessment, one of the most used tools in coaching, consulting, HR management and Professional consultation. Her PhD research focused on employee and organizational behaviours that increase employees’ productivity.

Her philosophy is often described as dynamic and fun: “no one else is affecting your life but you”.

Uzma Khan is a physician, a public health implementer, researcher, an advocate for TB and for the implementation of integrated, equitable health practices.  Uzma has extensive experience in the evaluation of TB programs; in overseeing, implementing and conducting MDR-TB research; and has provided TB technical assistance to countries in South & Southeast Asia, Africa and the Middle East. She represents IRD as a part of the endTB leadership and is currently a Central Co-I for the endTB clinical trials (www.endTB.org). She previously served as Co-PI of the endTB observational study.  Uzma has provided technical oversight for access to and scale up of hepatitis C services in Pakistan. She is also a member of the regional Green Light Committee (rGLC) for the WHO EMRO region.

Uzma holds a medical degree, as well as a Masters in Epidemiology from the Harvard School of Public Health. Her interests include implementation science, health equity, advocacy and policy.

Dr. Tapash Roy has over 22 years of combined implementation research and program management experience in the field of public health both at developing and developed country settings. More than fourteen of those years have been spent working for NGOs (IRD Bangladesh, BRAC) in Bangladesh. He also worked as a Research Fellow and Research Coordinator at the University of Nottingham and the Open University, United Kingdom for six years. 

Tapash is also one of the Commissioners of the Lancet Commission on Global Surgery. He is on the board and technical committees of several organizations and initiatives, including Member of the WHO Partnership for Maternal, Newborn and Child Health, NCD Alliance, and Member of Technical Advisory Committees on NCDs and Eye Health of the Government of Bangladesh. 

He is the recipient of many prestigious awards and scholarships- including the ‘HIV Research Trust Award 2007’, ‘Medical Research Council UK Award 2005’ and ‘Wellcome Trust Fellowship Award 2002’. 

Tapash’s areas of interest and expertise include multidisciplinary implementation research, strategic planning; program development, management and implementation in the area of sexual and reproductive health, maternal, newborn and child health, adolescent health, HIV/AIDS, infectious diseases, eye health, rational use of medicines, mHealth, mental health and NCDs. 

He holds a PhD in Public Health and Epidemiology from the University of Nottingham; a MPH from the University of Edinburgh; a Diploma in Reproductive Health from Uppsala University, Sweden; and an MBBS degree from Bangladesh. He is an Adjunct Faculty of Public Health and Epidemiology at the School of Medicine of the University of Nottingham and James Peter Grant School of Public Health at BRAC University, Dhaka, Bangladesh. 

Atif Izhar Siddiqui is a Chartered Accountant, with a diverse experience in finance and audit internationally. For the past 8 years, he has worked with Eli Lilly, as regional Finance Director for Indonesia, Singapore, Brunei and Malaysia & CFO of Eli Lilly Pakistan. He was based in Jakarta for several years, and relocated to take over the position of CFO IRD Global.

He has also worked with PwC & ICI Pakistan Limited. Atif is responsible for oversight of all finance related matters for IRD Global and all affiliate companies. He works closely with Country Directors and finance teams to strengthen financial processes and their implementation. Additionally, he collaborates with team leads and PIs for development and management of project budgets, interacting directly with donors as needed. He plays a key part in the organization’s Finance Committee, working with senior management on strategic and business plans for the organization.

Habib Khan leads the human resource and administrative functions as Chief Operating Officer of IRD Pakistan. His specialisms include strategic and operational planning and management, administration, quality management, and biomedical engineering.

Prior to joining IRD, Habib spent 30 years with Aga Khan University Hospital, serving in various capacities, including as Senior Manager in the office of the Vice President of Health Services. He also spearheaded the hospital’s outreach services across four secondary hospitals, Clifton Medical Center, and nine integrated medical centers.

Habib holds a Master of Science in Computer Science and a Bachelor of Engineering (Electronics) from the NED University of Engineering and Technology. He is a Certified Risk Analyst from the International Academy of Financial Management; Certified Project Management Professional; Certified Quality Professional; Certified ISO 9000 Lead Auditor; and has received training as a surveyor from Joint Commission International.

Tanveen is an experienced legal counsel, with an expertise in technology. Having practised in law firms & corporate organisations, she has over 15 years of legal experience in structuring and negotiating deals, data protection, regulatory matters and compliance across industries in India, Singapore, Australia and Africa.

“Dr. Abu Jamil Faisel is a renowned public health physician with more than 35 years of diverse experience with family planning, reproductive health, Essential Services Package delivery program and improving quality of services in Bangladesh. This includes 9 years of working as a clinical service provider and trainer, and 5 years of working on clinical trial and introduction of new FP methods in the national program. He is a medical graduate with Masters in Public Health and a Diploma in Personnel Management.”

Dr. Manzur-ul-Alam, MBBS, MPH, MSc is an avid health professional with 17 years of experience in public health and infectious disease control with 5 years in clinical patient management. Manzur started his career in 2004 as a clinical doctor, and eventually establishing himself as an adept public health specialist, and then joining the BRAC Health program as a Technical Officer- TB in 2008,  ameliorating to the position of Senior Sector Specialist –TB to lead the implementation of MDR TB Program in BRAC areas in 2009. Dr. Manzur has enormous experience of working with USAID funded projects, joining URC’s TB CARE II Bangladesh Project as Program Specialist-MDR TB and then joined USAID funded SIAPS project.

Dr. Manzur journey started with IRD in October 2016 as a project coordinator endTB project and then involved with different IRD projects. Eventually his responsibility grew in IRD and currently he is working as Deputy Director. He has designed and implemented a multidimensional development program for the vulnerable, deprived and extreme poor to uphold their quality of life supported by the Global Fund, USAID and UNITAID. For the majority of his career, he has focused on clinical and programmatic management of sensitive and drug resistant TB. Leading the introduction and implementation of community-based drug resistant TB treatment as well as for new drugs (Bedaquiline and Delamanid) in Bangladesh, he has worked closely with NTP and supporting the strengthening logistic management system of DR-TB drugs and laboratory supplies including drug forecasting and quantification, procurement management and supply planning, and distribution of drugs. He played a key role in introduction and expansion of Shorter MDR treatment regimen under programmatic condition and has contributed tremendously in capacity building of the Government partners and clinicians in health issues. Dr. Manzur has vast experience in public health program and grant management; program implementation, relationship management, coordination, active screening programs, infection control, contact investigation and preventive treatment, clinical trials, survey methodology, infectious disease epidemiology, randomized control trial, costing analysis, economical evaluation and mixed method data analysis.

Danya is a development professional and a Commonwealth Scholar with a Masters Degree in Development Management from the London School of Economics and a Bachelors Degree in Economics from the Lahore University of Management Sciences.

Danya has over 5 years of experience working within the field, designing and implementing randomized control trials, generating evidence for scalability of behavioral economic interventions through rigorous impact evaluations and implementing various research projects and programs. In her current role at IRD, Danya is responsible for leading the Maternal and Child Health Program in Pakistan, focused on both innovative healthcare service delivery approaches as well as running rigorous research studies for generating evidence based impact. Danya’s research interests include immunizations, mHealth, and behavioral economics.

Before joining IRD, Danya has worked at the Center for Economic Research in Pakistan (CERP), where she was responsible for designing a randomized control trial for poverty alleviation strategies in Southern Punjab and developing and executing the organization’s communication strategy.

Irum Fatima is a public health professional with working experience of 20 years and past 12 years, specific to her public health career. She has experience of program implementation and monitoring and evaluation in International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) as Senior Officer CBHFA, National Coordinator for Hospital DOTS Linkages for Global Funds with the National TB Control Program (NTP) and gradually progressed on different positions in Mercy Corps from Senior Project Officer to Technical Advisor and Project Manager for Public Private Mix (PPM) intervention on TB DOTS, in the office of Principal Recipient for Global Funds Grants.

Her work experience ranges from program planning, developing budgets, to handling funds by international donors for the health programs for effective implementation. Having worked on capacity building of project staff and implementing partners through workshops, training and designing of training courses during her stay in IFRC, NTP and Mercy Corps, she has also performed in an advisory role, providing technical inputs in program development, program implementation, monitoring and evaluation for TB DOTS activities at national level.

Irum has worked to develop tools, checklists and guidelines for monitoring and evaluation for effective program implementation, while contributing in proposal writing.  She was the part of a technical team for developing proposal for IFRC appeals, and has coordinated with the National, Provincial and District Health authorities.

Waleed Rabbani has been leading the way in establishing mass deworming in Pakistan and bringing the country and East-Mediterranean Region closer to controlling Soil-transmitted Helminths (STH) prevalence. He has been associated with IRD since 2016 when he undertook the 1st ever nation-wide STH prevalence survey in the capacity of Program Manager. The findings of the Survey were accepted by the government of Pakistan, based on which Pakistan Deworming Initiative was established in 2018. Since then, Waleed Rabbani has represented IRD in advocacy efforts with the Ministries and department of Health, Education and Planning & Development as well as with WHO and prominent global stakeholders, thus ensuring the deworming of more than 10 million at-risk school-age children from 2019 to 2021. In addition to being promoted to the position of Assistant Director for Pakistan Deworming Initiative in 2022, Waleed has been assigned with membership of “Technical Advisory Group on Schistosomiasis and Soil-Transmitted Helminths Control & Elimination” at World Health Organization. In 2019 he was awarded Honorary Shield for Extraordinary Contribution in the Pakistan Deworming Initiative by the Ministry of Planning, Development & Special Initiatives, Government of Pakistan. Waleed holds MSc. Economics degree from Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS) and BSc. (Honors) Economics & Finance from Lahore School of Economics.

Dr. Nauman Safdar is a medical doctor and qualified public health professional with a masters in Maternal & Child Health and a PhD in International Health and over 20 years of experience, including, but not limited to: academic work and PhD level supervisions, having published more than 30 articles in peer-reviewed international journals. He has successfully led and delivered programs of research, development and implementation across Pakistan with public health and disease control programs and research and academic institutions. Dr. Nauman’s expertise includes; Project proposal development, strategic planning and policy development, project management and implementation, appraisals and need assessments, material development and capacity building, monitoring and evaluations. As Director Technical & Senior Liaison, he contributes to projects within IRD’s Maternal and Child Health Program, across Pakistan. He is also involved in national and international programs at IRD including Tuberculosis Control and Global Surgery, developing new research and development projects. He also worked at The Indus Hospital & Health Network as a Project Director, leading two cycles of Global Fund TB grants.

Samina R. Khan is currently an Independent Director of the IRD Pakistan Board of Governors, after she formally retired from the Indus Valley School of Art and Architecture, Karachi as its Executive Director.

She holds a Masters in English Literature and a Diploma in Journalism and Short Story Writing. As a resident Pakistani in Qatar, UAE, and Kenya, she closely observed education, teaching, learning and its cultural correlation with local societies.  Her editorial work for educational publishing at Oxford University Press; teaching and educational management at Pakistan Educational Centre Doha, Qatar; freelance journalism in UAE, environmental education research with Eastern Africa Environmental Network, Nairobi Kenya; engagement with diversity, art, education, governance, public diplomacy and intercultural relations at the British Council provided a broader understanding of challenges facing the present-day inclusive society.

As a Fulbright Scholar, Ms. Khan has also been a student at the Multinational Institute of American Studies at the NYU.