Intended for healthcare professionals
Zulfi Bhutta
Dr Zulfiqar A. Bhutta is the Robert Harding Inaugural Chair in Global Child Health at the Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, Co-Director of the SickKids Centre for Global Child Health and the Founding Director of the Center of Excellence in Women and Child Health, at the Aga Khan University, unique joint appointments. He also holds adjunct professorships at several leading Universities globally including the Schools of Public Health at Johns Hopkins (Baltimore), Tufts University (Boston), Boston University School of Public Health, University of Alberta as well as the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine. He is a designated Distinguished National Professor of the Government of Pakistan and was the Founding Chair of the National Research Ethics Committee of the Government of Pakistan from 2003-2014. Dr Bhutta was a member of the Independent Expert Review Group (iERG) appointed by the UN Secretary General for monitoring global progress in maternal and child health MDGs (2011-2015). He represented the global academic and research organizations on the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunizations (Gavi) Board and serves on its program and policy committee. Dr Bhutta is the co-Chair of the Global Countdown for 2015 Initiative from 2006-2017, the co-Chair of the Maternal and Child Health oversight committee of World Health Organization (WHO) Eastern Mediterranean Region (EMRO) and the Chairman of the Coalition of Centers in Global Child Health with its secretariat based at the Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto. He is a technical member of the recently appointed high-level UN Health and Human Rights committee.
Professor Bhutta was educated at the University of Peshawar (MBBS) and obtained his PhD from the Karolinska Institute, Sweden. He is a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians (Edinburgh & London), the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health (London), American Academy of Pediatrics and the Pakistan Academy of Sciences. He heads a large research team in Pakistan working on issues of maternal, newborn and child survival and nutrition globally and regionally. Dr Bhutta has served as a member of the Global Advisory Committee for Health Research for the World Health Organization, the Board of Child & Health and Nutrition Initiative of Global Forum for Health Research, and the steering committees of the International Zinc and Vitamin A Nutrition Consultative Groups. He was a founding Board member of the Global Partnership for Maternal, Newborn and Child Health (PMNCH). He is a Board member of the International Center for Diarrheal Diseases Research. Dr Bhutta was a member of the WHO Strategic Advisory Committee for Vaccines (SAGE) from 2010-15 and the Advisory Committee for Health Research of the WHO EMRO. He is the past-President of the Commonwealth Association of Paediatric Gastroenterology and Nutrition (CAPGAN) and the Federation of Asia-Oceania Perinatal Societies (FAOPS) and as the current President of the International Pediatric Association (IPA 2016-2019), is a leading voice for health professionals supporting integrated maternal, newborn and child health globally.
Dr. Bhutta is on several international editorial advisory boards including the Lancet, BMJ, PLoS Medicine, PLoS ONE, BMC Public Health and the Cochrane CDPLG and ARI groups. He has published eight books, 88 book chapters, and over 720 indexed publications to date, including 145 in the world’s leading journal Lancet alone. He is one of the most highly cited academics in global health (H index 101, i10 index 490). He has been a leading member of recent major Lancet series on Child Survival (2003), Newborn Survival (2005 & 2014), Undernutrition (2008 & 2013), Primary Care (2008) Stillbirths (2011 & 2016), Pakistan (2013) as well as the recent series on Childhood Diarrhea and Pneumonia (2013), Early Child Development (2016) and Lancet Commissions on Education for Health Professionals for the 21st century (2010), Women & Health (2015), Indigenous Health (2016) and Adolescent Health (2016). He has won several awards, including the Tamgha-i-Imtiaz (Medal of Excellence) by the President of Pakistan for contributions towards education and research (2000), the President of Pakistan Gold Medal for contributions to Child Health in Pakistan (2004) and the Outstanding Pediatrician of Asia award by the Asia Pacific Pediatric Association (2006). He is the first dual recipient of the Aga Khan University Distinguished Faculty Award for Research (2005) and Award of Distinction (2012). Dr Bhutta was awarded the inaugural Programme for Global Pediatric Research Award for Outstanding Contributions to Global Child Health (2009) and the Kenneth Warren prize for the best systematic review of community based interventions by the Cochrane collaboration in 2011. Dr Bhutta was awarded the Global Advocacy Prize by the Royal College of Paediatrics & Child Health in 2012, the American Academy of Pediatrics’ Sam Fomon Award for lifetime contributions to Nutrition Research (2014), the WHO Ihsan Dogramaci Family Health award (2014), the inaugural TUBA Academy of Sciences Award for global contributions to Health and Life Sciences (2015), University of Toledo Medical Missions Hall of Fame Award (2016) and the Geneva Forum for Health award for contributions to maternal and child health globally (2016). In August 2016, Dr Bhutta was recognized with the President of Pakistan Pride of Performance Award for contributions towards Education and Health. In Nov 2016 the World Academy of Sciences (Trieste) awarded Dr Bhutta the TWAS Prize in Medical Sciences for his contributions to newborn and child health in Pakistan and globally.
Dr Bhutta’s research interests include newborn and child survival, maternal and child undernutrition and micronutrient deficiencies. He leads large research groups based in Toronto, Karachi and Nairobi with a special interest in research synthesis, scaling up evidence based interventions in community settings and implementation research in health systems research. In particular his work with community health workers and outreach services has influenced integrated maternal and newborn outreach programs for marginalized populations all over the world. His group’s work with the WHO and PMNCH in developing consensus based essential interventions for women, children and adolescents is the dominant set of agreed interventions guiding global policy.
