Zulfiqar Bhutta

Zulfiqar Bhutta comes from a family of physicians and educationalists from Peshawar (Pakistan). He graduated from Khyber Medical College in 1977. After training positions in Pakistan, he went to the United Kingdom for his higher professional training. After obtaining the membership in Paediatrics in 1981, he was a fellow and lecturer in neonatal paediatrics at the University Department of Child Health, Bristol. He obtained a PhD in Nutrition from the Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, and is a fellow of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh as well as the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health (UK).

Dr Bhutta holds several national and international society responsibilities and has an active interest in international child health. He is currently president elect of the Federation of the Asia-Oceania Perinatal Societies and president of the Commonwealth Association of Paediatric Gastroenterology and Nutrition. He currently holds the chair of the Health Sciences Group of the Biotechnology Commission, is a member of the advisory committee for health research of the World Health Organization’s Regional Office for the Eastern Mediterranean, and is chairman of the Research Ethics Committee of the government of Pakistan. He has recently been elected to the steering committee of the International Paediatric Association and is a member of the steering committee of the new Global Partnership for Maternal, Newborn and Child Health.

Dr Bhutta’s research interests include community based perinatal care, interaction of nutrition and infections, micronutrient malnutrition, and maternal and child health policy issues. He has published three books, 40 book chapters, and over 225 indexed publications to date. He has won several awards, including the Tamgha-i-Imtiaz (Medal of Excellence) by the President of Pakistan for contributions towards education and research (1999), the President of Pakistan Gold Medal for contributions to Child Health in Pakistan (2004) and the Outstanding Paediatrician of Asia award by the Asia Pacific Pediatric Association (2006). He is also the first recipient of the Aga Khan University Distinguished Faculty Award for Research (2005).