Zulfiqar Bhutta

Zulfiqar is the Distinguished University Professor and Founding Director of the Institute for Global Health and Development and the Centre of Excellence in Women and Child Health at the Aga Khan University. He also holds 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, a unique joint appointment.

Zulfi was educated at the University of Peshawar (MBBS) and trained in paediatrics in Pakistan and the UK before returning to his country and joining the newly established department at the Aga Khan University in 1986. He leads large research groups based in Canada, Pakistan & Central Asia with a special interest in research synthesis, scaling up evidence-based interventions in community settings, and implementation research in fragile health systems.

As one of the most highly cited academics in global health, Zulfi has been ranked among the top 1% of Highly Cited Researchers globally by the Web of Science consecutively since 2013. He was elected to the National Academy of Medicine USA and the Royal Society of London and awarded the Roux Prize 2021 for his work on evidence-based public health impact.

He is the recipient of the 2022 John Dirks Canada Gairdner Global Health award & the Virchow Science Prize in 2025.