Professor Zulfiqar Bhutta of the Aga Khan University gets fellowship of the Royal Society, the United Kingdom’s leading scientific body
Professor Zulfiqar Bhutta gets the fellowship of the Royal Society. Professor Bhutta has been a faculty member at the AKU since 1986 and his scientific research has focused on raising living standards in some of the world’s most vulnerable populations, including women, newborns, and children in low-income countries, marginalized rural areas and conflict-affected settings.
From the outset, he has set his research priorities around pressing national and global issues, particularly amongst underserved populations and in understudied areas of need, initially on childhood diarrhea and malnutrition, and global newborn care.
He and his colleagues have focused more recently on gathering evidence around health, including mental health, and nutrition interventions for adolescents and young children in low- and middle-income countries, especially for those living in poverty.
They are also leading global efforts to investigate and improve reproductive, maternal, and child health in the Muslim world and in conflict settings and humanitarian emergencies.
The Royal Society is the independent scientific academy of the United Kingdom.
It is a self-governing fellowship of many of the world’s most eminent scientists and is the oldest scientific academy in continuous existence.
In 2018 Professor Bhutta was also elected to the National Academy of Sciences, the highest scientific body in the USA.
Professor Bhutta is also a fellow of the Royal College of Physicians (Edinburgh & London), the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health (London), the American Academy of Pediatrics, and the Pakistan Academy of Sciences.
Past fellows and foreign members of the Royal Society have included Isaac Newton, Charles Darwin, Albert Einstein, Dorothy Hodgkin, and Stephen Hawking. It’s a big achievement for Pakistan indeed.