Dr Abdul Ghaffar is Principal Visiting Fellow at UNU-IIGH.
Dr. Ghaffar helps to shape HPSR through developing and testing innovative models in both research and implementation of programmes for health systems strengthening and enhancing the use of evidence in decision-making.
A physician by training, with a PhD in International Health from Johns Hopkins University, Dr. Ghaffar has worked in low- and middle-income countries over the past 30 years – managing a wide range of research portfolios, designing and evaluating national health systems, and training future generations of health systems researchers and decision-makers.
He started his career as a public health physician in Pakistan, before moving into several leadership positions, including Assistant Director-General of Policy and Planning, and Dean of the Health Services Academy, a national school of public health. He later served as Regional Advisor for Research in the Eastern Mediterranean Office of WHO. His intellectual contributions through many influential papers and seminal global reports and strategies continue to set standards and guidance in HPSR.