Connection profile

arifkhan

About: I am Arif, a Bangladeshi medical graduate with extensive experience as a public health epidemiologist and researcher, specializing in infectious diseases and non-communicable disease prevention. Additionally, I serve as a research mentor and educator, accumulating over 13 years of professional expertise. By December 2022, I had authored more than 40 peer-reviewed scientific publications, which have garnered over 900 citations, and delivered over 10 conference presentations. My contributions have also played a vital role in securing 12 successful peer-reviewed research grant applications, totalling more than $13 million (USD) in funding as a co-investigator. My academic journey led me to attain a doctoral degree in Public Health from the University of Queensland within the Faculty of Medicine. My PhD research project centred on evaluating the "10,000 Lives" initiative in Central Queensland, Australia, yielded critical insights into maximising the utilisation of existing smoking cessation interventions. This research was aimed at addressing the high prevalence of smoking in regional Australia. I led and published six peer-reviewed scientific articles from this project, including one in a prestigious Lancet journal. Before commencing my PhD in Australia, I dedicated eight years to my role at icddr,b (www.icddrb.org), where I rapidly advanced as a research scientist in infectious disease and vaccine research. The fruits of our research were published in internationally renowned publications like The Lancet and the esteemed New England Journal of Medicine. My work in clinical vaccine development for infectious diseases, such as cholera and typhoid, is of global significance. In 2022, I embarked on a new chapter as a senior epidemiologist and clinical researcher at the Wide Bay Hospital and Health Service, working under the Queensland Government. In this capacity, I provide valuable support to the public health and clinical teams, enhancing evidence-based public health practices for the prevention and control of communicable diseases, as well as conducting essential clinical research. My particular area of interest lies in understanding how diseases, especially chronic ones, can be prevented among exceptional and marginalized populations through the lens of their inherited and folk culture and genetics.