Zulfiqar Bhutta

Following the completion of his bachelor's degree, Bhutta began working as House Surgeon in Obstetrics & Gynecology at the Khyber Teaching Hospital, Peshawar (April–November 1978). He began work in paediatrics as a physician in November 1978 in the Professorial Unit at the Institute of Child Health, Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre, Karachi (Pakistan). Through 1980s he continued his work as a surgeon and paediatrician. He undertook his first professor position in the Department of Paediatrics, The Aga Khan University Hospital, Karachi (Pakistan), from November 1987 to June 1992.

In 2005, Bhutta became the Chairman of the Department of Paediatrics & Child Health at the Aga Khan University & Medical Center, a position held until 2008. Following his term as Chairman he became The Noordin Noormahomed Sheriff Professor & Founding Chair, Division of Women & Child Health, The Aga Khan University, a position he held for four years.

Bhutta currently holds the titles of co-director of the Centre for Global Child Health at the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto,^[10][11] and founding director of the Centre of Excellence in Women and Child Health at the Aga Khan University.^[4][5] In 2020, he was appointed founding director of the Institute for Global child Health & Development at the Aga Khan University and elected Fellow to the Royal Society, United Kingdom.

Outside of his professional responsibilities Bhutta serves on various local and international boards and committees, including a series of editorial boards.

In his various capacities Bhutta has produced a large collection of publications working with his teams at Sick Kids, AKU and international partners. These include book reviews, chapters, and articles.

Since 2019, Bhutta has been a member of the Lancet–SIGHT Commission on Peaceful Societies Through Health and Gender Equality, chaired by Tarja Halonen.^[12]

In 2020, he served on "A future for the world's children?", a WHO-UNICEF-Lancet Commission, co-chaired by Helen Clark and Awa Coll-Seck.^[13]

Bhutta's research interests include newborn and child survival, maternal and child undernutrition and micronutrient deficiencies. He leads large research groups based in Toronto, Karachi and Nairobi with a special interest in research synthesis, scaling up evidence based interventions in community settings and implementation research in difficult circumstances and conflict settings. In particular, his work with community health workers and outreach services has influenced integrated maternal and newborn outreach programs for marginalized populations all over the world. His group's work with the WHO and PMNCH in developing consensus based essential interventions for women, children and adolescents is the dominant set of agreed interventions guiding global policy. Presently Professor Bhutta is leading two global academic consortia; one working on improving reproductive, maternal and child health in conflict settings and humanitarian emergencies and the other focused on integrated investments to improve child and adolescent health and nutrition across the 0–19 years life course.

• Bhutta was awarded the Ihsan Doğramacı Family Health Foundation Prize by World Health Organization in 2014,^[14][15][16]
• Pride of Performance Award by the President of Pakistan Mamnoon Hussain in 2017.^[17][18]
• Bhutta was a recipient of the TWAS Prize (The World Academy of Sciences) in 2016.^[19]
• He was elected a Foreign Member of the Royal Society in 2020.^[20]
• He was awarded the Roux prize for public health achievements in 2021.^[21]
• He was awarded the John Dirks Canada Gairdner Global Health Award in 2022.^[22]
• He was awarded the Henry G. Friesen International Prize in Health Research in 2023.^[23]