Prof Dr Ziaul Haq appointed pro-vice chancellor of KMU

PESHAWAR: On the recommendation of the Chief Minister Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, the provincial Governor has appointed Prof Dr Ziaul Haq (BPS-21), Dean Public Health, as pro-vice chancellor of Khyber Medical University (KMU) for a period of two years with immediate effect.

He has earned this prestigious position at the youngest age of 39 years. Dr Zia belongs to the Syed family of Upper Dir district. His father Syed Matiullah is a retired senior official of the provincial forests department. The pro-vice chancellor of a university is appointed by the government to act as officiating vice-chancellor or acting vice-chancellor, as the case may be, be for a period of two years.

Dr Ziaul Haq won the Lifetime achievement award 2017, HEC Pakistan Best University Teacher Award 2018, and HEC Pakistan Best Young Researcher Award 2019 in recognition of his services in the field of public health. As the first Professor of Public Health, he played a major role in establishing the department of public health. He initiated a number of public health & family medicine programmes during his 11 years stay at KMU.

He is supervising several PhD scholars and MPhil researchers. He is a principal investigator of several research studies. He did PhD Public Health from Glasgow, UK and MBBS and MPH from Pakistan. He has published articles on public health and has worked in close liaison with the department of health.

Minister for Health KP Dr Hisham Inamullah Khan made him part of the six-member core group of the Health Policy Advisory Council (HPAC) which works directly under the minister. The council finalized the first provincial health policy within 100 days after the formation of the PTI government formation.