SA

Sarfraz Ahmed

Harvard Medical School, University of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Quaid-i-Azam University, Bahauddin Zakariya University

ORCID iD 0000-0001-5879-0461
Follow

About

I am currently working as a Senior Scientist at the Joan C. Edwards School of Medicine, Marshall University, USA. I have previously served as Lead of the Department of Basic Sciences at the University of Veterinary and Animal Sciences (UVAS), Lahore, Pakistan (on leave), where I contributed to research development, training, and academic capacity-building.

I completed my PhD at the School of Medical Sciences, Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM), one of Malaysia’s top-ranked universities, as a TWAS–USM Fellow. My doctoral research focused on exploring natural agents against breast cancer using in vivo models, encompassing both chemopreventive and therapeutic investigations. My dissertation established a counterintuitive yet fundamental framework for anticancer mechanisms of natural agents, demonstrating their multifold effects through modulation of immune-related hematological and serological parameters, as well as regulation of pro- and anti-apoptotic proteins within the mitochondrial apoptotic pathway at serum and tissue levels.

I earned my Master’s degree in Microbiology/Molecular Biotechnology from Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad, Pakistan. Motivated by strong interests in biochemistry, disease mechanisms, and therapeutics, I edited the world’s first comprehensive book on the Biochemistry of Drug Resistance, published by Springer Nature, and have authored and edited more than 20 book chapters in related areas.

Over approximately six years, I served as an Assistant and Associate Professor of Biochemistry at multiple Pakistani public-sector universities, receiving distinctions and awards for teaching and research excellence. I have supervised and co-supervised 10 Master’s and PhD students.

I have contributed 50+ peer-reviewed publications in reputable journals, including The Lancet, Nature Parkinson’s Disease, and Nature Scientific Reports. My research spans oncology, immunology, neurology, and therapeutics. I led a Higher Education Commission of Pakistan–funded clinical trial on Hepatitis C, which identified Silymarin as a novel adjuvant therapy capable of mitigating DAA-induced thrombocytopenia; this approach was subsequently adopted by multiple hospitals at the national level.

I conducted postdoctoral research at the Wellman Center for Photomedicine and served as a Senior Scientist in the Department of Neurology at Harvard Medical School, contributing as a lead scientist on NIH-sponsored research projects. My current work integrates cancer therapeutics, immunotherapy, genomics, microbiology, photomedicine, and state-of-the-art nanotechnologies. I work under internationally recognized mentors whose laboratories demonstrated for the first time that physical cues, such as spiky surface structures of viruses including influenza and SARS-CoV-2, influence immune recognition, as published in Science.

I have received multiple best research awards at international conferences, including a Bronze Medal from the Malaysian Ministry of Higher Education for developing a novel natural product, and my work has been cited by international news outlets. I serve as a reviewer for several high-impact journals, including Heliyon (Cell Press).

I am a member of several international scientific organizations, including the American Association for Cancer Research, European Federation of Biochemical Societies, European Association for Cancer Research, American Society for Microbiology, Council of Asian Science Editors, and an Associate Member of the Biochemical Society (UK).

I am confident that my international training and exposure at world-leading institutions will further strengthen my scientific independence and enable sustained contributions to translational biomedical research.

Employment

  • Harvard Medical School Post doc
    2023 - Present
  • University of Veterinary and Animal Sciences Assistant Professor
    2019 - 2023
  • Bahauddin Zakariya University Assistant Professor
    2016 - 2018

Education

  • Universiti Sains Malaysia PhD
    2011 - 2016
  • Quaid-i-Azam University M.Phil/M.S
    2006 - 2008
  • Quaid-i-Azam University M.Sc/B.S

Projects & Funding

Projects & funding information is unavailable.

Publications (59)