Dr Gulfaraz Khan is Professor of Viral Pathology in the Department of Medical Microbiology & Immunology, College of Medicine and Health Sciences, UAE University (UAEU). Dr Khan received his undergraduate and postgraduate training in London (London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, and St Bartholomew’s Hospital Medical College), and his postdoctoral training in the Laboratory of the late Prof David Thorley-Lawson at Tufts University School of Medicine, Boston, USA. He returned to UK as a senior postdoctoral fellow in the Laboratory of Prof Ruth Jarrett at LRF Virus Centre, University of Glasgow, UK. He subsequently held faculty positions in universities in UK before moving to UAE University, initially as Associate Professor and later as Professor and Chair of the department.
Dr Khan’s primary research interest is in viral pathology of infectious diseases, in particular, Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) and its associated diseases. His secondary interest is in emerging viral infections and public health. He has over 115 publications in peer review journals and 9 book chapters. His papers have been published in high impact journals, including Cancer Cell, Nat Comm, Lancet, JAMA Oncology, Immunity, Brain, Oncogene, J Exp Med, J Gen Virol, Scientific Reports and J Pathol. His publication statistics (as of Jan 2023) are: total citations >37,000; h-index 47, i10-index 84.
He is actively involved in teaching and training undergraduate medical and postgraduate students and he has received several awards for his research and teaching. These include, the College of Medicine (UAEU) Award in Teaching (2013 & 2017), the College of Medicine (UAEU) Award for Research (2017), the UAE University Award for Excellence in Scholarship (2017), and Travel Award from the European Society of Clinical Virology (2015). In 2017, he was nominated for the UAE Prime Minister’s Medal for Scientific Excellence and was subsequently elected to the UAE Mohammad bin Rashid Academy of Scientists. He has also been included in the Stanford’s list of world top 2% scientists for the last two consecutive years. Dr Khan’s work has been covered in a range of media, including TV and newspapers.
Dr Khan is a member of several national and international committees and organisations. These include, MENA Regional Advisory Panel for US NIH-NIAID, UAE Ministry of Health NITAG committee, UAE National COVID-19 Research Committee and the Sheikh Hamdan Medical Awards Committee. He also serves on the editorial board of several international journals, including, Virology Journal, PLoS One, J Carcinogenesis.