Rumina Hasan

Rumina Hasan MBBS, PhD, FRCPath is a Consultant Clinical Microbiologist and The Abdulaziz Hussainali Shariff Professor in the Department of Pathology & Microbiology at Aga Khan University (AKU), Karachi. She is also an Honorary Professor Department of Infectious and Tropical Diseases, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, UK.

Dr. Hasan’s contributions include the establishment of quality assured clinical microbiology services at AKU. Her work on tuberculosis led to the recognition of the TB laboratory at AKU as a Supranational reference lab by WHO for supporting TB diagnostics in the region. She has served on WHO Strategic Technical Advisory and Expert Groups as well as Guideline Development Committees for both tuberculosis and antimicrobial resistance. At a regional level she has been part of WHO Eastern Mediterranean Regional Green Light Committee (RGLC) for supporting prevention and control of drug-resistant tuberculosis in the region.

Although Prof Hasan’s initial research was aimed at studying the immunology of leprosy, faced with increasing antimicrobial resistance in her clinical work, her research focus expanded towards detection and study of emerging pathogens. She has studied and reported the emergence of new resistance in pathogens including in M.tuberculosis. To take this work forward, she is currently leading a programme exploring genomics and transcriptomics of antimicrobial resistance amongst bacterial and fungal pathogens in Pakistan. Professor Hasan has further been involved in the evaluation of rapid new diagnostics including for tuberculosis, typhoid and Dengue towards early detection and targeted treatment aimed at reducing antimicrobial misuse.

In the policy arena her interest in antimicrobial resistance led her to explore the prescribing practices with a focus on both conflict of interest, and on pharmaceutical led prescribing impacting efforts to control AMR in Pakistan. This work is being conducted in collaboration with the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.

Professor Hasan contributes to teaching undergraduate, graduate and PhD students at AKU. She initiated the microbiology residency training program at AKU which has greatly strengthened diagnostic microbiology in the country. To help strengthen clinical microbiology services across Pakistan, her group created an open access on-line platform to provide training in quality assured microbiology and detection of antimicrobial resistance to laboratory staff particularly to those based in remote areas.

Bibliography: https://www.aku.edu/mcpk/faculty/pages/profile.aspx?ProfileID=281&Name=Rumina%20Hasan