Dr Khadija Irfan Khawaja is Associate Professor of Endocrinology at the Services Institute of Medical Sciences (SIMS), an undergraduate and postgraduate medical college owned by the Government of the Punjab, Pakistan. She is Head of the Department of Endocrinology and Metabolism, Services Hospital, a leading tertiary care hospital affiliated with the Services Institute of Medical Sciences, Lahore, since 2006.
In the last years, Dr Khawaja has been active in shaping public policy in dealing with diabetes. She was nominated Secretary of the Punjab Diabetes Forum, by the Punjab Government, to establish a Punjab Diabetes Action Plan. She was one of the authors of the Punjab Diabetes Action Plan and, since 2017, she has been a member of the Punjab government Steering Committee for the Implementation of the Punjab Diabetes Action Plan. As part of this strategy, she has organised a series of Intensive Training Courses for physicians, nurses and diabetes educators from level one and two healthcare facilities owned by the Punjab government.
Dr Khawaja is involved in several research collaborations, namely iHealth-T2D project, funded by the European Commission. This project, screened more than 3000 individuals for assessment of diabetes risk, enrolling a cohort of 500 patients into a family based lifestyle intervention programme with the aim of reducing the risk of diabetes.
Dr Khawaja’s research interests include childhood obesity, obesity and inflammation and the role of gut microbiota in obesity. She is passionate about NCD prevention from early age, through education and environmental modification in schools, universities and workplaces.
Within the NIHR GHRU on Diabetes and Cardiovascular Disease in South Asians, Dr Khawaja has been involved in the design and planning phase of the project and will be leading the programme implementation in Pakistan.
Services Institute of Medical Science, Pakistan
Established in 2003, Services Institute of Medical Sciences (SIMS) is a tertiary level Medical School located in Lahore, Pakistan. It is affiliated with the Services Hospital Lahore (SHL), which is a teaching hospital with a 1500 beds capacity. SIMS offers a range of MS, MD, MCPS and FCPS programmes.
The Department of Medical Education & Research, within SIMS, receives students and researchers from national and international organisations providing an enabling environment and access to its research friendly administration, active Institutional Review Board, electronic medical records, ISO certified laboratories, publication department and a digital research library.
