Professor Naila Zaman Khan
MBBS, FCPS, PhD (London)
Director,
Clinical Neurosciences Center,
Bangladesh Protibondhi Foundation.
Email: naila.z.khan@bpfbd.org
Professor Naila Z. Khan has joined the Bangladesh Protibondhi Foundation (BPF) as a full time Director of its Clinical Neurosciences Center (CNC) from July 2018, after being its honorary director and part time consultant since 2008. Till June 2018 she had headed the Department of Pediatric Neuroscience (DPNS), Dhaka Shishu Children’s Hospital (DSH), Bangladesh Institute of Child Health (BICH), which she had founded in 1992. This was the first department in this discipline in Bangladesh within a national hospital. From the outset, to make the service more practically useable and accessible to children presenting with a range of acute and chronic neurological and neurodevelopmental problems, Dr. Khan involved several disciplines such as pediatricians, psychologists, therapists, counselors, etc., within the service. She succeeded in making this a multi-professional discipline and service, combining child neurology and neurodevelopment, replicable in tertiary hospitals across Bangladesh; and post graduate FCPS and MD courses offered in the sub-speciality of Pediatric Neurology and Development. Till date Dr. Khan has successfully established 26 Child Development and Neurology Services across government (15), autonomous (3), non-government (4), and private hospitals (2); and NGOs (2), across the country.
Professional Education and Previous Appointments
After obtaining her bachelor’s degree in medicine (MBBS) from Dhaka Medical College in 1977 Dr. Khan trained in pediatrics at the Institute of Post Graduate Medicine and Research (IPGMR; subsequently named Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University or BSMMU) and obtained a Fellowship (FCPS) in Pediatrics in 1984. She joined as a Resident Physician in DSH in the same year and went on to become an Assistant Professor of Pediatrics through the BICH, ie, the academic wing of DSH. In 1987 she was awarded a Technical Assistance Grant from the British Council for a 4-year fellowship at the Neurosciences Unit, Great Ormond Street Hospital, Institute of Child Health, University College Hospital, London, UK. She obtained a doctoral degree (PhD) in 1991 from the University of London. On joining DSH on her return to Bangladesh she was promoted to an Associate Professor of Child Neurology and Development and conferred a Professorship in the same institution in 2001.
Boards, National Forums, Advisory Committees, Professional Organizations
| 1995-2009 | Member, Executive Board, Shoishob Bangladesh (NGO running non formal schools for child domestic labour) |
| 2003-2008 | Member, Programme Advisory Council, Research Initiatives, Bangladesh (RIB) |
| 2012- 2013 | Academic Director, Bangladesh Institute of Child Health, Dhaka Shishu (Children’s) Hospital |
| 2008-2018 | National Co-ordinator, Establishment of Shishu Bikash Kendro (Bangla for “Child Development Centers”) in Government Tertiary Hospitals, Director General of Health Services (DGHS), Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MOHFW), Government of Bangladesh (GOB). |
| 1984-till date | Member, Bangladesh Paediatric Association (BPA) |
| 2000-till date | Founder Chairperson, Shishu Bikash Network (SBN), a network of multi-disciplinary professionals working in the field of paediatric neurosciences, neurodisability and child development. |
| 2000-till date | Co-convener, Shasthya Andolon (Health Movement – a forum of health professionals, activists, lawyers, environmentalists, agriculturists, nutritionists and others engaging in discourse on various health issues and policies related to peoples’ health). |
| 2001-till date | Member, Faculty of Pediatrics, Bangladesh College of Physicians and Surgeons (BCPS) |
| 2006-till date | Secretary-General, Bangladesh Society for Child Neurology, Development and Disability (BSCNDD) |
| 2006-till date | Member, Working Group, Bangladesh Health Watch (BWH) |
| 2008-till date | General Secretary, Bangladesh Protibondhi Foundation (BPF) |
| 2008-till date | President, Bangladesh Clinical Neuro Electro Physiologists’ Society (BCNEPS) |
| 2015-till date | Member, Board of Trustees, Quazi Nooruzzaman Trust |
| 2017-till date | Member, Steering Committee, Neurodevelopmental Disorders (NDD) and Autism Trust, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of Bangladesh. |
| 2018-till date | Member, Steering Committee, North East England South Asia Mental Health Association (NEESAMA). |
International Memberships
| 2008-2018 | Advisory Board, International Journal of Pediatric Neurology |
| 2008-till date | National Delegate, Asia Oceania Child Neurology Association. |
| 2010-till date | Member, International Child Neurology Association |
| 2017-till date | Associate Editor, Autism Research |
Awards received
2016 | Recipient of the La Foundation Motrice Award at the European Association for Childhood Disability (EACD) conference in Stockholm, Sweden, for “improving the care of children within neurodevelopmental disabilities in Bangladesh and in other low- and middle-income countries “(citation quote). |
2018 | Recipient of the “Successful Individual” (Shophol Bekti) Award on the occasion of the 11th World Autism Awareness Day by the Honorable Prime Minister of Bangladesh under the aegis of the Ministry of Social Welfare, Government of Bangladesh. |
Research and Publications
Prof. Khan has over 150 publications in national and international journals, monographs, books and reports. Her research has been funded, among others, by the Center for Disease Control (CDC), Atlanta; Melinda and Bill Gates Foundation (MBGF); Autism Speaks; Child Care and Development Trust (CCT), UK; and DFID, UK. Tools developed by her and her team are being used worldwide, including Ethiopia, South Africa, Vietnam, Bhutan, Guatemala, Haiti, Tanzania, Ghana, Zambia, USA, Australia and the UK.
Current research interests
- Applying technology for the early recognition and intervention of children with, or, at risk of, neurodevelopmental disorders (NDDs).
- Child and adolescent mental health (CAMH) and the well being of children and their families.
- Mental health and NDDs in displaced children, within and across borders.
- Community inclusion and protection (in health, education and social sectors) of disadvantaged children and children with disabilities.
- Measuring children’s long-term outcomes, quality of life and well being, after receiving interventions for mental health problems and/or NDDs.
Personal
Prof. Khan is a freedom fighter who took active part in Bangladesh’s Liberation War in 1971. As a health volunteer she assisted a medical team run an Advanced Dressing Station in the Shona Masjid sub-sector under the command of Bir Shrestho Captain Mohiuddin Jahangir and organized by her mother Prof Emeritus Sultana Sarwatara Zaman (founder, Bangladesh Protibondhi Foundation;link). Earlier during the war she was part of a roving troupe of artists who sang songs of liberation to keep the spirit of liberation alive; and her recorded songs were regularly transmitted by the Shadhin Bangla Betar Kendro. She was also a prominent member of a troupe of artists during the Liberation War, which is recorded in the documentary “Muktir Gaan”. Lt.Col (Retd.) Quazi Nuruzzaman, Bir Uttam, Sector Commander of Sector 7, who passed away in May 2011, is Prof. Khan’s father. Her spouse Shahidullah Khan, is a freedom fighter who fought from Sector 2 during the War of Liberation. He is the publisher of an English language daily “New Age” (newagebd.net).
