Zainab Samad

Dr. Zainab Samad is chairwoman of the Department of Medicine at Aga Khan University (AKU) in Pakistan and currently serves as an Adjunct Associate Professor of Medicine at Duke University.

She attended Medical School at the Aga Khan University Medical College in Karachi, Pakistan and thereafter completed her residency training in Internal Medicine and fellowship in Cardiology at Duke University Medical Center in Durham, North Carolina. Additionally, she completed advanced training in cardiovascular imaging, specifically in clinical echocardiography, cardiac MRI and SPECT-myocardial perfusion imaging. She is also trained in quantitative methods with a Master of Health Sciences in Clinical Research degree from the National Institutes of Health- Duke Clinical Research Training Program. She served on faculty in the Division of Cardiology, Department of Medicine for nine years before accepting the position at AKU in 2018. She resides full-time in Karachi.

Current Appointments & Affiliations

Adjunct Associate Professor in the Department of Medicine · 2018 - Present Medicine, Cardiology, Medicine

In the News

Published May 30, 2018

A 'Superstar' Duke Researcher Returns to Pakistan to Serve as First Female Chair of Medicine at Aga Khan University

Published June 2, 2015

Women, stress and the risk of heart disease

Published October 14, 2014

Stress affects women, men with heart disease differently, study shows

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Recent Publications

Infections do not play fair: the Charlson-Age Comorbidity Index reveals sex-specific risk in laparotomy patients in an LMIC

Journal Article Trauma Surgery and Acute Care Open · June 15, 2025 Background Surgical site infections (SSIs) are a major cause of increased morbidity, hospital stay, care costs, and mortality in surgical patients; these can be prognosticated by the Charlson Comorbidity Index (CCI) and accounting for age—the Charlson-Age ... Full text Cite

Addressing the challenge of rheumatic heart disease in Pakistan: A call to action.

Journal Article Dialogues Health · June 2025 Despite its high prevalence, Acute rheumatic fever (ARF) and Rheumatic heart disease (RHD) is underrepresented in Pakistan's national and federal health plans. To address this gap, we gathered multi-geographic and specialty perspectives from frontline clin ... Full text Link to item Cite

Weekends at risk: Uncovering the impact of the weekend effect on emergency general surgery.

Journal Article Surgery · May 2025 BACKGROUND: Weekend admissions have been proposed to be associated with the worst outcomes across varied patient populations and health care systems. However, there is a dearth of literature on weekend effects in low- and middle-income countries like Pakis ... Full text Link to item Cite

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Education, Training & Certifications

Duke University, School of Medicine · 2009 M.H.S.

Aga Khan University (Pakistan) · 2000 M.B.B.S.