Skip to main content

Zainab Samad

Adjunct Associate Professor in the Department of Medicine
Medicine, Cardiology

Overview


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

View All News

Recent Publications


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

Journal Article Surgery · March 4, 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

Peer-to-peer tele-consultative services for critical care, Afghanistan, Kenya, Pakistan, United Republic of Tanzania.

Journal Article Bull World Health Organ · February 1, 2025 OBJECTIVE: To develop a tele-intensive care service providing peer-to-peer teleconsultation for physicians in remote and resource-constrained health-care settings for treatment of critically ill patients, and to evaluate the outcomes of the service. METHOD ... Full text Link to item Cite

A Step Beyond Mortality: Identifying Factors of Prolonged Hospital Stay for Emergency General Surgery Conditions in a Low- and Middle-Income Country.

Journal Article J Surg Res · January 16, 2025 INTRODUCTION: While various factors leading to prolonged length of stay (LOS) have been identified for emergency general surgery (EGS), there is limited literature on specific factors for individual emergent specialties. This study aimed to identify patien ... Full text Link to item Cite
View All Publications

Education, Training & Certifications


Duke University, School of Medicine · 2009 M.H.S.
Aga Khan University (Pakistan) · 2000 M.B.B.S.