Being born and brought up in Pakistan, a lower-middle income country, health and education professions were preferred for females. Alia Ahmad chose to become a doctor. She is passionate about improving care for children with cancer and blood disorders despite limited resources. Dr. Ahmad currently works as a Pediatric Hematologist/Oncologist at the Children’s Hospital Lahore, which is the biggest children’s hospital in Pakistan. The Hematology/Oncology department at the Children’s Hospital provides free treatment to children with cancer and blood disorders who are referred from all over the country and across the borders of neighboring countries like Afghanistan. Her research interests are solid tumors, brain tumors, acute lymphoblastic leukemia, pediatric cancer registries, healthcare quality improvement and metrics.
Dr. Ahmad earned her medical degree in 1994 from King Edward Medical College/Punjab University Lahore and received a diploma in Child Health in 1998 from the Post Graduate Medical Institute Lahore/Punjab University. She trained in Sabah Women and Children’s Hospital Likas Kota Kinablau in Pediatrics. After completing her internship, she worked in rural areas of Punjab as a medical officer and provided maternal and child health services in Lahore and Sabah, Malaysia.
Dr Ahmad currently works as associate Professor of Pediatric Hematology/Oncology and is responsible for the patient care, research, teaching and training programs for health professionals in the Department of Hematology/Oncology.
“Being a member of St. Jude Global alliance in collaboration with St. Jude Global and serving as the general secretary of the Pakistan Society of Paediatric Oncology, I aspire to improve the childhood cancer outcome in Pakistan by engaging more centers and government officials to establish collaborations and project prioritization in next few years,” she says. “By earning my master’s in science in Global Child Health, I desire to be a positive change agent and become an authentic voice for health policy makers to improve child health, and in particular childhood cancer care, in my country.”
Education
MD - King Edward Medical College/Punjab University Lahore (2014)
Diploma - The Post Graduate Medical Institute Lahore/Punjab University (1998)