Shabnum Sarfraz MD, MBA

Dr. Shabnum Sarfraz is an accomplished development leader who has a distinguished track record of leading multi-sectoral multi-country health portfolios, collaborated with global organizations, and contributing to ground-breaking gender equity initiatives. She is a government relations specialist with over 15 years of experience shaping and influencing policy at the highest governmental tiers.

As the Global Director of Gender & Health for the Women in Global Health, she led research, advocacy, and policy initiatives across 53 countries in the Women in Global Health network to promote gender equity in health leadership. Prior to this, she worked for the Federal Planning Commission, Government of Pakistan, where she was the national policy and planning lead for the health, education, youth, and gender portfolios for the Prime Minister.

She led Pakistan’s national COVID-19 response efforts and was the force behind the launch of the country’s first-ever national gender policy framework. She has served as the Senior Technical Advisor for Marie Stopes International UK and Regional Human Resource for Health Advisor for WHO. She is a Harvard University Global Health LEAD Fellow and is a recipient of the Vice-Chancellor’s Alumni Awards 2021, as conferred by the University of Surrey in recognition of her extraordinary professional achievements.