Daily Times

LAHORE: Pakistan Cricket Board has appointed Dr Najeebullah Soomro, who has made a name in Australian sport with his research, practice, and contribution, as its Chief Medical Officer following a robust recruitment process.

The position had become vacant following the resignation of Dr Sohail Saleem, said a spokesman of the PCB here on Tuesday.

Dr Najeebullah is an MBBS from Karachi’s Dow University of Health and Sciences and a PhD from Discipline of Exercise and Sports Science, The University of Sydney (Thesis: Cricket Injury Prevention). This was completed in collaboration with Cricket Australia in creating the world’s first Cricket Injury Prevention Programme (CIPP) and injury surveillance mobile app (TeamDoc) for community cricket, he said.

“ Dr Najeebullah is also a dual-trained Injury Epidemiologist & Sports Scientist, having completed Master of Public Health from The University of Sydney, majoring in Epidemiology and Injury Prevention.

“Dr Najeebullah’s consultancy in Sports Science and Medicine spans national and international organisations, such as Cricket Australia, Cricket New South Wales, Cricket Victoria, Pakistan Cricket Board, IronMan Western Australia, FIFA, Rugby League, Netball and Australian Football League.

“ In 2018, Dr Najeebullah published the world largest cricket injury study, which included data from more than 12,500 cricketers around the world, making him one of the top cited cricket researchers in the world. He is presently leading Sports Medicine and Science at the South Fremantle Football Club, which is a champion Western Australian AFL team”.

The spokesman said Dr Najeebullah, will relocate from Perth to assume his responsibilities at the National High Performance Centre in October.