Coronavirus has brought all nations to the same level. Only research continues to dictate who wins the race. Distinguished investigator, Professor Khalid Khan has dedicated his expertise for Pakistan where he is currently working with the advisor to Prime Minister Imran Khan on health emergency, Dr Ghazna Siddiqui in order to help the country and its esteemed consortium of doctors to understand more about COVID-19.
With numerous accolades and titles, including Spinoza Professor at the University of Amsterdam in the Netherlands; Sims Black Professor at the UK Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists in London; and Beatriz Galindo Distinguished Investigator at the University of Granada in Spain, Dr. Khalid Khan has been at the top of his field for decades. Beyond his many credentials, Dr. Khan is the lead author of the highly acclaimed book ‘Systematic Reviews to Support Evidence-based Medicine’, which won a British Medical Association Medical Book award. It is available in English, Chinese, and German languages. The book continues to be an essential text for all medical, surgical, and health professionals. For nearly two decades, he has regularly been invited to deliver training workshops and lectures by many of the world’s most well-known conferences and universities at their most prestigious events.
Being one of the top researchers in his field, Dr Khalid Khan is now a member of the government’s COVID scientific task force which collectively assesses evidence and advises on activities to respond to the ongoing challenges. We connected with the doctor to better understand the role of research in helping combat a pandemic.
When asked about the on-going myths surrounding Covid where research is often times perceived as an experimentation, Dr Khan clarifies, “It’s unfortunate for people to have the perception that participating in research is an experiment and receiving care for Covid outside research is not. The real experiment is the provision of care without evidence for something that did not exist before.”
Elaborating on the importance of research when combatting a pandemic like Covid-19, Dr Khan explains, “research primarily offers opportunities for participants to benefit during the course of the research and also in the future. A pandemic like Covid-19 is unprecedented. There unfortunately is no textbook or previous learning which can help prepare practitioners on how to deal with the virus. What we do as researchers is, we help create new knowledge that informs healthcare providers effective ways on how to succeed against this new ailment.”
Dr Khalid Khan now offers worldwide assistance to health researchers with research planning and writing. Furthermore, he has delivered writing courses directed at healthcare staff at any grade giving them the tools, tips, and tricks with which to prepare and submit convincing manuscripts for publication. Dr Khan has been invited to give courses to a worldwide audience in over 37 countries including the UK, USA, Canada, Australia, China, Japan, Mongolia, Malaysia, India, Pakistan, Egypt, Turkey, Kenya, Tanzania, Argentina, and the EU.
In 2003, he founded Health Education Research (HER) Ltd, a company that is passionate about perfection in research which takes ideas from hypothesis generation to publication and impact. HER Ltd has its expertise in developing the study design, writing protocols, seeking ethical and regulatory approvals, overseeing study conduct, planning data analyses, manuscript writing, peer-review, revisions and dissemination.