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Person-Post: Aysha Akhtar, MD – Fellow

8th July 2008

Aysha Akhtar, M.D., M.P.H., is the President and CEO of the Center for Contemporary Sciences, which is catalyzing the world’s transition away from unreliable animal experiments to innovative medical research and testing. She is a double-board certified neurologist and preventive medicine specialist, with a background in public health. Previously she served as Deputy Director of the U.S. Army Traumatic Brain Injury Program developing the Army’s Brain Injury prevention and treatment strategies for soldiers. As a Commander in the US Public Health Service Commissioned Corps, Dr. Akhtar frequently deployed to assist with national public health emergencies. For a decade, Dr. Akhtar was a Medical Officer at the Food and Drug Administration, most recently in the Office of Counterterrorism and Emerging Threats, implementing studies on vaccine effectiveness and safety and using her Top Secret Security Clearance to develop national preparedness strategies for public health threats.  She is published in peer-reviewed journals including The Lancet, Pediatrics, Journal of Public Health Policy, and Reviews in the Neurosciences. Dr. Akhtar is the author of the two books, Our Symphony With Animals. On Health, Empathy and Our Shared Destinies.  and Animals and Public Health, which argues for the need for health institutions to include animals as part of the “public” in public health. She is a TEDx speaker.