A global health manager, health emergency preparedness and response specialist, and a medical epidemiologist, Dr Shaikh has over 25 years of leadership level experience in policy, planning, and programs management in global health and health security, preparedness and response to global health emergencies, including pandemic, & natural disasters working for the U.S. Centers for Disease Control, U.S. department of State, the United Nations system including WHO, and international non-profits, with portfolios covering over 70 countries spread across 4 continents and 5 WHO regions. An M.D. with clinical training in Radiology, Dr Shaikh also holds a Master of Public Health (MPH), and a PhD in Epidemiology from the Johns Hopkins University, Bloomberg School of Public Health in USA, where he also holds a faculty appointment in the Department of International Health. He has taught clinical epidemiology, emergency preparedness and response, disaster management, epidemiology of health emergencies and outbreak investigations at graduate levels for over 20 years. He has authored/co-authored book chapters in public health disaster management, evidence-bases in health emergencies, outbreak investigations, and emergency epidemiology, and has over 30 peer-reviewed publications in leading international health journals. Dr Shaikh has worked for WHO for over 11 years and he currently holds the positions of the Head of Office, WHO Country Office in Cyprus