Educational Qualification

• PhD (Medical Microbiology) 2014, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, India
• Doctoral Fellowship (Medical Microbiology- Molecular Virology) 2009, National Institute of Health, USA
• MSc. (Medical Microbiology) 2005, Kasturba Medical College, Manipal Academy of Higher Education, India
• BSc. (Microbiology) 2002, University of Mumbai, India

Professional Career

• Assistant Professor Department of Medical Microbiology & Immunology, RAK College of Medical Sciences, RAKMSHU, Ras Al Khaimah, UAE. August 2016 - to date
• Assistant Professor of Microbiology Faculty of Dentistry, Jamia Millia Islamia (Central university), Jamia Nagar, Okhla, New Delhi (2015-2016)
• Assistant Professor of Microbiology,
• Government Medical College & Super Facility Hospital, Azamgarh- U.P, India (2014-2015)
• Molecular Specialist - Abbott Molecular Labs (Europe, Middle East Africa & India)
• Lecturer of Microbiology, Hillside College of Nursing, Bangalore (2005-2006)
• Six month Diploma in Hospital Management (2005)

Achievements/ Interests

AWARDS/ HONOURS/ FELLOWSHIPS

• Dr Hutch's Hamdan award for outstanding work on liver disease at the 9th International conference of medical sciences by Sheikh Hamdan awards, 14th - 16th Dec. 2016, Dubai for my core research work entitled "Evaluation of Dried Blood Spot (DBS) as a method of sample collection for Hepatitis C Virus (HCV) RNA quantification".
  
• Paper presentation: Singh J, Rufai SB, Kumar P, Rawat VS, Hafiz Ahmad, Joseph A, Singh S . Comparison of Abbott Real-Time MTB RIF/INH resistance assay with standard phenotypic and other molecular methods: a pilot study. 27th European Congress of Clinical Microbiology & Infectious Disease 2017, April 22-25, Vienna, Austria.
• Invited speaker for International conference on STDs & HIV- 2016 at Movenpick hotel, Ibn Batuta, Dubai for delivering talk on his core research work on "Treatment of parasitic infection in HIV-1 co-infected patients decrease HIV plasma load". Abstract published on https://www.clytoaccess.com/international-conference-stds-and-hiv
• Invited speaker for presenting paper at Pathology 2013 conference at Las Vegas, USA on Aug 05-07, 2013
• Invited Oral presentation on -Transmitted HIV-1 Drug resistance at National Conference on HIV/AIDS Research by UNAIDS & NACO at Indian Habitat Centre, Delhi, 19th to 21st Jan 2011
• ICMR international travel grant Awardee for presentation at Pathology-2013 conference held in Las Vegas, USA
• Awarded CICS-INSA international travel award - 2013
• Doctoral Research Fellowship at National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD), National Institute of Health (NIH), Bethesda, Maryland, USA, working with Dr Leonid Margolis (Deputy Director NASA/NIH centre for 3D tissue culture) on HIV pathogenesis and ex-vivo culture
• Life Time Member for Indian Association of Medical Microbiologists. Registration no. 562546
• Indian Association of Medical Microbiologists (IAMM) Best Poster Award- Delhi Chapter 05 Dec.,2009
• IAMM Best Poster Award - Delhi Chapter- 28 Mar., 2009, New Delhi

EDITORIAL RESPONSIBILITIES:

• Editorial Board Member - HIV Advance Research and Development Aperito online Publishing, USA (Sep. 2014)
  
• Editorial Board Member - Jacobs Journal of HIV/AIDS, Jacob publishers, Austin, Texas, USA. (since March 2015 till date)
• Reviewer- Journal of AIDS and HIV Research www.academicjournals.org Lagos, Nigeria. (since Nov. 2014 till date)

RESEARCH INTEREST:

• Oral Microbiota, HIV & Tuberculosis, Opportunistic parasitic infections, HIV Genotyping and Drug resistance, Diagnostic Microbiology & Molecular Diagnosis.
  

RESEARCH PUBLICATIONS:

• The storm of Strongyloides stercoralis in stool- Choudhary, Aashish; Gupta, Nitin; Ahmad, Hafiz; Mirdha, Bijay. Journal of case reports 2016; 6 (4): 528-530
  
• Ahmad H, Samantaray JC, Dar L, Vajpayee M, Sinha S. Treatment of parasitic infection in HIV-1 infected patients decrease HIV-1 plasma load. (J Clin Exp Pathol 2013, 3:3, http://dx.doi.org/10.4172/2161-0681.S1.008)
• Sinha S, Raghunandan P, Chandrashekhar R, Sharma SK, Kumar S, Dhooria S, Ekka M, Velpandian T, Ranjan S, Ahmad H, SamantarayJC, Venkatesh S, Nevirapine versus efavirenz-based antiretroviral therapy regimens in antiretroviral-naive patients with HIV and tuberculosis infections in India: a pilot study. BMC Infectious Diseases 2013, 13:482 doi:10.1186/1471-2334-13-482
• Ashutosh Panda, Kurapati S, Samanatary JC, Myneedu VP, Verma A, Srinivasan A, Ahmad H, Behera D, Singh UB. Rapid Identification of Clinical Mycobacterial Isolates by Protein Profiling using MALDI-TOF MS. (Indian Journal of Medical Microbiology, 2013 Apr-Jun;31(2):117-22. doi: 10.4103/0255-0857.115217.
• Sinha S, Ahmad H, Kumar N, Dar L, Samantaray J C, Sharma S K, Bhargava A, Pandey R M, Mitsuyasu R L, Fahey J L. Study of prevalence of transmitted HIV drug resistance in the antiretroviral treatment-naive HIV-infected Northern India population. AIDS Res Treat. 2012;905823. doi: 10.1155/2012/905823.
• Sinha S, Ahmad H, Kumar N, Samantaray J C, Sreenivas V, Khan NH, Mitsuyasu R L, Fahey J L. Prevalence of HIV Drug Resistance Mutation in the Northern Indian Population After Failure of the First Line Antiretroviral Therapy. Curr HIV Res. 2012 Sep;10(6):532-8
• Sinha S, Shekhar RC, Shah N, Ahmad H, Kumar N, Sharma SK, Samantaray JC, Ranjan S, Sreenivas V and Mitsuyasu RL. Early versus delayed initiation of antiretroviral therapy for Indian HIV-infected individuals with tuberculosis on antituberculosis treatment. BMC Infect Dis. 2012 Jul 31;12:168
• Kumar N, Sinha S, Chaudhury R, Ranjan S, Ahmad H, Meera E, Samantaray JC. Clostridium difficle infections in HIV patients with in North India. (Natl Med J India 2014;27:000-0)
• Hafiz Ahmad, Aashish Choudhary, JC Samantaray and SanjeevSinha.Co-infection with five parasites - Cryptosporidium spp, Isospora belli, Cyclospora cayetanensis, Blastocystis hominis and Strongyloides stercoralis in an AIDS patient with chronic diarrhea ( In communication)
• Sinha S, Dhooria S, Kumar S, Shah N, Velpandian T, Ravi A, Kumar N, Ahmad H, Bhargwa A, Chug K, Bumma N, Chandrashekhar R, Ekka M, Sreenivas V, Sharma SK, Samantaray J, Mitsuyasu R. The antiretroviral efficacy of highly active antiretroviral therapy and plasma nevirapine concentrations in HIV-TB co-infected Indian patients receiving rifampicin based antituberculosis treatment. AIDS Res Ther. 2011, 8:41. doi: 10.1186/1742-6405-8-41
• Tahir M, Sinha S, Sharma SK, Ahmad H. Intracranial SOL in a newly diagnosed AIDS patient. Journal of Clinical Neuroscience 16: 2009 284, 354
• Tahir M, Das CJ, Ahmad FU, Ahmad H.Dorsal intramedullary tuberculoma. BMJ Case Rep.2009; doi: 10.1136/bcr.2007.116012
• Tahir M, Das CJ, Salmani S, Hafiz Ahmad. Bilateral thalamic enlargement in an acutely ill infant. Journal Clinical Neurosci. 2008 Dec; 15(12):1387, 1425
• Tahir M, Das CJ, Ahmad F and Ahmad H. Neurological picture. Dorsal intramedullary tuberculoma.J. Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry. 2007 Dec; 78(12):1353.

Book Chapters

• Ahmad H and Sinha S. Cyclosporiasis: An Emerging Potential Threat for Water Contamination. In: Water and Health (Eds. Singh PP & Sharma V), Chap.12
  
• DOI: 10.1007/978-81-322-1029-0_12, _ Springer India 2014, p1-11.
• Sinha S, Tahir M, Ahmad H. Opportunistic Infections in AIDS: The Five Common Ones. In: Medicine Update (Ed. AK Agarwal), Vol 19, Part II, Chap. 88. The Association of Physicians of India. New Delhi: Jaypee Brothers Pvt. Ltd. 2009: p 663-669.

PUBLISHED ABSTRACTS, ORAL & POSTERS

• Hafiz Ahmad, Supriya Mahajan, Ekta Gupta, Manish Chandra Choudhary, Guresh Kumar on �Evaluation of dried blood spot (DBS) as a method of sample collection for hepatitis C virus (HCV) RNA quantification�. At the 9th International conference of medical sciences by Sheikh Hamdan Awards, 14th � 16th Dec. 2016, Marriott Marquis Hotel, Dubai.
  
• Ahmad H, Samantaray JC, Dar L, Vajpayee M, Sinha S. Treatment of parasitic infection in HIV-1 infected patients decrease HIV-1 plasma load. (Pathology 2013, Aug 05-07, Las Vegas, USA
• Invited Oral presentation on �Transmitted HIV-1 Drug resistance in ART Na�ve individuals of Northern Indian population � AIIMS experience� at National Conference on HIV/AIDS Research by UNAIDS & NACO �Towards Evidence-Policy linkages in HIV/AIDS Research in India, held from 19th to 21st Jan 2011 at Indian Habitat Centre, Delhi, India.
• National_AIDS_Research_2011_Abstract_Book.pdf
• Hafiz Ahmad, Samantaray JC, Vajpayee M, Dar L. Antiparasitic treatment in HIV-1 co-infected patients decreases HIV plasma load�. 3rd National Conference on Infectious Diseases; Department of Medicine, AIIMS, 17 -18th April; 2010; New-Delhi, India
• Hafiz Ahmad, Samantaray JC, Dar L, Vajpayee M, Sinha S; Apr. 27 & 28, Antiparasitic Treatment in HIV-1 infected patients decrease HIV plasma load; Retreat 2009, by National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, NICHD Retreat, NIH, at Warrenton, Virginia, USA (Poster presentation)
• Hafiz Ahmad, Panda A, Samantaray JC. Novel and Rapid Identification of clinical fungal isolates using Matrix Assisted Laser Desorption/Ionization-Time of Flight Mass Spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS) in routine clinical laboratory�. SIHAM; 2010.
• Hafiz Ahmad, Panda A, Samantaray JC, Srinivasan A, Sood S, Xess I, Novel and Rapid Identification of Clinical Microbial Isolates using Matrix Assisted Laser Desorption/Ionisation-Time Of Flight Mass Spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS) in routine clinical laboratory. MICRO-D-CON 2010, IAMM-Delhi Chapter 2nd Annual Conference, at India Habitat Centre, New Delhi on 13thMarch , 2010.
• N. Kumar, S.Sinha, R.Chaudhury, S.K.Sharma, H. Ahmad, JC.Samantaray; Clostridium difficle infections in HIV positive patients of north India; 2ndNational Conference of AIDS Society of India; 27th Feb. � 1st Mar.2009 (ASICON), Jaipur, India.
• Hafiz Ahmad , Samantaray JC, Dar L, Sinha S, Godbole NM, Verma N, Mirdha
• BR; Increase incidence of Isosporiasis in HIV/AIDS patients with diarrhea in north India; International Conference on Opportunistic Pathogens in HIV/AIDS (ICOPA �India, Jan 2008).
• Hafiz Ahmad, Samantaray JC, Sinha S, Verma N, Mirdha BR.. Does immunocompromised status due to HIV/AIDS, malnutrition or malignancy predispose to intestinal parasitosis? MICROCON 2007, XXXI National Congress of IAMM, KMC Mangalore, India.
• Best Poster Award: General poster category- Indian Association of Medical Microbiologists, Delhi Chapter- 05 Dec.,2009 Aashish Choudhary, Hafiz Ahmad, Shivani Dang, JC Samantaray, Vibhor tak, Pratyusha menon. Title:�Morphological variation in intestinal coccidian oocysts by modified kinyoun acid-fast staining of archived fecal smears�
• Best Poster Award: General poster category- Indian Association of Medical Microbiologists, Delhi Chapter- 28 Mar.,2009.
• Shivani Dang, Aashish Choudhary, Hafiz Ahmad, Shwetha Nadig, Kavita Diddi, JC Samantaray. Title: �Screening for Cryptosporidium muris infection in patients with HIV/other immuno-deficiency conditions by mod. Acid-fast staining and micrometry �
• Ahmad H, Samantaray JC, Sinha S, Nishant KV, Mirdha BR.
• Does Chronic Diarrhea in adult patients due to Coccidia Indicate HIV Infection? Indian Association of Medical Microbiologists (IAMM Delhi chapter, April 2007)

TRAINING AND WORK EXPERIENCE

• Molecular Biology training at Abbott Training Centre, Wiesbaden-Delkenheim, Germany on automated extraction system m2000sp and Real Time PCR m2000rt,Viroseq HIV-1 Genotyping assay and various infectious disease protocols run on these instruments (May to June 2012).
  
• Training and Troubleshooting on all Molecular Diagnostic IVD Infectious Disease assays: Real Time PCR qualitative and quantitative tests for HIV, HBV, HCV, HPV, EBV, CMV, MTB, HLA typing, genotyping tests for HIV & HBV sequencing & HCV genotyping assays
• Certificate of Proficiency from Abbott Labs for training on Abbott Molecular Diagnostic instruments: m2000rt, m2000sp, basic FISH training, Viroseq HIV-1 training, from Abbott Labs, Delkenheim, Germany (April � June 2012, 2013, 2104)
• Hands-on-training and troubleshooting course on Genetic Analyzer Sequencing and Fragment Analysis Applications held at genomics & proteomics training facility of Lab India (Applied Biosystems) Research and Development Laboratory at Gurgaon, India from 20th to 22nd August 24, 2008.
• DNA Sequencing Facility in charge at Microbiology Department, AIIMS for routine bacterial & viral genome sequencing (2008 to 2012)
• Certificate course in working safety with HIV and Blood Borne pathogens from NIH, Bethesda, USA. (2009 -2010)
• Certificate course in Phylogenetic tree and Sequence analysis from NIH, Bethesda, USA (2009- 2010)
• Qualified Test of English as Foreign Language (TOEFL) in 2005

RESEARCH PROJECTS ACCOMPLISHED

• �Interaction between HIV viral load, CD4+ Tcell count & Opportunistic Infections in understanding the Pathogenesis of HIV/AIDS�. Department of Microbiology, All India Institute of Medical Science, New Delhi, India, AIIMS funded
  
• �Study of prevalence & types of baseline HIV drug resistance in the antiretroviral treatment �na�ve and previously treated HIV infected Northern Indian Population�.Project code: N-872, NACO funded. (AIIMS-UCLA collaborative project)
• �Development and clinical evaluation of novel fixed dose combinations of rifampicin and isoniazid designed to improve stability and bioavailability of rifampicin for the treatment of tuberculosis� Project code: N-1211, NIPER funded, India
• �Early versus delayed initiation of antiretroviral therapy for Indian HIV-infected individuals with tuberculosis on antituberculosis treatment�, Project code. N- 975. National AIDS Control Organization funded, India

ONGOING INTERNATIONAL COLLABORATIVE PROJECTS

• Evaluation of Dried blood spots (DBS) in HCV adult viral load assay using Abbott Real-time platform at Institute of Liver and Biliary Sciences, New Delhi. (co-investigator)
  
• Evaluation of Abbott MTB resistance assay titled �A side-by-side comparison of the current standard method for diagnosing M. tuberculosis from clinical specimen with Abbott Real Time MTB RIF/INH resistance evaluation� at Department of Laboratory medicine, AIIMS, project no.N-1570 15 lakhs INR funded by Abbott Molecular Labs, Desplaines, USA (co- Principal investigator)
• Measurement of HCV Viral load and Viral Genotype from Dried Blood Spots using Abbott real time system at Institute of Liver and Biliary Sciences, New Delhi. (Co-investigator)

RAK MEDICAL HEALTH SCIENCE UNIVERSITY (RAKMHSU) & RAK COLLEGE OF DENTAL SCIENCES (RAKCODS) Under graduate research projects:
(Co-Principal Investigator):

• Changes in salivary counts of Streptococcus mutans following extraction and acrylic denture insertion: A pilot study
  
• Efficacy of Probiotics Used as Adjuvants to Periodontal Treatment: A Preliminary Randomized Clinical Trial
• Correlation between Halitosis and Tongue Coating with Microbial Profile Assessment
• The effect of commercial mouthwashes on prevalence of oral Candida Albicans among students who attend RAKCODS

Conferences/Workshops

SEMINARS/CONFERENCES/WORKSHOPS ATTENDED

• Participated for MEDLAB 2017 conference at Dubai international convention & Exhibition centre from 6th to 9th February 2017
  
• 9th International conference of medical sciences by Sheikh Hamdan awards, 14th � 16th Dec. 2016, Marriott Marquis Hotel, Dubai, UAE
• International conference on STDs & HIV-2016 on 1st Dec 2016 at Movenpick hotel, Ibn Batuta, Dubai.
• National symposium on Challenges in Tuberculosis Diagnosis and treatment AIIMS TB on 30th March 2016 at AIIMS, Delhi
• Participation in Laboratory Management and Medicine Conference MEDLAB 2015 from Jan 26 � 29 organized by Arab Health Congress in Dubai, U.A.E
• Presented paper at Pathology 2013 conference, Las Vegas, USA, 5-7 Aug 13
• Participation in Laboratory Management and Medicine Conference MEDLAB 2012 from 23-36 Jan organized by Arab Health Congress in Dubai, U.A.E.
• Symposium on �Improving tuberculosis care and control� held on 4th Nov. 2011 at AIIMS, New-Delhi.
• Symposium on �World TB Day� held on 29th March at AIIMS, New-Delhi
• National Conference on HIV/AIDS Research �Towards Evidence-Policy linkages in HIV/AIDS Research in India, held from 19th to 21st Jan.2011 at Indian habitat centre, Delhi, India.
• Pre-conference Continuing Education Workshop on �HIV/AIDS research in India: Perspective & challenges� organized by NACO and UNAIDS on 18th Jan 2011 at Indian Habitat centre, New Delhi.
• Medicine update 2009, Dept. of Medicine, AIIMS and Association of Physicians of India on 9th Aug. ( accred. 4 credit hrs by Delhi Medical council)
• International conference on �update on infectious diseases� held on 20-21st Nov. 2008 at Indian Habitat Centre, New Delhi.
• Training program for Management of HIV/AIDS from 18th-19th Oct, 2008 by Dept. of Medicine, AIIMS & Delhi State AIDS Control Society.
• Training program for Management of HIV/AIDS from 29t-30th Sep, 2007 by Dept. of Medicine, AIIMS & Delhi State AIDS Control Society.
• 4th Indo-US CME on Antiretroviral Treatment in Pediatric HIV/AIDS, AIIMS-UCLA collaborative project, held on 1st April, 2007 at AIIMS, New Delhi.
• 7th Asia-Pacific Congress of Medical Virology, at India Habitat Centre from 13th-15th Nov. 2006.
• Indo-US Symposium-2006 on Viral Diagnostics, Epidemiology and Pathogenesis from 11th-12th Nov, 2006 at AIIMS, New Delhi.
• Training program for prevention, control & management of HIV/AIDS for nurses from 8th-9th Oct, 2006 by Dept. of Medicine, AIIMS, UCLA & DSACS. (Case Presentation)
• Recent advances in the management of HIV/AIDS, AIIMS-UCLA collaborative project on 7th Oct, 2006 at AIIMS, New Delhi.
• Training program for management of HIV/AIDS from 19th-20th April, 2006 by Dept. of Medicine, AIIMS & Delhi State AIDS Control Society.
• 2nd Indo -US CME on Antiretroviral treatment in HIV/AIDS, AIIMS-UCLA collaborative project form March 4th-5th, 2006.at AIIMS, New Delhi.
• Indo-Australian Conference on Biotechnology in infectious diseases, Kasturba Medical College, MAHE, Manipal on March 1-3, 2005.
• Indo-Malaysian CME on �Laboratory medicine: towards more effective practices 23rd � 24th Aug 2004. MALEKA, Manipal medical college.
• Pre-conference CME on �Infectious diseases specialty-a need of the hour�. 6th Nov 2003, Mumbai as part of MICROCON 2003 [IAMM].
• Pre-conference workshop on Newer modalities in the diagnosis of tuberculosis. 5th Nov 2003 PD.Hinduja Hospital & Medical research center, Mumbai. Part of 27th national conference of Indian association of medical microbiologists.
• CME program on Biotechnology & Genetics in medicine. 1st Nov 2003. Dept. of biotechnology, KMC, Manipal.
• Update in clinical parasitology, 15th October 2003. Department of microbiology, Kasturba Medical College, Mangalore.

CURRENT TEACHING / ADMINISTRATIVE RESPONSIBILITIES AT RAKMHSU

• Teaching Medical Microbiology as Integrative Medical curriculum: General Microbiology. Genetics, Bacteriology, Immunology, Virology, Mycology & Parasitology along with Molecular Biology to medical students at RAK Medical and Health Sciences University.
  
• Course coordinator for Dental Microbiology
• Module coordinator for Central Venous System
• Teaching Pharmaceutical Microbiology &
• Nursing Microbiology
• Supervisor for ongoing 1-MBBS & 4-BDS student research projects
• Curriculum development
• Designing & conducting Case Based Learning and Team Based Learning modules for Medical students
• MBBS students� academic advising