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Prof Mishal S. Khan

Professor of Global Public Health

United Kingdom

I am a social epidemiologist and health policy expert, internationally recognised for my work on addressing health inequities, strengthening health systems and improving the governance of organisations working in global health.

In additional to a long-term programme of work in Pakistan, over the past 18 years I have led studies in China, Myanmar, Indonesia, Bangladesh, Kenya and Cambodia.

After a first degree in Natural Sciences at Cambridge, and a Masters in Control Infectious Diseases from LSHTM, I worked as healthcare strategy consultant for five years. I then completed a PhD at LSHTM on gender differences in access to TB care in Pakistan, which is where I was working from 2007 – 2014. From 2014 – 2017 I was based in Singapore holding a dual position with the National University of Singapore. I returned to London in 2018, and continue to spend time based in Pakistan.

I also work on addressing issues of governance and equitable practices in global health. I was an elected staff member on LSHTM’s governing Council from July 2020 to July 2023, and I was on the team overseeing the Independent Review to address discrimination and advance anti-racism and equality at LSHTM in 2021. I am a founding member of the volunteer run LSHTM-Decolonising Global Health group.

Other positions I hold include:

Associate Fellow at the Chatham House Centre on Universal Health

Visiting Faculty at the Aga Khan University, Pakistan

Member of the Lancet’s International Racial Equity Advisory Board

Editorial board member of the Health Policy and Planning and PLOS Global Public Health journals

Affiliations

Department of Global Health and Development
Faculty of Public Health and Policy

Centres

TB Centre
Health in Humanitarian Crises Centre
Antimicrobial Resistance Centre

Teaching

I organise LSHTM's Globalisation and Health Module.

I have co-authored the leading health policy textbook Making Health Policy (3rd edition)

Research

I have extensive expertise in quantitative and qualitative health policy and systems research. The overarching focus of my research is on improving the quality of healthcare and governance of the health sector.

My main research areas are: conflicts of interest affecting health policies; governance of the private healthcare sector; One Health and Global Health Security; gender differences in health; antimicrobial resistance; and tuberculosis (TB) control.

I been the lead investigator of several studies including (currently) an intervention trial in Pakistan to address pharmaceutical incentive-driven prescribing, policy research on informal and invisible healthcare providers in Cambodia, and investigating conflicts on interest hindering antimicrobial resistance control. In my earlier work I have conducted a randomised trial of simple patient instructions to improve TB diagnosis in women and a multi-country implementation research project funded by the STOP TB Partnership to test a new system to involve low-cost private diagnostic laboratories in diagnosing and treating TB. Over the years, I have collaborated closely with the Pakistan National TB Control Programme, leading an important operational research study to assess the effectiveness of local versus international drugs for treating multi-drug resistant TB.

I am also active in research and advocacy to address inequitable hierarchies in global health. For example, examining who is present and absent in research funding allocation decisions, increasing national ownership of health policies and illuminating gender and ethnic disparities in senior positions in global public health institutions.

I believe in '360 degree' capacity building in which all members of the team, including collaborators, identify expertise they can share and would like to gain.
Research Area
Health policy
Infectious disease policy
Country
Pakistan
Cambodia
Region
South Asia

Selected Publications

Incentivisation practices and their influence on physicians' prescriptions: A qualitative analysis of practice and policy in Pakistan.
KHAN, M; Rahman-Shepherd, A; Noor, MN; Sharif, S; HAMID, M; Aftab, W; Isani, AK; Khan, RI; Hasan, R; Shakoor, S; Siddiqi, S;
2023
PLOS global public health
Antiracism in leading public health universities, journals and funders: commitments, accountability and the decision-makers.
Rahman-Shepherd, A; Erondu, NA; Anwar, B; Boro, E; Chau, TD; Guinto, RR; Hollmann, L; Mejarito, JA; Rasheed, MA; KHAN, M;
2023
BMJ global health
How conflicts of interest hinder effective regulation of healthcare: an analysis of antimicrobial use regulation in Cambodia, Indonesia and Pakistan.
KHAN, M; RAHMAN-SHEPHERD, A; Bory, S; Chhorn, S; DURRANCE-BAGALE, A; Hasan, R; Heng, S; Phou, S; Prien, C; Probandari, A; Saphonn, V; Suy, S; WISEMAN, V; Wulandari, LP L; HANEFELD, J;
2022
BMJ global health
Conflicts of interest: an invisible force shaping health systems and policies.
RAHMAN-SHEPHERD, A; Balasubramaniam, P; GAUTHAM, M; HUTCHINSON, E; Kitutu, FE; Marten, R; KHAN, MS;
2021
The Lancet. Global health
Decolonising global health in 2021: a roadmap to move from rhetoric to reform.
KHAN, M; Abimbola, S; Aloudat, T; Capobianco, E; Hawkes, S; RAHMAN-SHEPHERD, A;
2021
BMJ global health
Using critical information to strengthen pandemic preparedness: the role of national public health agencies.
KHAN, MS; DAR, O; Erondu, NA; RAHMAN-SHEPHERD, A; Hollmann, L; Ihekweazu, C; Ukandu, O; Agogo, E; Ikram, A; Rathore, TR; Okereke, E; Squires, N;
2020
BMJ GLOBAL HEALTH
Invisible medicine sellers and their use of antibiotics: a qualitative study in Cambodia.
Suy, S; REGO, S; Bory, S; Chhorn, S; Phou, S; Prien, C; Heng, S; Wu, S; LEGIDO-QUIGLEY, H; HANEFELD, J; Saphonn, V; KHAN, MS;
2019
BMJ Global Health
More talk than action: gender and ethnic diversity in leading public health universities.
KHAN, MS; LAKHA, F; Tan, MM J; Singh, SR; Quek, RY C; Han, E; Tan, SM; Haldane, V; Gea-Sánchez, M; LEGIDO-QUIGLEY, H;
2019
Lancet
The growth and strategic functioning of One Health networks: a systematic analysis.
KHAN, MS; Rothman-Ostrow, P; SPENCER, J; Hasan, N; Sabirovic, M; RAHMAN-SHEPHERD, A; SHAIKH, N; HEYMANN, DL; DAR, O;
2018
The lancet Planetary health
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