Ishrat Waheed

Dr. Waheed received her doctorate in Pharmacology and Molecular Sciences, from the Johns Hopkins University, School of Medicine, and completed her research fellowships in molecular therapeutics, at the National Institutes of Health, USA, and the Montreal Neurological Institute, McGill University, Canada. She has also obtained medical education and management certificates from Penn State, Stanford and Harvard universities. 

Prior to joining Saba, Dr. Waheed held senior academic positions at several institutions and has taught Biochemistry, Molecular Cell Biology, Genetics, Pharmacology, Immunology and Virology, at undergraduate and post-graduate levels.  Additionally, Dr. Waheed has served as research consultant and academic advisor for various international organizations across the World. 

Dr. Waheed has wide ranging research interests and has mentored numerous scholars in medical and pharmaceutical fields.  She has published several articles in high ranking journals, and presented her research findings at prestigious medical research conferences and workshops, including the ones organized by the American Cancer Society, Drug Information Association, American Society for Microbiology, Canadian Society for Pharmaceutical Scientists, and COMSTECH. She has also been serving as an editorial board member of numerous medical research journals. 

In her free time, Dr. Waheed likes to travel and explore Nature, for medicinal plants.

• Biochemistry
• Molecular Biology
• Pharmacology
• Toxicology
• Immunology
• Cancer Biology
• Allergic, Inflammatory, Viral and Neuromuscular diseases
• Gene therapy

• Medical education travel award (2011): Leading innovations in health care & education, Harvard Medical School, Boston, USA.  
• Best research project award (2005): Post-transcriptional Silencing of Inflammatory Cytokine Receptor Genes in Allergic Asthma”.  FAOBMB symposium, Pakistan. 
• Research Fellowship (2001-2002): Gene therapy for Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy.  Montreal Neurological Institute, McGill University, Canada. 
• Fogarty Research Fellowship (1997-1999): Cancer Gene Therapy, National Cancer Institute, Bethesda, USA. 
• Tulane Research Fellowship award (1996-1997): Recombinent HPV Vaccine for Cervical Cancer, Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions, Baltimore, USA. 
• Johns Hopkins research studentship award (1993-1996): Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. 
• Quaid-e-Azam merit scholarship award (1990-1993): Higher Education Commission, Pakistan

• Effect of voltage-gated sodium channels blockers on motility and viability of human sperm in vitro. Asian Pac. J. Reprod. 2018; 7 (2), 62-71. 
• Evaluation of hydroethanolic extract of Opuntia monocantha Haw for analgesic activity. World J. Pharm. Pharmacol. 2014; 3(2); 1006-1020.   
• Evaluation of anti-nociceptive, anti-inflammatory and antipyretic activities of Artemisia scoparia hydromethanolic extract. J Ethnopharmacol. 2013; Jan 9;145(1):18-24.  
• Specific post-transcriptional inhibition of mRNA for ligand binding chain of IgE high affinity receptor. Mol. Biol, Reports. 2011; Jan; 38(1):675-81.  
• Intragenic deletions of dystrophin gene in Pakistani population. Pediatr. Int. Apr. 2008; 50(2):162-6.  
• Recurrent intragenic deletion mutation in desmoglein-4 gene underlies autosomal recessive hypotrichosis in two Pakistani families of Balochi and Sindhi origins. Arch. Dermatol. Res. 2006; Aug. 2; 298 (3): 135-137.  
• Chronic inflammation induced extrasynaptic utrophin upregulation in muscle fibers of mdx mice is correlated with reduced calpain activity. Human Gene Therapy. 2005; Apr. 16 (4): 489-501.  
• Expression of an antisense transcript to SV40 early gene region in T antigen positive human mesothelioma cell lines leads to growth arrest and apoptosis. Cancer Research.199; Dec. 15. (24): 6068-73  

• Drug discovery & development
• Inflammatory and viral diseases
• Cancer Biology

• Mechanism Based Natural Product Development Conference, 2012; Sept. 21-23, Whistler, BC, Canada. 
• Leading Innovations in Health care and Education. 2011; Jun. 25 – Jul.  05, Harvard Medical School, USA. 
• Keynote Speech, “Silencing the Cancer Genes”. 19th Annual Meeting of the Medical Research Society. 2009; Oct. 30-31; Univ. of Health Sciences, Lahore, Pakistan.