# Adeel A. Butt

Adeel Ajwad Butt is a Pakistani–American infectious diseases physician, Professor of Medicine and Population Health Sciences at the Weill-Cornell Medical College He is also the founder president and CEO of Innovations in Healthcare Advocacy, Research and Training (I-HART), an innovative full service global consultancy service offering total health care solutions across the spectrum of healthcare planning, strategy, operations, implementation and quality improvement, assurance and control.

## Education

Butt obtained his MBBS from The Aga Khan University and then moved to the U.S. to pursue his postgraduate studies. He completed his residency in Internal Medicine at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine affiliated hospitals in New York and then a fellowship in Infectious Diseases at the LSU Health Sciences Center New Orleans in New Orleans. He also holds a Certificate in Clinical Research and a Master of Science degree in Clinical Effectiveness and Health Services Research from the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine in 2006.

## Career highlights

He held the position of Chair of Medicine at Sheikh Khalifa Medical City, Abu Dhabi, UAE (SKMC). Subsequently he was appointed as the first Chief Quality Officer(I) at Hamad Medical Corporation (HMC) and the inaugural Director of Hamad Healthcare Quality Institute in Qatar. Adeel Butt has provided advice and training to numerous governments, non-governmental organizations, and academic health systems across the globe. He served as a member of the Board of Governors in National Institute of Health Pakistan (2021-2024) and a member of several advisory committees at the Ministry of Public Health in Qatar. He serves on the Advisory Board of Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA) Global Health Taskforce and as Chair of International Advisory Panel for Electronic Health Record (EHR) implementation at the Aga Khan University over 4 countries. He is also a life member of the Association of Physicians of Pakistani Descent of North America (APPNA), where he has been a pioneer of numerous programs and initiatives.

## Research career

Adeel Butt’s early research focus was on hepatitis C virus(HCV) infection and HIV coinfection and emerging infectious diseases of global importance. He was also involved in National Institutes of Health sponsored AIDS Clinical Trials Network, where he was a member of the Viral Hepatitis Transformative Science Group and led several key clinical trials. More recently his research focus has been on Emerging Infectious Diseases and antimicrobial resistance. In 2018 he led the care and investigation of MERS-CoV outbreaks in the UAE and served as a WHO consultant for this infection. He also led an initiative studying the evolving antimicrobial resistance in the UAE and its impact upon clinical outcomes.
More recently, Adeel Butt has been actively involved in the COVID-19 pandemic response and COVID-19 research in Qatar and in the United States and has published more than 90 key papers on this topic. He is also leading key clinical trials to streamline appropriate use of antibiotics in both inpatient and outpatient settings.

## Academic appointments

* Professor of Medicine at the Weill Cornell Medical College. (2015–present)
* Professor of Population Health Sciences at the Weill Cornell Medical College. (2017–present)
* Director, Clinical Epidemiology Research unit at the Hamad Medical Corporation, Doha, Qatar. (2016-2021)
* Vice Chair, Department of Medicine at the Hamad Medical Corporation, Doha, Qatar. (2014-2021)
* Corporate Chief Quality Officer (I) at the Hamad Medical Corporation, Doha, Qatar. (2015-2016)
* Director at the Hamad Health Care Quality Institute, Qatar. (2015-2016)
* Adjunct Associate Professor of Medicine and Clinical and Translational Sciences at the University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA. (2014-2017)
* Chief, Division of Infectious Diseases at the Sheikh Khalifa Medical City, UAE. (2012-2014)
* Chair, Department of Medicine at the Sheikh Khalifa Medical City, UAE. (2011-2013)
* Director, ID and HIV Clinics at the VA Pittsburgh Healthcare System, Pittsburgh, PA. (2001-2011)
* Program Director at the International Scholars Program. (2003-2011)
* Assistant Professor at the University of University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. (2002-2008)

## Educational leadership

Adeel Butt served as the Program Director for the International Scholars Program at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (2003-2011), a premier residency program with outstanding success of its trainees. He managed all aspects of the program, including curriculum development, resident selection, mentoring and subsequent placement.
Adeel Butt co-created and leads an innovative program in building capacity and capability in clinical research training in Pakistan intended for physicians in post-graduate training programs and junior faculty. This course, titled "Clinical Research Methodology Training Course” is administered at the Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS), one of the leading science and business universities in South Asia. The program is funded through an endowment to LUMS and an extramural grant from the Norwegian Directorate of Higher Education and Skill. This is an intense six-day course that includes classroom teaching in epidemiology, measurements in research, quantitative and qualitative study design, clinical trials, ethics and regulation of research, grant writing, scientific paper writing and appraisal, as well as computer-lab sessions in biostatistics. At the end of the course, students are required to present a full research proposal which they are expected to initiate and implement over the next one year. The first class of 32 physicians graduated in May 2024 and are planning to initiate six research projects in 2024 (in groups of five to seven individuals), including three randomized controlled trials, one cluster randomized trial, one prospective observational study, and one translational study comparing two tests to identify bacterial infections. The vision for this program is to elevate the six-day course to a 15-credit certificate course and eventually to a masters degree program. The second class, comprising 36 physicians, completed the program in December 2024 and is currently implementing their research projects.

## Teaching and training through I-HART

Founded in 2017, I-HART (Innovations in Healthcare Advocacy Research and Training) provides full-service, turnkey solutions, from design to implementation to monitoring and post-implementation evaluation. Dr. Adeel Butt is the founding President and Chief Executive Officer of I-HART LLC, incorporated in Delaware USA with principal offices in Washington DC.
I-HART has helped several healthcare organizations in improving clinical care, patient safety, patient experience, and research capacity/capability. Through I-HART, we co-founded a unique program in research methods training at one of the top Universities in Pakistan funded by a generous philanthropic endowment that Dr. Butt helped procure. Dr. Butt helped design the program, the courses, and strategy for this initiative. The vision of this program is to train the next generation of physician-scientists in Pakistan and to build capacity and capability in clinical research to meet the national needs and challenges. The eventual goal is to create a National Institute for Clinical Research Training with multiple Masters level programs.
IHART has also formally trained the leadership of the largest healthcare network in Pakistan in Quality Improvement, Patient Safety, and Patient-centered Care. This organization is under the leadership of the Surgeon General of Pakistan and is the equivalent of the VA Healthcare System in the USA. It operates 64 hospitals across the country, and employees a workforce of over 40,000 staff. I have provided multiple training courses and workshops, and the intention is to eventually cover the entire organization in these areas.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Adeel Butt provided extensive education and training to healthcare providers through the IHART platform. IHART collaborated with ECHO Pakistan, other professional medical societies, and the American College of Physicians to deliver lectures, seminars, and workshops for healthcare providers who were providing care to patients with COVID-19.

## Honors

* Listed in Stanford List’s World’s Top 2% most influential scientists in 2020, 2021, 2022 and 2023
* Member, Board of Governors, National Institutes of Health, Pakistan, 2021-2024
* Recipient of Pakistan Society of Hepatology Distinguished Academics Award in 2020
* Recipient of Best Publication Award, Medical Research Center, Hamad Medical Corporation, Qatar in 2019
* Recipient of Hamad Medical Corporation, Qatar, Research Excellence Award in 2018
* Recipient of Hamad Medical Corporation Excellence in Health Services Research Award in 2015
* Recipient of Abu Dhabi Health Services Company (SEHA) Research Award in 2012
* Fulbright Scholar in 2009
* National Talent Pool Scholar in 2007
* Yale-Johnson & Johnson Scholar in International Health in 2006
* Recipient of US Department of State International Education Award in 2006
* Recipient of Florida Sea Grant Faculty Award in 2006
* Recipient of Career Development Award, NIH/National Institute on Drug Abuse in 2008
* Recipient of Outstanding Research Award in 2003

## Selected publications

Butt has over 280 research papers in peer reviewed journals. He has an h-index of 77 and his work has been cited more than 22,000 times. He also has more than 90 research papers on COVID to his credit including more than 12 publications in the New England Journal of Medicine and key papers in Annals of Internal Medicine, JAMA Int Med, Nature Medicine, Journal of Clinical Investigations, and many more.