UAG

Kashif Ahmad, MBBS, MSc, MS (MEdL), PhD

As Dean of a medical school, Dr. Kashif is a visionary leader responsible for shaping the institution's strategic direction. With a blend of academic, administrative, and clinical expertise, he oversees curriculum development, assessment, faculty recruitment and development, and clinical and research initiatives. Dr. Kashif fosters a culture of academic excellence, innovation, and community engagement. He is a dynamic leader, award-winning instructor (including the prestigious Golden Apple), and professor and established author of medical and scientific books, theses, and articles, including service as an international thesis evaluator. He is a strong, compassionate collaborator with a high degree of responsibility for quality, accuracy, and implementing sound solutions for the continuous improvement of programs in educational institutions His role involves liaising with healthcare partners, ensuring accreditation compliance, and advancing the school's reputation. As a pivotal figure, he plays a crucial role in shaping the future of healthcare professionals and steering the institution towards its mission of producing competent and compassionate medical professionals to meet evolving healthcare challenges.

AREA OF EXPERTISE

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Dr. Ahmad is a seasoned professional with a diverse range of expertise that encompasses various facets of medical education. His mastery extends across critical areas, including medical education, faculty development, curriculum redesign, educational technology integration, research, and remediation.

HONOR AWARDS

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2000 - 2004

Full Merit Research Scholarship with 0% tuition and a stipend of S$2500 per month at the National University of Singapore.

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2003

7th Annual National University Hospital (NUH) –National University of Singapore (NUS) scientific meeting, Singapore National Medical Research Council’s “Young Scientist Award” at the presentation and scientific findings on, “Hydrogen peroxide is a signal for Bax translocation to the mitochondria.

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2004

City University of Hong Kong, Sir Edmund Youde Memorial Scholarship to present the scientific findings titled, “Exposure of human leukemia cells to low doses of resveratrol inhibits hydrogen peroxide-induced apoptosis.”

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2005

University Gold Medal (Chua Toh Hua Memorial Gold Medal) for the best Ph.D. graduate and most outstanding research work done in Life Sciences, National University of Singapore (thesis titled: Tumor cell response to drug-induced apoptosis is a function of intracellular redox status).

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2008

Awarded Teacher of the Year 2007 at the Student Leadership Recognition Dinner, Northwestern Health Sciences University, MN.

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2010

Featured in Marquis Who’s Who and Madison Who’s Who in America, and Who’s Who Among Professionals and Executives Around the World, Member of theYear 2010, USA.

Faculty Member of the Year, Faculty Appreciation Dinner, NationalAmerican University, MN.

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2014

Best Poster Award, American Holistic Medical Association National Conference, “The Chinese herbs Scutellaria baicalensisand Fritillaria cirrhosatarget NFκB to inhibit proliferation of ovarian and endometrial cancer cells.” Minneapolis, MN.

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2015

Creativity and Innovation Award, Proposal for dual degree programs, Innovation Retreat, Northwestern Health Sciences University, MN.

Distinguished Service Award for Outstanding University Contributions at Northwestern Health Sciences University, MN.

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2016

Outstanding Teacher’s list, University of Illinois maintained by the campuswide ICES database.

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2017

Excellent Teacher’s list, University of Illinois maintained by the university-wide ICES.

Outstanding Teacher’s list, University of Illinois maintained by the campus-wide ICES database.

Winner of 1st place Poster Award at the 1st Annual Carle Foundation Hospital Research Day on April 6, 2017, with poster Community health fairs: Implementing research, reporting, and quality improvement. The Campaña de Salud research team, Emily K. Acton (MS1), Angelina S. Kim (MS1), and Victoria Kuritza (MS1) was organized by Carlos R. Dostal (MS1, Ph.D. Candidate) and co-advised by P/I and Medical Physiology Course Director Kashif Ahmad MD, PhD.

The Raymond B. Allen Instructorship Award (Golder Apple Award), University of Illinois College of Medicine, Urbana-Champaign, IL. The Golden Apple Award is a longstanding tradition at the University of Illinois College. The Golden Apple Award is the highest compliment extended by students to a faculty member at UICOM.

Executive Award, University of Illinois College of Medicine Urban Health Program at Urbana-Champaign, IL. This award recognizes individuals who have given selflessly to support the vision of the COM Urban Health Program and underrepresented students. This year’s award focused on faculty who demonstrated an outstanding and longstanding commitment to Excellence in Teaching, Leadership, Service & Commitment to Student Success.

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2018

The Raymond B. Allen Instructorship Award (Golder Apple Award), University of Illinois College of Medicine, Urbana-Champaign, IL. The Golden Apple Award is a longstanding tradition at the University of Illinois College of Medicine. This college-level award is given in the name of Dr. Raymond B. Allen, former dean of the college, by a vote of the members of each class to teacher(s) who contributed most to the Kashif Ahmad instruction of the class. The students base their decision on the following criteria: a superb role model because of his/her organization, knowledge, appropriate level and clarity of presentation, interest in the topic, and interest in students, among others. The Golden Apple Award is the highest compliment extended by students to a faculty member at UICOM.

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2019

Clinical Education in Innovation Award at The University of Illinois and College of Medicine for work on digital cognition tools and highly effective videos that increased active learning in class and provided a platform for continuous informal assessment.

EDUCATION

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1990 - 1995

Bachelor of Medicine and Surgery (M.B.B.S/ (M.D.) at Jinnah Sindh Medical University, Pakistan

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1997 - 1998

Master of Science (M.Sc.) at Guy's King's St. Thomas's School of Medicine at The University of London, UK

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2000 - 2004

Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) (Chua Toh Huan Memorial Gold Medal), Department of Physiology, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine at National University of Singapore

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2004-2006

Postdoctoral Fellowship, Lab Medicine and Pathology, VA Medical Center, University of Minnesota, USA

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2009 - 2011

Master of Science in Medical Education Leadership (MSc and MeEdL), College of Osteopathic Medicine at the University of New England, USA

PUBLICATIONS

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Book

Wiles M, Williams J, Ahmad KA, Essentials of Dermatology for Chiropractors, 1st Ed, Jones and Bartlett, USA, Feb 2010, ISBN: 978-0-7637-6157-8 (5 star rating on Doody’s review)

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Book Chapter

Frucht S., Visual Anatomy and Physiology I, Case Studies by Kashif A. Ahmad, 1st Ed, bluedoor publishing, USA, July 2011, ISBN: 978-1-59984-255-4

Frucht S., Visual AP Primal Pictures, Case Studies by Kashif A. Ahmad, 1st Ed, bluedoor publishing, USA, Sept 2011, ISBN: 978-1-59984-396-4

Beirman R, Cases in Differential Diagnosis for the Physical and Manipulative Therapies, Hyperparathyroidism and Nephrolithiasis, Kashif A. Ahmad, 1st ed., Elsevier, Australia, October 2011, ISBN: 978-0-7295-3997-5

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Theses

Kashif A. Ahmad, “Recent advances in the diagnosis and control of cutaneous tuberculosis.” A thesis submitted for the partial fulfillment of Master of Science degree in Clinical Dermatology from University of London, U.K (1998). Advisor: Prof. Roderick Hay, DM, FRCP, FRCPath

Kashif A. Ahmad, “Tumor cell response to drug induced apoptosis is a function of intra-cellular redox status.” A thesis submitted for the fulfillment of Doctor of Philosophy degree from National University of Singapore, Singapore (2005). Advisor: Prof. Shazib Pervaiz, MBBS, PhD

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Education Articles and Conference Proceedings

Kashif Ahmad, Japhia Kumar, Sandeep Bansal. Vertical integration and reinforcement of basic concepts in an engaging Clinically Oriented Physiology and Pharmacology Session. Med. Sci. Educ (2023), in publication.

Barbaric, L., MacInnis, B., & Ahmad, K. A. (2021). Quality culture in action for a respiratory course: A dynamic CQI process at an engineering based allopathic medical school. Advances in Educational Research and Evaluation, 2(2), 146-152. https://doi.org/10.25082/AERE.2021.02.001

Coiado, O.C., Yodh, J., Galvez, R., Ahmad, K.A. How COVID-19 Transformed Problem-Based Learning at Carle Illinois College of Medicine. Med.Sci.Educ. (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40670-020-01063-3

Ahmad, K.A. (2020), Teaching Difficult Physiological Concepts to the Medical Students Using Minicases, Educreations and Mentimeter. The FASEB Journal, 34: 1-1. doi:10.1096/fasebj.2020.34.s1.04977

Kuritza, V., Cibich, D., & Ahmad, K. A. (2020). Interactive presentation digital tool Mentimeter perceived as accessible and beneficial for exam preparation by medical students. Advances in Educational Research and Evaluation, 1(2), 63-67. https://doi.org/10.25082/AERE.2020.02.002

Bansal S, Bansal M, Ahmad KA, Panday J. Effects of a flipped classroom approach on learning outcomes of higher and lower performing medical students: A new insight. Adv Educ Res Eval, 2020, 1(1): 24-31. https://doi.org/10.25082/AERE.2020.01.005

Coiado, O.C., Ahmad, K.A. Medical Engineering Education : Designing a Product Innovation and Technology Session for First-Year Medical Students. Med.Sci.Educ. (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40670-020-01033-9

Coiado, O.C., Ahmad, K. Introducing First-Year Medical Students to Product Innovation and Entrepreneurship. Med.Sci.Educ. 30, 19–20 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40670-019-00879-y

Ahmad, K., Yodh, J., Aldridge, B., Coiado, O., Galvez, R., Pan, D., Greeley, D., Roberts-Lieb, S., Amos, J., Rowen, J., Pluta, W. "Integrating Engineering into the Carle Illinois College of Medicine Curriculum" Poster presented by K. Ahmad at Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) Central Group on Educational Affairs (CGEA) Meeting held March 21-23, 2018, Rochester, MN.

Yodh, J., Coiado, O., Galvez, R., Ahmad, K., and Rowen, J. “Development of Problem-Based Learning Experiences for Prospective Students in the First Engineering-Integrated Medical School.” Presented at International Association of Medical Science Educators (IAMSE) Annual Meeting, held in Las Vegas, June 9-12, 2018.

Coiado, O.C., Ahmad, K., Yodh, J., Galvez, R. “Introducing 3D Printing to Prospective Medical Students to Integrate Engineering Concepts into a Multidisciplinary Curriculum.” Poster presented by O. Coiado at 2018 Annual Biomedical Engineering Society Meeting held October 17-20, 2018, Atlanta, GA.

Galvez, R., Ahmad, K., Aldridge, B., Amos, J., Coiado, O., Hsiao-Wecksler, E. T., Huesmann, G.. Llano, D. W. Pluta, S. Roberts-Lieb, Y. Vlasov, Yodh, J., Rowen, J. “Development of an Engineering-Integrated Clinical Neuroscience Medical Curriculum: A Novel Case-Centered Problem-Based Medical Education” Poster presented by R. Galvez at 2018 Society for Neuroscience Meeting, Nov. 3-7, 2018, San Diego, CA.

Yodh, J., Ahmad, K., Greeley, D., Amos, J., Pluta, W., and Rowen, J.L. “Concept Map Interactive Activity Improves Basic Science Understanding of Cystic Fibrosis for Phase I Carle Illinois College of Medicine Students” accepted for poster presentation at American Association of Medical Colleges (AAMC) Central Group on Educational Affairs (CGEA) 2019 Meeting, Mar 27- 29 in Grand Rapids, MI.

Adham, Z.O., Grenda, P.J. & Ahmad, K.A. Developing a digital algorithm for cognitive apprenticeship in first year medical school physiology. Medical Science Educator, 2017. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40670-017-0517-y

Kashif A. Ahmad and Glori Hinck. The impact of course creation content tool Educreations on student learning in a physiology course. Medical Science Educator, 2016, DOI 10.1007/s40670- 016-0259-2.

Gliedt JA, Hawk C, Anderson M, Ahmad K, Bunn D, Cambron J, Gleberzon B, Hart J, Kizhakkeveettil A, Perle S, Ramcharan M, Sullivan S, Zhang L. Chiropractic identity, role and future: a survey of North American chiropractic students. Chiropr & Man 23:4, 2015.

Kashif A. Ahmad, Faisal Y. Malik, James R. Hulbert. Student preference for case studies: enhanced learning in a human physiology course. Medical Science Educator, 22 (3):117-120, 2012.

Kashif A. Ahmad. Facilitating student learning in science education by using POGIL (Process Oriented Guided Inquiry Learning) and CATS (Classroom Assessment Techniques), The FASEB Journal 2011 25:1_supplement, 672.8-672.8.

Linda Hanson, K. Burns Ryan and Kashif A. Ahmad, Designing clinical pamphlets in a physiology course facilitates learning in chiropractic students. JIAMSE 20 (2):120-123, 2010.

Timmerman K, Elkington W and Ahmad KA. Advanced snapshot of cardiovascular physiology via a guided inquiry case study. Manuscript in revision.

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Scientific Papers

Liang, E.D., MacInnis, B.R. and Ahmad, K.A. (2020),” Proposal of Optimal Vasoconstrictive Drugs to Protect Against Extracorporeal Shockwave Lithotripsy Induced Renal Injury.” The FASEB Journal, 34: 1-1 doi:10.1096/fasebj.2020.34.s1.09438.

Hussain I., Waheed S., Ahmad K.A., Pirog J.E., Syed V.,“ Scutellaria baicalensis targets the hypoxia inducible factor -1α and enhances cisplatin efficacy in ovarian cancer.” J Cell Biochem. 2018 Sep;119(9):7515-7524. doi: 10.1002/jcb.27063. Epub 2018 May 24.

Aaron Goertz and Kashif Ahmad, “Biological Activity of Phytochemical Compounds in Pomegrante-A Review.” ECronicon (open, access), Vol.1, Issue 3, 2015.

Leyla Kavandi, Laura R. Lee, Amber A. Bokhari, John E. Pirog, Yongping Jiang, Kashif A. Ahmad, Viqar Syed, “ The Chinese herbs Scutellaria baicalensis and Fritillaria cirrhosa target NFκB to inhibit proliferation of ovarian and endometrial cancer cells.” Mol. Carcinogenesis, epub ahead of print, 2013.

Kashif Ahmad, John Pirog, Viqar Syed, Yongping Jiang, Huang Nguyen, “The Chinese herbs Chuan Bei Mu and Huang Qin can produce dose dependent biphasic response in endometrial cancer cells.” BMC Complementary and Alternative Medicine, 12 (Suppl 1, P7), 2012.

Trembley JH, Unger GM, Tobolt DK, Korman VL, Wang G, Ahmad KA, Slaton JW, Kren BT, Ahmed K, “Systemic administration of antisense oligonucleotides CK2 α and α’ subunits reduces orthotopic xenograft prostate tumors in mice.” Mol. & Cell. Biochem. 356:21-35, 2011.

Ismail Hanif, Ismail Hanif, Ali Shazib, Kashif Ahmad and Shazib Pervaiz, “Casein Kinase II: An attractive target for anti-cancer drug design.”Int. J. Biochem. and Cell Biol., 42(10):1602-05, 2010.

Guixia Wang, Yuan Pan, Kashif A. Ahmad and Khalil Ahmed, “Protein B23/nucleophosphamin/numatrin dynamics in relation to protein kinase CK2 and apoptotic activity in cancer cells.” Biochemistry. 49(18):3842-52, 2010.

Ismail Hanif, Kashif Ahmad, Khalil Ahmed and Shazib Pervaiz, “Involvement of ROS in apoptosis induced by pharmacological inhibition of CK2.” Ann NY Acad Sci, 1171:591-9, 2009.

Guixia Wang, Kashif A. Ahmad, Nathan Harris and Khalil Ahmed, “Impact of protein kinase CK2 on inhibitor of apoptosis proteins in prostate cancer cells.” Mol. & Cell. Biochem. 316:91-7, 2008.

Kashif A. Ahmad, Guixia Wang, Gretchen Unger, Joel Slaton and Khalil Ahmed, “Protein kinase CK2- a key suppressor of apoptosis.” Advan. Enzyme Regul. 48:179-87, 2008.

Kashif A. Ahmad, Nathan Harris, Hans Lindvall, Andrew D. Johnson, Guixia Wang, Khalil Ahmed, “Protein kinase CK2 modulates Resveratrol and EGCG induced apoptosis in prostate cancer cells.” Molecular Cancer Therapeutics, 6(3): 1006-1012, 2007.

Kashif A. Ahmad, Guixia Wang, Khalil Ahmed, “Intra-cellular hydrogen peroxide production is an upstream event in apoptosis induced by downregulation of casein kinase 2 in prostate cancer cells.” Molecular Cancer Research 4: 331-338, 2006.

Guixia Wang, Kashif A. Ahmad, Khalil Ahmed, “Role of Protein kinase CK2 in regulation of TRAIL induced apoptosis in prostate cancer cells.” Cancer Research 66: 2242-2249, 2006.

Kashif A. Ahmad, Guixia Wang, Gretchen Unger, Joel Slaton and Khalil Ahmed, “Targeting CK2 for cancer therapy.” Anticancer Drugs 16:1037-43, 2005.

Guixia Wang, Kashif A. Ahmad, and Khalil Ahmed, “Modulation of death receptor mediated apoptosis by CK2.” Mol.& Cell. Biochem. 274: 201-205, 2005.

Guixia Wang, Gretchen Unger, Kashif A. Ahmad, Joel W. Slaton, and Khalil Ahmed, “Downregulation of CK2 induces apoptosis in cancer cells –A potential approach to cancer therapy.” Mol. & Cell. Biochem. 274:77-84, 2005.

Kashif A. Ahmad, Iskandar K., Clément M.V., Hirpara J., Shazib Pervaiz. “Hydrogen peroxide mediated cytosolic acidification is a signal for mitochondrial translocation of Bax during drug induced apoptosis.” Cancer Research 64: 7867-7878, 2004.

Kashif A. Ahmad, Marie V. Clément, Ismail M. Hanif, Shazib Pervaiz, “Resveratrol inhibits drug-induced apoptosis in human leukemia cells by creating an intracellular milieu non-permissive for death execution.” Cancer Research 64:1452-1459, 2004.

Kashif A. Ahmad, Marie V. Clément, Shazib Pervaiz, “Pro-oxidant activity of low doses of resveratrol inhibits hydrogen peroxide induced apoptosis.” Ann. of N.Y. Acad. of Sci.1010: 365, 2003.

AFFILIATIONS & MEMBERSHIPS

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2007

American Physiological Society
American Association of University Professors
American Association for the Advancement of Science

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2008

International Association of Medical Science Educators

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2009

National Association of Biology Teachers

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