By TCN News,
Aligarh: Professor Afzal A. Siddiqui, an alumnus of Aligarh Muslim University, currently working in the United States is coming back to her alma mater to work on a six month assignment as Fulbright fellow.
Professor Afzal A. Siddiqui is currently Professor of Microbiology and Immunology, Internal Medicine and Pathology at the Texas Tech University (TTU) at School of Medicine, Texas, USA. He has been awarded Fulbright Fellowship for a period of six months to work in collaboration with Dr. Md. Khalid Saifullah, Department of Zoology, AMU.
Afzal A. Siddiqui
Prof. Afzal A. Siddiqui is also the Director of the Center for Tropical Medicine and Infectious Diseases, Texas Tech University. He is internationally known for his research on parasite immunology, particularly in the area of developing vaccines to fight infectious diseases.
Dr. Siddiqui received Dean’s, President’s and Chancellor’s Council research awards from the TTU School of Medicine, TTU Health Sciences Center and the TTU System, respectively.
Dr. Siddiqui earned degrees from Aligarh University and completed Ph.D. at University of Western Ontario, Canada. He served as chief of parasite immunology at East Tennessee State University School of Medicine and was a research health scientist with the Department of Veterans Affairs. He has authored over 60 peer-reviewed publications and numerous book chapters and reviews.
Dr. Siddiqui’s Fulbright research project, “Immunoprophylaxis and immunodiagnostics of parasites of clinical and veterinary importance,” is aimed at developing immunoprophylactics and immunodiagnostics for amphistomiasis, a disease of ruminants causing high morbidity and mortality in tropical and subtropical countries resulting in great economic losses including in India.
The World Health Organization estimates that three billion people are afflicted with parasitic diseases. These parasites account for 3.5 million deaths annually. Multitudes of parasites affect livestock, contributing to malnutrition and economic hardship. There is an urgent need to develop effective vaccines as well as sensitive, reliable, specific and cost-effective diagnostic tests against parasitic diseases with the eventual aim of preventing and treating infections in billions of people and livestock worldwide.