Who’s Who: Dr. Abdullah M. Asiri, member of the Scientific Advisory Group to the World Health Organization

Dr. Abdullah M. Asiri. (Supplied)

Dr. Abdullah M. Asiri recently joined the Scientific Advisory Group for the Origins of Novel Pathogens, an advisory body to the World Health Organization.
The 28 SAGO members, appointed by WHO, included leading scientists who represent a wide range of disciplines including epidemiology, public health, biology, and other disciplines.
Asiri, who has been the assistant deputy minister for preventive health since 2013, is a member of the IHR Emergency Committee concerning Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus.
Asiri secured his Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery undergraduate degree in 1994 at the College of Medicine, Abha, which is affiliated with King Saud University.
He began his medical career as a resident in the department of medicine at King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Center in Riyadh and stayed there until 1999 before he moved to its Jeddah branch. Asiri worked in Jeddah as an assistant consultant for one year.
From 2003 to 2006, Asiri worked as an internist and adult infectious diseases consultant and hospital epidemiologist at King Abdulaziz National Guard Hospital in the Eastern Province.
During that period, he also undertook a fellowship in adult infectious diseases from Dalhousie University in Halifax, Canada.
Asiri was transferred to the southern part of the Kingdom in 2006 to work at the region’s military hospital before he joined the King Fahd Medical City in Riyadh.
In 2011, Asiri was appointed the director of the infection prevention and control administration at the Ministry of Health. He also became an adviser to the deputy minister of public health.
Asiri’s fields of professional concentration include infectious diseases, infection control, public health, and epidemiology.