Dr SM Moazzem Hossain joins IUB as CHPD Director
Independent University, Bangladesh (IUB) appoints global public health leader Dr SM Moazzem Hossain as the Director of its Centre for Health, Population & Development (CHPD), effective June 3, 2026.
Dr Hossain brings more than three decades of experience in global public health, health systems, emergency response, immunisation, maternal and child health, nutrition, and large-scale programme leadership across South Asia, the Middle East, North Africa and global headquarters roles.
Prior to joining IUB, he serves in several senior positions at UNICEF, including Principal Advisor and Chief of Health in Afghanistan, Deputy Director of the Global Polio Eradication Programme at UNICEF Headquarters in New York, Chief of Health and Nutrition in Iraq, and Regional Advisor for Health and Nutrition for the Middle East and North Africa region. He also works with Save the Children-UK, ICDDR,B and Pathfinder International in Bangladesh.
In Afghanistan, he provides strategic leadership for one of the largest health operations in the UN system, managing a portfolio exceeding USD 400 million and supporting more than 2,400 health facilities nationwide. He also leads UNICEF engagement with the World Bank and Asian Development Bank on large-scale health financing, including additional financing of over USD 400 million for emergency health response.
At UNICEF headquarters, he co-leads the development of the Global Polio Eradication Strategy 2022-2026 and its multi-year budgeting framework, while also working on monitoring, evaluation, research and integration of polio eradication with broader health systems.
Dr Hossain holds an MBBS from Dhaka Medical College, a Master of Public Health (MPH) from the Institute of Tropical Medicine in Antwerp, Belgium, and an MBA from CSM Institute of Graduate Studies, USA/Canada. He is also a Fellow of the Public Health Faculty UK by distinction and completes executive training in Health Financing from the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, Health Systems Strengthening from the University of Melbourne, and Strategic Leadership Development from the Gordon School of Management in South Africa.
He has authored or co-authored more than 60 peer-reviewed publications, monographs and policy papers, with work published in leading journals including Lancet Global Health, BMJ Global Health, Health Policy and Planning, Advances in Nutrition and Disaster. He also holds academic roles, including Assistant Clinical Professor at Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health, and serves as visiting lecturer and guest faculty across Asia and the Middle East.
IUB’s CHPD focuses on interdisciplinary research in health, population and development, including urban health, chronic disease risk factors, social and psychological determinants of health, inequity in health, emergency response and digital health solutions in low-resource settings.
The centre and its collaborators secure more than USD 1 million in international research funding and publish in leading journals such as The Lancet, The New England Journal of Medicine and JAMA. The university expects the appointment to strengthen research capacity, postgraduate training, policy engagement and international partnerships.
