Abdul Bachani Named Johns Hopkins International Injury Research Unit Director

Abdulgafoor M. Bachani, PhD, MHS has been named director of the Johns Hopkins International Injury Research Unit (JH-IIRU), beginning August 1, 2018. Dr. Bachani will become JH-IIRU’s second director, succeeding founding Director Dr. Adnan Hyder, who was recently named Senior Associate Dean for Research and Professor in Global Health at George Washington University’s Milken Institute School of Public Health. 

Dr. Bachani, an assistant professor in the Department of International Health at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health where the Unit is based, has played a critical role in JH-IIRU’s first 10 years of innovation and research in global injury prevention and control. A founding member of the Unit, he first served as associate director for training and capacity development before becoming deputy director. As director of JH-IIRU, Dr. Bachani will continue his leadership of a diverse, multidisciplinary team of faculty and scientists in injury prevention research, collaboration, and training.  

“We are thrilled to see Dr. Abdul Bachani in this new leadership role with the Johns Hopkins International Injury Research Unit,” said Dr. David Peters, Edgar Berman Chair in International Health at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. “His experience in the department and within the Unit will serve the team well to continue their lifesaving work across the globe.”

As deputy director of JH-IIRU, Dr. Bachani played a key role for the Bloomberg Philanthropies Initiative for Global Road Safety (BIGRS), funded by Bloomberg Philanthropies. Focusing on four road safety risk factors, BIGRS focuses on improving road safety in 10 cities around the world through generation of evidence, evaluation of road safety risk factors, and development and implementation of programs.

“We are excited that Dr. Bachani has been appointed director of the Johns Hopkins International Injury Research Unit,” said Kelly Larson, who oversees Bloomberg Philanthropies’  injury prevention programs. “We’ve valued Dr. Adnan Hyder’s leadership at JH-IIRU and wish him the best in his next endeavor. We are looking forward to our continued partnership with the Unit, particularly in road safety and drowning prevention.”

Dr. Bachani currently leads a multi-country study to understand long-term health, societal, and economic consequences of physical disability. He also leads efforts to train other public health professionals and scholars to build capacity for injury and disability research in low- and middle-income countries globally, and led the development of Road Traffic Injury Prevention and Control in Low- and Middle-Income Countries (RTIP), one of the first free, online training certificate programs hosted by JH-IIRU.

A champion of child injury prevention, Dr. Bachani is also leading efforts to integrate innovative mobile health approaches to child injury prevention.

The Johns Hopkins International Injury Research Unit launched in 2008 as a World Health Organization (WHO) Collaborating Center for Injuries, Violence and Accident Prevention. Since its inception, JH-IIRU has been at the forefront of global injury prevention studies and looks to continue its excellence in research and practice for years to come.

An alum from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Dr. Bachani earned his PhD from the School in 2011 and his MHS in 2008.