Center for Human Rights and Humanitarian Studies

Ruhul Abid, MD, PhD is an Associate Professor in the Division of Cardiothoracic Surgery, Rhode Island Hospital and Brown University Warren Alpert Medical School. After completion of a Fellowship in Vascular Medicine at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Harvard Medical School in 2001, Dr. Abid began his career as an Instructor in Medicine in 2002, rising to the rank of Assistant Professor in 2006 at Harvard Medical School. He joined Brown University Alpert Medical School in 2011 and established his vascular biology lab at the CVRC of Rhode Island Hospital. He served on the Medical Faculty Executive Council of Alpert Medical School from 2012-2015 and has been on the Executive Committee at Brown Global Health Initiative.

Dr. Abid has combined careers in research on cardiovascular diseases and in global health. He is the recipient of the New Investigator Award in Thrombosis in 2006 and 6th Annual International Werner Risau Investigator Award in Vascular Biology in 2011 form the American Heart Association, and Stars in Global Health from the Grand Challenges Canada in 2018. Since 2013, Abid’s non-profit (501c3) organization HAEFA (www.haefa.org) has provided free healthcare and medicines to more than 30,000 ready-made-garment factory workers, and cervical cancer screening to 10,000 women in Bangladesh. Since 2017, Dr. Abid and his medical teams have been providing healthcare to more than 150,000 Rohingya refugees from Myanmar. His technological innovation NIROG, a solar-powered, offline capable, portable EMR has enabled health workers to screen, treat and follow up patients with chronic diseases among the disadvantaged and displaced populations in hard-to-reach areas. His recent collaboration with CHRHS and Project HOPE has provided ‘COVID-19 Competency TOT’ to more than 1,200 healthcare professionals at 35 organizations in Bangladesh.