NIHR Academic Clinical Fellow in Public Health Medicine
Aetiology and Mechanisms of Diabetes and Related Metabolic Disorders of Later Life
Current work and interests
Waheed is a clinical-academic, splitting his time as an ST2 Specialty Registrar in Public Health Medicine in the East of England and a post-doctoral NIHR Academic Clinical Fellow at the IMS Epidemiology Unit, University of Cambridge. With a background in statistical genomics and population health, his clinical interests lie in health protection and healthcare public health, specifically public health genomics.
His work brings together epidemiology, genomics, digital health and AI-enabled analytics to make disease prevention more personalised and equitable. Using large-scale, multi-dimensional data and real-world evidence, he develops methods to identify those at greatest risk and intervene earlier, aiming to embed public health genomics into routine NHS care at national scale, in line with the NHS Long Term Plan.
His current research focuses on personalised prevention of type 2 diabetes mellitus, developing genomics-informed approaches to identify those at highest risk and enable earlier, more equitable intervention.
Background and experience
Waheed studied Medicine at the University of Exeter (2015–2021), holding a computational bioinformatics vacation scholarship with the Monogenic Diabetes (Hattersley) Lab, researching MODY genetics, before an MSc(Res) in Genetic Epidemiology at Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford (2019). He began NHS Academic Foundation training through CATO, Cambridge (2021), and completed a DPhil at Green Templeton College, Oxford (2024), awarded a year early with special commendation. Appointed an NIHR Academic Clinical Fellow (ST1) in Public Health Medicine at Birmingham (2025), he returned to Cambridge (2026) as an ST2 Specialty Registrar and Academic Clinical Fellow at the IMS Epidemiology Unit.
During his DPhil, Waheed led the largest genome-wide association study of varicose veins, in 810,000 individuals (Nature Communications), recognised with the Vascular Society of Great Britain and Ireland’s Richard Wood Memorial Prize. He has since authored over 50 publications, including in the BMJ, Lancet and Nature families, spanning genomics, cohort research, pharmacoepidemiology and perioperative outcomes, with over 2,700 citations (h-index 27).
He has held senior roles across major international research collaboratives (COVIDSurg, CHOLECOVID, EuroSurg and STARSurg UK), is an Associate Editor of the Journal of Public Health (FPH), and has received over 50 prizes and awards, including Exeter’s Student Leader of the Year and the BAPRAS John Barron Prize.
Qualifications
- Master of Public Health (MPH), University of Birmingham, 2025 – present.
- Fellow of the Royal Society for Public Health (FRSPH), 2025.
- DPhil Genetic Epidemiology, University of Oxford (No corrections, top 0.1% with commendation), 2022 – 2024.
- Bachelor of Medicine and Surgery (BMBS), University of Exeter, 2015 – 2021.
- MSc (By Research), Genetic Epidemiology, University of Oxford (No corrections, top 1%), 2019 – 2020.
Selected publications
- Ahmed WUR,Kleeman SO, Ng M, Wang W, Auton A, 23andMe Research Team, Lee R, Handa A, Zondervan KT, Wiberg A, Furniss D.Genome-wide association analysis and replication in 810,625 individuals with varicose veins. Nat Commun. 2022 Jun 2;13(1):3065. PMID: 35654884.
- Prats-Uribe A, Sena AG, Lai LYH, Ahmed WUR, et al. Use of repurposed and adjuvant drugs in hospital patients with COVID-19: multinational network cohort study. BMJ. 2021 May 11;373:n1038. PMID: 33975825.
- Patel B, Kleeman SO, Neavin D, Powell J, Baskozos G, Ng M, Ahmed WUR, et al. Shared genetic susceptibility between trigger finger and carpal tunnel syndrome: a genome-wide association study. Lancet Rheumatol. 2022 Aug;4(8):e556-e565. PMID: 36043126.
- Ahmed WUR (writing group); NIHR Global Health Research Unit on Global Surgery. 30-day postoperative mortality and the effects of hospital preparedness during the COVID-19 pandemic: a pooled analysis of prospective international cohort studies. Lancet Regional Health Eur. 2026 Jan 29;62:101566. PMID: 41648988.
- Ahmed WUR (steering group); NIHR Global Health Research Unit on Global Surgery; STARSurg Collaborative. A prognostic model for use before elective surgery to estimate the risk of postoperative pulmonary complications (GSU-Pulmonary Score): a development and validation study in three international cohorts. Lancet Digit Health. 2024 Jul;6(7):e507-e519. PMID: 38906616.
Complete list on Google Scholar
Current and previous grants
- Oxford University DPhil Scholarship, Aziz Foundation. CI. (2021)
- INSPIRE Small Grant Award, The Academy of Medical Sciences. Co-Applicant. (2020)
- Oxford University MSc Scholarship, Aziz Foundation; Wolfson Foundation; RCSEng; NIHR Oxford BRC. CI. (2019)
- Bursary for Undergraduate Research, Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh. CI. (2018)
- INSPIRE Summer Research Grant, The Wellcome Trust; The Academy of Medical Sciences. CI. (2016)
Selected awards
- Commendation for DPhil Thesis (Top 0.1%), University of Oxford, Medical Sciences Divisional Board, 2025.
- Surgical Research Society Academic & Research Prize, Association of Surgeons in Training, 2021.
- Richard Wood Memorial Prize, Vascular Society of Great Britain and Ireland, 2020.
- Student Leader of the Year, University of Exeter, 2018.
- John Barron Prize, British Association of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgeons, 2018.
- Educational Video Prize, British Society for Surgery of the Hand, 2018.