Dr. Mohamed Zahir Alimohamed (BSc, MSc, PhD)
General secretary, THGO
Hon. Lecturer and Biomedical Scientist,
Department of Biochemistry,
Muhimbili University of Health and Allied Sciences, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
GloCal Health postdoctoral fellow,
University of California, San Francisco
Research Scientist,
Sickle Cell Programme,
Department of Haematology and Blood Transfusion,
Muhimbili University of Health and Allied Sciences, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
Research Associate,
Department of Genetics,
University Medical Center Groningen,
Groningen, The Netherlands
E: secretary@thgo.or.tz
Mohamed obtained his Bachelor’s degree in Biotechnology from Manipal University in India and Master’s degree in Molecular Biology and Biotechnology from The University of Groningen in The Netherlands. He then pursued his PhD, having completed his training in Medical Genetics at the Genetics Department of the University Medical Centre Groningen in The Netherlands. He worked for the Innovation and Development section of the Genetics department. His research mainly focused on using next generation sequencing to diagnose (genetic) diseases and its implementation strategies. During the course of his PhD studies, he worked with cell lines and human samples for research and diagnosis of genetic conditions such as cardiomyopathy, spinocerebellar ataxia, cancer and acute leukaemia. He is particularly interested and skilled in the classification of genetic variations for disease diagnosis (molecular) as well as posseses the technical expertise in laboratory-based genetic methods.
In the year 2019, he joined the Muhimbili University of Health and Allied Sciences (MUHAS) as an Adjunct Lecturer at the Department of Haematology and Blood Transfusion and Department of Biochemistry, as well as a Research Fellow and Co-investigator at the Sickle Cell Programme (SCP), where he is based to-date. His current research interests and work includes, investigating diagnostic and curative options (gene editing and therapy) as part of advanced therapy treatment for patients with Sickle cell disease (SCD) in Tanzania, pharmacogenomics in African populations, antimicrobial resistance in Tanzanian communities, exploring genetic variations in African populations and surveillance of rare genetic disorders in Tanzania.
He serves as the secretary general of the Tanzania Human Genetics Organisation, which he co-founded in 2017. In addition to his research duties, he is involved in students’ project supervision and teaching activities in the field of Molecular Biology and Human Genetics. In 2020, he joined Shree Hindu Mandal Hospital as the head of research and training and collaborated with Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine as a research consultant to address non-communicable diseases.
In addition to his research duties, he is involved in students’ project supervision and teaching activities in the field of Molecular Biology and Human Genetics.
He is an Executive board member of the African Society of Human Genetics, member of the Tanzania Genome Network, BOVA network, African Science Initiative, H3Africa and the Genetics Society of America. He serves as an eLife community ambassador representing Europe and Africa and a health columnist for The Citizen, Medico Press and Mahdi Health Initiative – White Coats community magazine.
