Inaugural Meeting of the Strategic Advisory Board for Digital Health – IBA Karachi

December 19, 2025: It was an honor to host the inaugural meeting of the Strategic Advisory Board for Digital Health at School of Mathematics and Computer Science, IBA Karachi, on December 19, 2025.

The meeting brought together distinguished leaders from academia, healthcare, and industry to explore the evolving role of health data, AI, and advanced analytics in enhancing patient care and strengthening healthcare systems. Key discussions focused on bridging research and real-world deployment, addressing regulatory and operational challenges, and developing sustainable frameworks to translate research prototypes into hospital-ready solutions.

A special highlight was Ijlal Jafri’s insights on the responsible adoption of AI, the importance of robust data quality and governance, and cross-sector collaboration to ensure impactful digital health solutions. Dr. Shakeel Khoja outlined the strategic objectives of the Advisory Board, emphasizing promotion of digital health and analytics, creation of a collaborative forum linking universities, hospitals, and industry, and establishment of unified guidelines for ethics, governance, and patient data protection. Dr. Tariq Mahmood emphasized translating academic research into scalable healthcare innovations and building collaborative frameworks between universities and industry.

Participants also emphasized the ethical use of health data, patient privacy, and the need for a collaborative national platform linking universities, hospitals, industry, and government initiatives.

We are grateful to all advisory board members for their valuable contributions. This forum marks the beginning of a collaborative journey to drive innovation, collaboration, and measurable impact in digital health across Pakistan.