Professor M. Omar Rahman is an internationally renowned Demographer and Psychiatrist who is currently Vice Chancellor at Independent University, Bangladesh (IUB). He remains an adjunct Professor of Demography and Epidemiology at the Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health. In addition to being the Vice Chancellor of IUB, he is also the Professor of Demography, Dean of the School of Public Health and Executive Director of the Centre for Health, Population and Development. Prior to joining Independent University in 2003, Professor Rahman was Associate Professor of Epidemiology and Demography at Harvard University, and Research Fellow in Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School.
Dr. Rahman completed his A.B. in Biochemical sciences from Harvard in 1979, followed by his MD from Northwestern University Medical School in 1983. Subsequently he received his MPH in health policy and management from Harvard in 1987 and his D.Sc. in Epidemiology also from Harvard University in 1990. Dr. Rahman trained in Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School and is a US board certified psychiatrist. He joined the faculty of Harvard University in 1996 in the Department of Global Health and Population.
Professor Rahman is the author of several co-edited books, and multiple peer-reviewed articles on health and population, international migration and higher education policy in the developing world. He has received numerous research grants from the U.S. National Institutes of Health, WHO, and various U.N. agencies and has served as a consultant to various international organizations. His current research interests are: Risk Factors for Chronic Diseases in South Asia, Health Policy with a particular focus on Mental Health in the Developing World, International Professional Migration, and Higher Education Policy and Practice in Developing Countries.