Author: Youssef MK Farag, MD, PhD, MPH
Dr. Youssef MK Farag is a Faculty Director in the
Postgraduate Medical Education Department at Harvard Medical School,
extensively involved in teaching and mentoring students in the Master of
Medical Sciences in Clinical Investigation (MMSCI), Global Clinical Scholars
Research Training (GCSRT) and Portugal CSRT. He is also the Co-Director of the
Egypt Clinical Scholars Research Training (ECSRT), and serves as the Technical
Advisor for the PGME-Egypt Programs at Harvard Medical School.
Dr. Farag holds an Associate Faculty appointment in
the Department of Epidemiology at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public
Health. He is also the Senior Medical Director of Translational and Clinical
Development at Goldfinch Bio, Inc., a drug development company focused on
developing a novel therapy for FSGS and diabetic nephropathy using precision
medicine. While he was the Medical Director of Clinical Development at Akebia
Therapeutics, Inc., Dr. Farag participated in leading the pivotal global phase
3 cardiovascular outcomes trials, PRO2TECT and INNO2VATE,
and developing vadadustat for the treatment of anemia associated with chronic
kidney disease using the 2019 Nobel-winning hypoxia-sensing pathway, and
co-authored the original articles that were published in the New England
Journal of Medicine.
Dr. Farag is a physician and an epidemiologist. He
received his medical degree from Mansoura University Faculty of Medicine in
Egypt, and completed his clinical internship in Mansoura University Hospitals,
and Harvard Medical School affiliated hospitals. He completed a postdoctoral
research fellowship in the renal division of Brigham and Women’s Hospital and
Harvard Medical School. He earned a Master of Public Health (MPH) with a
concentration on Epidemiologic and Biostatistical Methods for Public Health and
Clinical Research, and Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in Epidemiology from Johns
Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.
Dr. Farag's main research focus is the epidemiology
and pathophysiology of chronic kidney disease. He is passionate for generating
epidemiologic data on cardio-metabolic diseases for developing countries with
poor research infrastructure. He is an author of nearly 60 original research
contributions, review articles and conference proceedings, some of which were
published in the New England Journal of Medicine.
Since 2010, Dr. Farag has been teaching introductory
and advanced epidemiology, biostatistics and clinical research methods, and
accumulated over 3000 teaching hours since then. He received several
prestigious departmental and institutional teaching and service awards from
Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. In addition, he has extensive
experience with online and blended education. Since 2012, he has been the
Co-Director of the Clinical Nephropathology Certificate program (CNC) of the
International Society of Nephrology, the world’s first nephropathology online
teaching program.
Dr. Farag is the Scientific Assistant Editor for
Gordis Epidemiology (6th Edition), Amazon’s bestselling book in
epidemiology and clinical research. He is also an Associate Editor for BMC
Nephrology and BMC Health Services Research. Dr. Farag is a Fellow
of the American Society of Nephrology, and a Fellow of the American College of
Epidemiology.
Google Scholar profile can be found here
Dr. Farag's publications on PubMed can be found here
To contact Dr. Farag, please email him at info[at]theepidemiologist.org
