Director's Page

Syed M. Ahmed, MD, MPH, DrPH, FAAFP

Professor of Family and Community Medicine

Director, Center for Healthy Communities

Since 2001, Dr. Ahmed has provided leadership for improving the health of Wisconsin communities and the ability of tomorrow's physicians to understand, value, and use the community context to care for patients.  The four prongs of his academic career include:

• building effective partnerships among academic and community partners
• conducing community-based participatory research (health care research that directly benefits the people studied and actively involves the community being studied in the research)
• planning and implementing programs along with those partners to create healthier communities and community members, and
• creating curricula and experiences to develop community health competencies, understanding, and advocacy in medical students, residents physicians, and others.

Through his educational, scholarly, and community work, Dr. Ahmed has made nationally recognized contributions to community health, community academic partnership, and community-based participatory research.  In recognition of his work, nationally, he was invited as an expert on community-based participatory research to the Agency for Health Care Quality and Research, and to NIH's Workshop on Enhancing Public Trust in Research.  He is a scholar of CDC's National Public Health Leadership Institute and a member of the NIH Director's Council of Public Representatives (2006-2010), and Co-Chair of the Role of the Public in Research Work Group of Council of Public Representatives.

Before joining the Medical College of Wisconsin, Dr. Ahmed was vice chair of research in Wright State University's Department of Family Medicine and Director of the Alliance of Research in Community Health in Dayton, Ohio.  He also founded and directed Reach Out of Montgomery County, highly successful volunteer health care program established with a grant from The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

Dr. Ahmed also has received numerous federal and foundation grant, presented at a variety of national conferences, published numerous academic papers, and book chapters focusing on the health and health care of underserved and uninsured populations.  His many recognitions for outstanding service to underserved and uninsured communities include the Certificate of Special Congressional Recognition in 2000 from the U.S. Congress, the Ohio Quality of Care Award in 2000, and the Wright State University Presidential Award for Faculty Excellence in Professional Service in 2001, and the Humanism in Medicine Award in 2001 from the Association of American Medical Colleges.

Education/Certificates:

• Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery, Sir Salimullah Medical College, Dhaka University, Bangladesh
• Master and Doctorate in Public Health, University of Texas, School of Public Health, Houston, Texas
• Residency and Fellowship, Family Medicine, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas
• Fellow, American Academy of Family Physician
• Diplomate, American Board of Family Practice
• Scholar, National Public Health Leadership Institute, The Center for Disease Control and Prevention