The AAMS Canada Team
Dr. Naveed Aziz (President)
Dr. Naveed Aziz serves as Chief Executive Officer of CGEn, Canada’s national research enterprise with a mandate to make cost-effective high-quality research technologies a reality for Canadian researchers.
Dr. Aziz’s leadership has enabled Canadian leadership in fundamental and applied research in the field of genomics, playing a key role in supporting the advancement of technological developments within the field of genomics and providing solutions to pressing global challenges related to health and related sectors. Dr. Aziz has represented Canada at several national and international committees, including Ministry of Science & Innovation, U.K. and the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), where Dr. Aziz shared his expertise, insights and best practices with peers from around the world.
In addition to being awarded the Canadian Association of Research Administrators (CARA) 2022 Research Partnership Award, Dr. Aziz was also named one of Canada’s Emerging Executive Leaders by adMare Academy Executive Institute in 2018 and included in the list of Canada’s Top 20 Dynamic CEOs by The CEO Publication in 2021.
Dr. Aziz is a molecular geneticist by training, holds an MPhil in Biotechnology and a PhD in Genetics from U.K. After completing his Research Fellowship at the Noble Research Institute, USA, in 2014, Dr. Aziz pursued an Executive MBA from U.K. and is a graduate of the Leadership training program from Harvard Business School, USA. His previous roles include serving as the Director of Technology programs at Genome Canada and as Head of Genomics at University of York, UK.
Dr. Uzma Urooj (Chair, Women's wing)
Dr. Uzma Urooj is currently serving as the inaugural Chair of Association of Ahmadiyya Muslim Scientists (AAMS) Women Wing. A neuroscientist by training, Dr. Uzma has a Ph.D. in Cognitive Neuroimaging from the University of York, UK, and BSc Honors in Neuroscience and Linguistics from the University of Toronto, Canada. Over the years, Uzma has carved her career in science policy at the federal government level. Currently, Uzma is the Deputy Director of Science Programs and Innovation Policy, within the Government of Canada where she is responsible for implementing Canada’s Critical Minerals Strategy to achieve a net zero future for Canada’s workers and economy. Beyond her day job, she is intimately involved at the interface of science and policy through several grass-root science policy forums and serves on the Canadian Science Policy Centre (CSPC)’s strategic advisory committee. She also chairs the Government of Canada’s Professional Network and regularly participates in mentoring and career development events to impart whatever she has learned to those coming behind her.
Dr. Fasih Rahman (Chair, Men's wing)
Dr. Fasih Rahman serves as the Chair for the Ahmadiyya Muslim Research Association of Canada. Fasih also serves as an assistant for the National Ta’lim department of Canada and Regional Nazim Umur-e-Talaba for Western Ontario.
Fasih Rahman is a PhD graduate from the University of Waterloo, and currently works as a Postdoctoral Fellow at University of Guelph, Ontario. Fasih is an expert in muscle physiology, mitochondrial physiology and metabolism. His research focuses on: 1) understanding the molecular mechanism(s) of mitochondrial remodeling, and 2) targeting the mitochondria to preserve muscle mass and function in disease conditions. Fasih’s graduate research has resulted in 16 publications, 2 book chapters, several graduate awards and federal funding, including the prestigious NSERC Alexander Graham Bell Doctoral Award.
In his spare time, Fasih enjoys lifting weights, cycling, and playing racquet sports. He also enjoys organizing events and working with the youth to promote research and scientific advancements.
Dr. Haseen Rahman (General Secretary)
Dr. Haseen Rahman is a Postdoctoral Fellow in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at University of Waterloo, Canada. He did his PhD from Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, India, Master’s from Indian Institute of Technology Madras, India and Bachelor’s from Kannur University, India. His research interests include 5G and beyond wireless communication, Information Theory and Network Optimization
Baria Khan (Assistant General Secretary)
Baria Shafiq Khan is an Astronomy and Astrophysics graduate researcher at the University of Western Ontario in the MSc. program. She’s a member of the PDRs4All collaboration, one of the Early Release Science Programmes for the James Webb Space Telescope. The program focuses on JWST imaging and spectroscopic observations of the nearest massive star-forming region to us, the Orion Nebula, to investigate radiative feedback from massive stars. Her research comprises of using these highly-sensitive infrared observations from JWST, to contribute to our understanding of the properties of Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons, a rich family of carbon-bearing molecules that are an abundant and important component of our own Galaxy and the Molecular Universe at large. During her undergraduate studies at the University of Toronto, her research efforts spanned across the fields of extragalactic astronomy, radio astrochemistry, early-universe cosmology, experimental astroparticle physics and high-energy particle physics. She has been a member of the Dunlap Institute for Astronomy and Astrophysics’ student researchers cohort and the University of Toronto Groups for the ATLAS Experiment at CERN, the MATHUSLA (MAssive Timing Hodoscope for Ultra-Stable neutraL pArticles) Experiment at CERN, the SuperCDMS (Super Cryogenic Dark Matter Search) Experiment at SNOLAB and the TIME (Tomographic Ionized Carbon Intensity Mapping) Experiment.
Maryam Khalil (Communications Secretary)
Maryam is a PhD Candidate in the Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathobiology at the University of Toronto. Her research at the Princess Margaret Cancer Centre aims to investigate the activation of programmed cell death-ligand 1 (PD-L1) after chemotherapy treatment in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and development of humanized PDX (patient-derived xenograft) mouse models. Her research is funded by the Canada Graduate Scholarship-Doctoral from CIHR. In addition to her research, Maryam works as a teaching assistant and course instructor at the University of Toronto. Beyond her research, she is an avid reader and book collector and loves exploring new coffee spots.
Ihtisham Ahmed (Awards and Scholarship Secretary)
Ihtisham Ahmed Rana is a Master of Science student in Kinesiology at York University. His research is to explore contributors for muscle weakness in cancer induced cachexia by investigating the extra cellular matrix of muscle tissue.