On April 9, the university held a ceremony to appoint Professor Hafiz T. A. Khan, Professor-level Researcher at the Institute of Population Ageing, University of Oxford, and Professor of Public Health and Statistics at the University of West London, as a Guest Professor of the university. Party Secretary Zhang Jianhua attended the ceremony and presented the letter of appointment.

During the ceremony, Secretary Zhang Jianhua, on behalf of the university, expressed gratitude to Professor Khan. He noted that Professor Khan has continuously offered international courses for students in the university over the years, actively supporting the university’s international cooperation and exchange endeavors, and has injected significant momentum into the university’s internationalization strategy. He emphasized that the university has always regarded open education as a key strategy for high-quality development, and expressed the hope that, taking this appointment as an opportunity, Professor Khan would bring cutting-edge academic ideas, advanced theoretical achievements, and high-quality academic resources into classroom teaching, integrate them into research innovation, and empower discipline development. This, he added, would provide solid support for strengthening the internationalization of the teaching staff, enhancing the quality of talent cultivation, and expanding the university’s international academic influence, thereby elevating the university’s level of international education to a new height.

Professor Hafiz Khan expressed his gratitude for the university’s trust. He stated that it is a great honor to become a member of Shandong Second Medical University, and that he will fully leverage his professional expertise and academic resources to help build cooperative bridges between the university and the United Kingdom as well as countries along the Belt and Road. He will actively promote in-depth collaboration in areas such as academic exchanges for faculty and students, joint student training, and collaborative research innovation, contributing to the university’s education, research, and international exchange efforts.

Relevant officials from the Office of Human Resources (Talent Work Office), Office of Research, Office of International Cooperation and Exchange, and School of Public Health attended the ceremony.

Hafiz T. A. Khan, a British national, is currently a Professor-level Researcher at the Institute of Population Ageing, University of Oxford, and a Professor of Public Health and Statistics at the University of West London. He is a globally renowned scholar in the fields of public health, demography, and applied statistics. Professor Khan holds a Ph.D. in Applied Statistics from Edinburgh Napier University (UK) and completed postdoctoral research at the University of Oxford. He possesses a number of prestigious academic qualifications, including Chartered Statistician of the Royal Statistical Society (RSS), Fellow of the Royal Society for Public Health (RSPH), and Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (HEA) in the UK. His academic career spans top universities and research institutions across multiple countries, including the United Kingdom, Bangladesh, Singapore, and Austria.