Dr. Lubna Samad

Co-Chair of the GSF transitional High-Level Council

Director IRD Global, Interactive Health Solutions and Community Health Solutions

Dr. Lubna Samad is a paediatric surgeon based in Karachi, Pakistan, committed to improving patient outcomes with a specific focus on LMICs.

As a Director at IRD Global and Chairperson Board of Directors IRD Pakistan, she has contributed to developing innovative strategies to overcome health delivery challenges in the Global South. Her experience in public sector hospitals in Pakistan has informed her understanding of the many individual, social and institutional barriers that result in poor access to, and provision of, quality surgical care. Her work spans research, implementation, and policy level initiatives in the global surgery space.

She led the development of Pakistan’s national surgical plan - “National Vision for Surgical Care 2020-25” – in collaboration with Pakistan’s Ministry of National Health Services, Regulations and Coordination, aimed at incorporating surgical care delivery within the country’s health plan. She conducted the country’s first national surgical indicators survey and is actively involved in conceptualizing and modeling the surgical component of Pakistan’s Universal Health Coverage Benefits Packages.

Dr. Samad is Chair of the World Health Organization’s Technical Advisory Group on Integrated Clinical Care, a board member of the Global Initiative on Children’s Surgery and a member of MSF’s Transformational Investment Capacity (TIC) Selection Committee.