GMC Srinagar Professor Conferred with Prestigious NAMS Fellowship

SRINAGAR: Dr S Muhammad Salim Khan, Professor and Head of the Department of Community Medicine at Government Medical College (GMC) Srinagar, has been conferred with the Fellowship of the National Academy of Medical Sciences (FAMS) in recognition of his academic excellence and professional achievements.

The honour was presented during the convocation of the National Academy of Medical Sciences (NAMS) held alongside its 65th annual conference, NAMSCON 2025, at the Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER), Chandigarh, on November 8. The ceremony was presided over by Prof Ashim Kumar Ghosh, Hon’ble Governor of Haryana.

An official communiqué said Dr Khan was elected Fellow of the National Academy of Medical Sciences (India) for the year 2025, marking a significant milestone in his distinguished career. He was earlier elected as a member of NAMS a decade ago and now becomes only the second faculty member from GMC Srinagar to receive this fellowship. The first was Prof Syed Naseer Ahmad Shah, former Principal and Dean of GMC Srinagar, who was awarded the FAMS distinction in 1979.

A graduate and postgraduate in Social and Preventive Medicine (now Community Medicine) from GMC Srinagar under the University of Kashmir, Dr Khan has also earned postgraduate diplomas in Hospital and Health Management and in Bioethics from IGNOU. He is a FAIMER Fellow (Philadelphia) and the first from GMC Srinagar to complete the two-year FAIMER fellowship with distinction in 2013.

Dr Khan’s academic credentials include the Certificate of Achievement in MECOR Levels 1, 2, and 3 from the American Thoracic Society. He has also been conferred fellowship awards by several professional bodies, including the Indian Public Health Association (FIPHA), the Indian Association of Preventive and Social Medicine (FIAPSM), and the Indian Medical Association’s Academy of Medical Specialities (FIAMS), for his contributions to public health.

With around 150 research publications to his credit, Dr Khan has contributed to several reputed journals, including The Lancet, The Lancet Regional Health – Southeast Asia, BMJ Open, and the PLOS journal series. He has also served as principal investigator in over a dozen multicentric studies, including vaccine trials.

Beyond research, Dr Khan is actively engaged in policy and ethics-related work. He serves as Chairman of two Institutional Ethics Committees and sits on several others across universities and medical institutions in Jammu and Kashmir. Since 2015, he has headed the International Chair in Bioethics (formerly UNESCO Chair in Bioethics) at GMC Srinagar.

Currently, Dr Khan is the President of the Jammu and Kashmir Medical Council, overseeing the registration of allopathic doctors and ethical conduct in medical practice. Under his leadership, the Council recently organised the JK MEDICON 2025 conference and a continuing medical education (CME) event on bioethics and medical education, featuring international faculty.

As Head of the Community Medicine Department, Dr Khan has been instrumental in organising workshops on quantitative and qualitative research methods, systematic reviews, and meta-analysis for faculty and resident doctors over the past decade. Earlier this year, he organised the 52nd annual national conference of the Indian Association of Preventive and Social Medicine (IAPSMCON 2025) at SKICC, Srinagar, which drew more than 1,200 delegates from across India.

A well-known public health expert, Dr Khan frequently appears on media platforms to offer health awareness and advisories. He also runs Kashealth, a YouTube-based institutional health awareness initiative supported by the Jammu and Kashmir National Health Mission.