‘My humble beginnings have shaped my values’, says Professor Zafar Iqbal, Associate Medical Director Public Health for Midlands Partnership NHS Foundation Trust
Professor Zafar Iqbal, Associate Medical Director Public Health for Midlands Partnership NHS Foundation Trust, was born in Pakistan and he says that it his humble beginnings that have shaped his present day values.
“My parents and grandparents were very poor. They had no land and it was a subsistence living. There were three rooms and one of the rooms was for animals,” said Professor Iqbal.
Born in a village near Mirpur, Kashmir, Professor Iqbal came to England when he was four years old and settled in Yorkshire in a two-bedroomed house with 20 other textile factory workers who used to take turn to sleep, cook and work.
He said that close to where he lived in Mirpur was a dam being constructed by British engineers and there were links were made with textile factories in England, so that had led to emigration to England from that area.
“My dad was a primary school teacher in Pakistan but when he moved over here he worked in factories. As a teacher my dad understood the value of education and encouraged us at school..”
Professor Iqbal who has four brothers and a sister said: “There are wonderful opportunities in this country for social mobility. I was very lucky to get into good schools although when in primary school he was initially placed in a ‘backward ‘ class as he couldn’t speak English.’’
“When I was trying to get into medical school it was very tough and certainly for people from my background. I remember the Dean asking me we have dozens of people with your grades why should we pick you? I talked in graphic details about the demographics of the area I came which was very different to most of the entrants who came from a private school background and very often the only non-white students were foreign students. So I really was a fish out of water and the thick Yorkshire accent exacerbated these differences.
“I have been very fortunate in my career. I love public health and have had amazing opportunities to develop services where potentially populations could benefit from.”
He said: “I am particularly interested in how primary care can improve population health outcomes.”
Professor Iqbal has authored three books and has over 40 publications mainly on applied research related to service development.
He has been a Visiting Professor of Public Health at Staffordshire University for two decades and was a founding member of the Centre for Health and Development which focuses on applied research related to reducing health inequalities.
Professor Iqbal, a father of three with two daughters in-law and grandad to two, trained as a GP and then went on a five-year Public Health Training Programme before forging a career in public health.
He maintains links to Pakistan and has recently been awarded the honorary title of Adjunct Professor by the Health Services Academy (HSA) in Islamabad.
The HSA promotes public health through teaching, training and research programmes in Pakistan and provides public health policy and system reform advice to the Pakistani government. He has also been awarded an honorary professorial title by Khyber Medical University.
Professor Iqbal is a member of the Faculty of Public Health (FPH) Global Health Committee and chairs the UK FPH Pakistan Group. He coordinates bilateral links between the FPH and public health leadership in Pakistan.
Earlier this year Professor Iqbal worked with the HSA to organise a workshop on strengthening public health systems in Pakistan in the light of lessons learnt from the COVID-19 pandemic.
His wife is a Deputy Lieutenant of Staffordshire and was awarded an MBE for services for community cohesion.
He has chaired and or presented at a number of national and international conferences. One of those this year was ‘Strengthening PH systems in Pakistan.’ It included the Minister of Health and both British and Pakistan High Commissions were on the agenda.
Last year, Professor Iqbal also presented online at an international conference in Sri Lanka about the UK experience of COVID.
Talking of his career, Professor Iqbal said that part of him wanted to give something back to the system.
“It is your experiences that shape your values and I hope I and my family never forget that” he said.
Professor Iqbal also spoke about his hopes for there to be more diversity in the NHS.
“It would be really good to see more diversity in senior NHS leadership positions particularly in the light of the sacrifices made by frontline workers during the pandemic.”
Professor Iqbal’s parents
