ALIGARH July 9: Prof. Rais Akhtar, formerly National Fellow, ICSSR and Emeritus Scientist, CSIR, Geography, Centre for the Study of Regional Development, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi has joined as Visiting Professor at the Department of Geology, Aligarh Muslim University.

Prof. Akhtar taught at the Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, University of Zambia, Lusaka and University of Kashmir, Srinagar. He is a recipient of Leverhulme Fellowship, University of Liverpool, Henry Chapman Fellowship, University of London, Visiting Fellowship, University of Sussex, Commonwealth Secretariat Fellow, Institute of Commonwealth Studies, London, Belgian and French Governments’ Fellow, and Visiting Professor, University of Paris.

Prof. Rais Akhtar has been Visiting Lecturer in a number of geography departments and medical institutes. He has delivered lectures on medical geography, climate change and human health at the London School of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, Liverpoor School of Tropical Medicine, Johns Hopkins University School of Hygiene and Public Health, Institute of Public Health, University of Pisa, and Nuffield School for Health, Leeds. He has been a lead Author at Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change during 1999-2007, which was the joint recipient of Nobel Peace Prize for 2007.

He has published 82 research papers in national and international journals including The Lancet, International Journal of Environmental Studies, Geo Journal, and Social Science & Medicine. Prof. Akhtar has research interest in environment, health and sustainable development with specific focus on climate change and health scenario. Prof. Akhtar has 14 books to credit. His two books, Health And Disease in Tropical Africa (1987) and Health Care Patterns and Planning in Developing Countries (1991), were published from London and New York, and another, Malaria in South Asia, (written jointly with two American Co-editors was published by Springer, Netherlands in April 2010.