North South University (NSU), the top & first private university in Bangladesh, has officially appointed Professor Nesar Uddin Ahmed as its new Pro-Vice Chancellor. He formally assumed his new role on Thursday, January 1, 2026, marking a significant addition to the university’s senior leadership team.
Professor Ahmed transitions to North South University from Florida International University (FIU) in the United States, where he served as an Associate Professor of Epidemiology. His distinguished academic career is built on a foundation of extensive research in chronic diseases, cancer epidemiology, and public health analytics. A seasoned scholar, he earned his PhD from Tufts University in the United States. His educational background also includes an MPS degree from the University of the Philippines at Los Baños, following his undergraduate and postgraduate studies at Jahangirnagar University.
Beyond his teaching contributions, Professor Ahmed is recognized as a pioneer in academic administration. He was the founding Chairman of the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics at FIU, a position he held from 2004 to 2012. He also served as the founding president of the Council of Epidemiology Chairs and Directors (CECD), an international organization focused on the advancement of epidemiology education and the cultivation of emerging public health research environments.
His intellectual contributions have been widely recognized by the global scientific community. His research findings have been published in prestigious international journals, including the American Journal of Public Health, Ethnicity and Disease, and Cancer Detection and Prevention. Throughout his career, he has received the Faculty Scholar in Cancer Research Award from the American Association for Cancer Research and the National Cancer Institute (NCI) on four separate occasions. His excellence was further acknowledged in 2023 when he was named a Fulbright Scholar, and in 2010 when he was inducted into the Association of Schools of Public Health/Pfizer Teaching Excellence Academy.
The appointment was celebrated during a formal reception attended by the university’s top leadership. Among those who welcomed Professor Ahmed were M. A. Kashem, Founder Life Member and former Chairman of the Board of Trustees, and Mohammed Shahjahan, Member of the Board of Trustees. They were joined by NSU Vice-Chancellor Professor Abdul Hannan Chowdhury, Treasurer Professor Abdur Rob Khan, and Registrar Ahmed Tazmeen. The ceremony also saw the presence of university deans, departmental chairs, directors, and administrative staff, all of whom expressed high expectations for the university’s academic growth under Professor Ahmed’s leadership.