Professor Muhammad Waqar Azeem is an internationally recognized academician and healthcare leader affiliated with Sidra Medicine and Weill Cornell Medical College. He is the Inaugural Chair of Psychiatry at Sidra Medicine, Doha, Qatar, and a Professor of Psychiatry at Weill Cornell Medical College, Cornell University, USA. He has played a pivotal role in establishing child, adolescent, and perinatal psychiatry services in Qatar from the ground up. Under his leadership, his team developed the world’s first and only ACGME-I accredited Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Training Program at Sidra Medicine. Recently Sidra Medicine also started innovative Perinatal and Reproductive Psychiatry Fellowship. He also serves as the Director of the Sidra Medicine World Psychiatric Association (WPA) Collaborating Center.

Professor Azeem has made significant contributions to several key national initiatives. He has served as Chair of Qatar’s National Autism Plan Working Group, Co-Chair of the World Innovation Summit for Health (WISH) Autism Forum, and as a member of the National Mental Health and Wellbeing Task Force. Additionally, he is the Chair of the Qatar Foundation Renad Academy Advisory Board. On the international stage, Professor Azeem chairs the WPA Special Interest Group on Medical Students and is Co-Chair of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry’s (AACAP) Global Mental Health and International Relations Committee. Between 2020 and 2023, he chaired the WPA Working Group on Medical Students and was a member of both the WPA Working Group on Autism and the WPA Working Group on Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. He also participated as an invited member of the World Health Organization’s (WHO) Rehabilitation Program initiative, contributing to the development of rehabilitation interventions for individuals with autism. He is invited member of the scientific committee for the prestigious upcoming 6^th Global Ministerial Mental Health Summitt.

Professor. Azeem’s clinical and research interests focus on Autism Spectrum Disorder and Neurodevelopmental Disorders, Global Mental Health, Child and Adolescent Psychiatry training, and undergraduate medical education. He has been involved in numerous prestigious research grants from QNRF and SIRF, focusing on autism, ADHD, genetics, neuroimaging, and psychiatric comorbidities in chronic medical conditions. He has presented at both national and international conferences and published extensively in peer-reviewed journals.

Professor. Azeem completed his general psychiatry training at Hennepin County Medical Center and Regions Hospital in Minnesota, where he also served as Chief Resident. He received his child and adolescent psychiatry training at Children’s Hospital Boston, affiliated with Harvard Medical School. He is a Diplomate of the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology in both General Adult Psychiatry and Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. He is also a Distinguished Fellow of both the American Psychiatric Association (APA) and the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (AACAP).

Professor. Azeem has received numerous awards and honors for his contributions to the field. In 2023, he was awarded the AACAP Rieger Service Program Award for Excellence and received an honorary membership from the WPA in recognition of his outstanding service. Additionally, he has co-directed child and adolescent psychiatry review courses internationally and has served on various boards and committees at regional, national, and international levels.