About

I was born in Lahore, the capital of Punjab province, Pakistan. I was raised in Sahiwal, an agricultural city in south Lahore, from where I earned my higher secondary school certificate. I was quite passionate about care of speechless animals. This motivated me to be a veterinarian. After getting professional degree in veterinary medicine from University of Agriculture Faisalabad, Pakistan, i moved to University of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, Lahore, Pakistan to pursue masters in Epidemiology and Public Health with an aim to care more about the health of humans, animals and environment (thereafter called One Health approach). My M.Phil thesis was focused on determination of association between occurrence of dengue fever in humans of Lahore metropolitan and their exposure to various geographical risk factors of dengue fever. After completing masters, I aimed to join a research or academic institute to apply my knowledge. So just after one month to that, i got a job as Zoonoses Surveillance Officer in a research organization in federal capital Islamabad, Pakistan. This was like a dream come true. I served there for around 2 years and focused on important zoonotic diseases from human-animal interface. This urged me to further my studies and I applied to Fulbright PhD scholarship program to quench the thirst of learning. The day when I got admission offer from Colorado State University, Fort Collins, Colorado, USA, changed my life entirely. And as of now I am here in USA for PhD. To cut it short, the biggest achievements in my life are being a veterinarian and pursuing doctoral studies in USA. i am so contented with my life. Cheers, Zaheer, MU

Education

• Colorado State University Veterinary Teaching Hospital
• University of Veterinary and Animal Sciences
• University of Agriculture
• Govt Graduate College Sahiwal
• Govt. Comprehensive high School Farid Town Sahiwal