A. Karim Ahmed, Ph.D., serves as a Senior Advisor at GCSE and an adjunct professor at the University of Connecticut Health Center.
Previously, Ahmed was senior fellow and deputy director of the Program on Health, Environment, and Development at the World Resources Institute (WRI) in Washington, D.C. On behalf of WRI, Ahmed helped launch the 1998 – 1999 World Resources Report (WRR) at a press briefing in New Delhi, India, in July 1998, and gave a major public address on the impact of climate change on human health at the first Indian National Conference on Environment and Health. (The WRR is a bi-annual joint publication of WRI, United Nations Environment Programme, United Nations Development Programme and the World Bank.)
Between 1974 and 1988, Ahmed served as research director and senior scientist at the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) in New York City, where he directed an international program assessing the impact of toxic substances and hazardous materials on the global environment. Upon leaving NRDC, Ahmed was a senior executive with two environmental consulting organizations: a principal at Environ Corporation in Princeton, New Jersey (1988–1990), and a Principal and Director of Research and Assessment at Science and Policy Associates in Washington, D.C. (1992–1997). Ahmed has served on a number of high level advisory committees and technical panels of national and international government agencies and scientific institutions, including the Environmental Protection Agency, Department of Energy, National Institutes of Health, National Academy of Sciences, National Science Foundation, United Nations Environment Programme, United Nations Conference on Science and Technology for Development, World Health Organization, and World Bank. He has authored numerous publications, including technical books, scientific papers, and general articles in the fields of environmental health, risk assessment, and on issues related to science and public policy.
Ahmed obtained a B.Sc. in physics and chemistry (with highest honors) from the University of Karachi, Pakistan, in 1959 and a doctoral degree in physical biochemistry from the University of Minnesota in 1969. He conducted basic research in protein chemistry at Harvard University's Biological Laboratories (1963–1965) and as a post-doctoral fellow at the University of Minnesota Medical School's Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathology (1969–1971).