Dr Khawaja is a Research Associate in the Section of Virology withinin the Department of Infectious Disease. He obtained his PhD at University College London, where he worked between the Centre for Rheumatology and the Centre for Inflammation and Tissue Repair. His PhD examined the role of neutrophils in autoimmune rheumatic disease and the modulatory effects of endothelial-neutrophil interactions on IgG-mediated neutrophil activation.

Dr Khawaja joined the Platelet Biology Group at the National Heart and Lung Insitute (NHLI) in October 2017, where he investigates how HIV antiretrovirals impact endothelial function and endothelial-platelet interactions. People living with HIV have an increased risk of cardiovascular disease, however the reasons for this increased risk is unclear. Dr Khawaja’s post-doctoral work aims to better understand whether off target effects of antiretroviral therapy might contribute to the observed increased cardiovascular risk among people living with HIV. This work was published in Circulation Research.

In April 2021, Dr Khawaja was awarded a Chelsea and Westminster Hospital NHS Foundation Trust Joint Research Committee clinical fellowship to help transition his research into a clinical setting. His fellowship project will help determine whether viral status and/or antiviral therapies alter endothelial function in ways that could increase risk of cardiovascular disease, directly in patient populations under more ‘real world’ settings.

In January 2026, Dr Khawaja moved to the Section of Virology where he is working on the development and validation of HIV whole genome sequencing using NGS platforms.