DrSaira Ghafur

Dr Saira Ghafur is the Director of Digital Health at the Institute of Global Health Innovation, Imperial College London, where her work focuses on cybersecurity, health data and evidence generation for digital health and AI. Her research examines how cyber risks across healthcare infrastructure, including connected medical devices, clinical systems, and large-scale health data environments can be identified, mitigated, and governed to improve the resilience, safety, and trustworthiness of digital healthcare delivery. She has led the development of one of the first global academic collaborations dedicated to healthcare cybersecurity, bringing together expertise across technical, clinical, and policy domains.

Dr Ghafur’s work is characterised by a strong emphasis on policy translation and real-world impact. She has led interdisciplinary programmes spanning academia, government, regulators, and industry to translate research into actionable policy, guidance, and implementation frameworks. Her contributions have informed national and international discussions on healthcare cybersecurity, digital resilience, and health data governance, particularly relating to the secure adoption of emerging technologies and AI in healthcare. Through this work, she has established a recognised profile at the intersection of academic research, health policy, and practical delivery in health system cybersecurity.

Alongside her academic role, Dr Ghafur is an honorary consultant in respiratory medicine at Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust. She is also the co-founder of Psyma Mental Health Technologies and Prova Health. Saira has previously served as a Clinical Fellow to the National Medical Director at NHS England and was a Harkness Fellow in Healthcare Policy and Practice at The Commonwealth Fund in New York City.