Dr Athirah Bakhtiar obtained her undergraduate degree in pharmacy - BPharm (Hons) from International Medical University and doctoral degree from Monash University. Upon completion of her PhD in 2016, she joined the academic line as a lecturer in SEGi University and MAHSA University, where she headed the Scientific Basis of Therapeutics (Pharmacology) Department. Athirah Bakhtiar joined School of Pharmacy, Monash University Malaysia as a Pharmacy Lecturer in June 2019. Her research interest embraces medical nanotechnology discipline, which applies advance delivery approach (biodegradable and inorganic materials) to enhance the delivery system of drugs and gene therapies to breast cancer cells, both in vitro and in vivo. However, she is also interested in exploring other non-communicable disease areas such as diabetic mellitus, especially on oral insulin drug delivery studies. Aside from laboratory-based research, she is also interested in clinical studies related to medication safety, for promoting safe prescribing and dispensing in healthcare organisation. She is very much interested in collaborative work, both nationally and internationally. Aside from her research background, she has experiences as pharmacist in many sectors including hospital, community pharmacy and industry. She is a Full-Registered Pharmacist in Malaysia, a member of Malaysian Pharmaceutical Society, Malaysian Academy of Pharmacy and Malaysian Society of Pharmacology and Physiology. She is also a member of Society of Biomaterials (USA) and Sakura Science Club (JSPS, Japan).

Athirah has strong interests in improving the delivery of conventional therapies for cancer management through smart nanotechnology system. To date, she has successfully observed as many as 25 different types of potential inorganic nanoparticles on gene therapy for breast cancer treatment, both in vitro and in vivo. She is interested in the application of nanotherapy for other non-communicable diseases such as diabetes mellitus to observe the potential of designing oral insulin drug delivery through nano-encapsulation technique. Athirah also has an interest in clinical research focusing on medication safety to promote safe prescribing and dispensing in various healthcare settings.