Dr Md Nazmul Karim is a medical doctor and Clinical Epidemiologist, currently serving as Associate Professor (Clinical Epidemiology) in the Medical Education Research and Quality (MERQ) unit within the School of Public Health and Preventive Medicine (SPHPM) at Monash University.

In addition to his medical degree (MBBS) and a Master of Public Health (MPH) from overseas, Nazmul holds a Master’s in Clinical Epidemiology (MClinEpi) and a PhD in Clinical Epidemiology from SPHPM, Monash University. He also completed a Postgraduate Diploma in Non-Communicable Disease Prevention and Control at the School of Global Health, University of Copenhagen, Denmark, supported by a World Health Organization (WHO) scholarship. His academic journey has been recognised through several prestigious awards, including the Australian Government AusAID Scholarship, Monash Graduate Scholarship (MGS), International Postgraduate Research Scholarship (IPRS), and the Postgraduate Publication Award (PPA).

Nazmul began his professional career as a medical practitioner overseas before transitioning into global health and epidemiology. Over the past decade, he has worked in various international public health roles across both developing and developed settings. He served the World Health Organization as a National Consultant for Chronic Disease and Health Promotion at the country level and as a Technical Officer for Disability Prevention and Rehabilitation at the WHO South-East Asia Regional Office (SEARO).

After completing his doctoral studies in 2017, Nazmul joined SPHPM as an education-focused academic. This shift from clinical practice to academic teaching and research was a significant transition that re-engaged him as a learner and transformed his approach to education. He integrates his clinical insight with a strong foundation in quantitative research and statistical methodology to enrich health professional education. Known for his collaborative leadership style, he draws on interdisciplinary expertise to advance both research and teaching. His teaching philosophy is grounded in learner empowerment, conceptual scaffolding, and the creation of inclusive, supportive learning environments that enable students to thrive. He is a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (SFHEA) and recipient of the SPHPM Teaching Excellence Award.

At SPHPM, Nazmul coordinates and teaches across a wide range of undergraduate and postgraduate units. He leads core epidemiology units in the Master of Public Health program, including Introductory Epidemiology (MPH5040/6040), Epidemiology: Concepts and Applications (MPH5305), and Chronic Disease Epidemiology and Prevention (MPH5314). He also teaches in the Master of Pharmaceutical Sciences through Introduction to Epidemiology and Biostatistics (MPH5020/6020), and Human Health and Disease Processes (EPM5030) in the Master of Health Data Science. At the undergraduate level, he teaches Human Health and Disease (HSC1300) and Communicable Disease Prevention and Control (PBH3002) for the Bachelor of Health Sciences. In his role as Program Manager of Monash Online’s postgraduate health courses, Nazmul pioneered several inovative approach in the carousel-based online teaching models well ahead of the COVID-19 pandemic—approaches that have since become central to the School’s online learning strategy. 

Nazmul’s research spans both health and education domains. In health professional education, his work investigates predictors of student performance and retention across learning modes, evaluates the effectiveness of carousel-based teaching, explores stress and coping mechanisms among health profession students, and applies psychometric and item response theory to educational measurement. In public health and clinical research, he has led and contributed to projects examining climate-based predictive models for dengue outbreaks, the impact of dietary patterns on obesity and diabetes in the Melbourne Collaborative Cohort Study (MCCS), micronutrient intake and pregnancy outcomes, and the role of uric acid in cognitive decline and physical disability.

His broader research interests include epidemiological and causal modelling, non-communicable disease epidemiology, diabetes and its complications, evidence-based clinical practice, environmental and nutritional epidemiology, health promotion, psychometrics, and health professions education.