Mohammad Razai

Mohammad Razai
Born
Kabul
EducationUniversity of Cambridge
Occupation(s)Medical doctor and writer
Known forResearch in healthcare
Medical career
FieldMedicine, humanities, creative writing
InstitutionsUniversity of Cambridge and St George's University of London
Sub-specialtiesGeneral practice, medical humanities, poetry, and medical writing
AwardsJohn Maddox Prize 2021
Websitehttps://www.sgul.ac.uk/profiles/mohammad-razai

Mohammad Sharif Razai is a physician, poet, author and researcher.[1] He was awarded the 2021 John Maddox Prize as an early career researcher, by Sense about Science and Nature for his work on racial health inequalities.[2]

Early life and education

Razai was born in Afghanistan and came to the UK when he was 14.[3] He studied medicine at the University of Cambridge.

Career

Razai works as a medical doctor in the UK's National Health Service, as lecturer and researcher at University of Cambridge and as a research fellow at St George's University of London.[3]

Razai's writings deal with health inequalities in particular during the COVID-19 pandemic.[4] Mohammad Razai is also a published poet and has written for the Poetry Review, Brittle Stars, Tears in the Fence, Under the Radar [5], Brixton Review of Books and other poetry magazines.[6][7][8][9] He also contributes to the BMJ Opinion regularly on a wide range of topics.[10][11][12]

Awards and honours

Razai was awarded the John Maddox Prize in 2021 as an early career research.[13] In 2021, there were over 100 nominations from across 23 countries, with the winners announced in a ceremony at the Wellcome Collection. The winners were chosen by an international panel of judges and were presented their awards following comments from Tracey Brown, director of Sense about Science, Nature editor-in-chief Magdalena Skipper and Bronwen Maddox, daughter of the late John Maddox.[14] On receiving the award, Razai paid tribute to family members who had just fled Afghanistan. "No matter what obstacles and challenges we may face as scientists in the global north, it is not the same as Afghan scientists, especially women and those from racial minorities, who literally pay with their lives in speaking truth and standing up for their rights," he said. "I remember them and dedicate this prize to them."[15]

In 2021, he received St George's University's excellence in public/civic engagement research award for his work to tackle ethnic and societal health disparities and inequalities.[16]

Razai also received an award during his training as a doctor for his work during the COVID-19 pandemic by Pulse magazine.[17]

In 2021, he was awarded a research fellowship by the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR).[18]

Selected publications

  • Razai MS, Mansour R, Goldsmith L, Freeman S, Mason-Apps C, Ravindran P, Kooner P, Berendes S, Morris J, Majeed A, Ussher M, Hargreaves S, Oakeshott P. Interventions to increase vaccination against COVID-19, influenza and pertussis during pregnancy: a systematic review and meta-analysis. J Travel Med. 2023 Dec 28;30(8):taad138. https://doi.org/10.1093/jtm/taad138
  • Razai, Mohammad Sharif; Oakeshott, Pippa; Kankam, Hadyn et al. (21 May 2020). Mitigating the psychological effects of social isolation during the COVID-19 pandemic BMJ 2020; 369 :m1904 doi:10.1136/bmj.m1904[19]
  • Razai Mohammad Sharif, Kankam H K N, Majeed A, Esmail A, Williams D R. (15 January 2021) Mitigating ethnic disparities in COVID-19 and beyond BMJ 2021; 372 :m4921 doi:10.1136/bmj.m4921[20]
  • Razai, Mohammad Sharif, Oakeshott Pippa, Esmail A, Wiysonge CS, Viswanath K, Mills MC. COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy: the five Cs to tackle behavioural and sociodemographic factors. Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine. 2021;114(6):295-298. doi:10.1177/01410768211018951[21]
  • Razai, Mohammad Sharif, Doerholt K, Galiza E, Oakeshott P. Tick bite BMJ  2020;  370 :m3029 doi:10.1136/bmj.m3029
  • Razai, Mohammad Sharif, Chaudhry U A R, Doerholt K, Bauld L, Majeed A. COVID-19 vaccination hesitancy BMJ  2021; 373 :n1138 doi:10.1136/bmj.n1138[22]
  • Elise Paul, Daisy Fancourt, Mohammad Sharif Razai. (05 May 2022). Racial discrimination, low trust in the health system and COVID-19 vaccine uptake: a longitudinal observational study of 633 UK adults from ethnic minority groups. Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine.[23]

References

  1. ^ "Dr Mohammad Razai". www.sgul.ac.uk.
  2. ^ "John Maddox Prize 2021 Winners Announcement – Sense About Science". senseaboutscience.org. December 2021.
  3. ^ a b "Mohammad Razai: from child Afghan asylum seeker to Cambridge undergraduate". the Guardian. 19 June 2010.
  4. ^ "Meet the researcher: Dr Mohammad Razai". www.sgul.ac.uk.
  5. ^ "Shop". Nine Arches Press. Retrieved 12 April 2022.
  6. ^ "Vol 111, No 1, Spring 2021 – The Poetry Society". poetrysociety.org.uk.
  7. ^ "Tears in the Fence 73 is out". 22 February 2021.
  8. ^ "Workout Archives".
  9. ^ "Issues". Brixton Review of Books. Retrieved 13 April 2022.
  10. ^ Razai, Mohammad S.; Playdon, Zöe (18 March 2022). "What is wrong with playing doctor?". BMJ. 376: o739. doi:10.1136/bmj.o739. ISSN 1756-1833. PMID 35304869. S2CID 247522077.
  11. ^ Razai, Mohammad S.; McKechnie, Doug; Rao, Mala; Majeed, Azeem (17 February 2022). "Now is the time for radical action on racial health inequalities". BMJ. 376: o424. doi:10.1136/bmj.o424. hdl:10044/1/102232. ISSN 1756-1833. PMID 35177403. S2CID 246901252.
  12. ^ "You searched for razai". The BMJ. 31 August 2021. Retrieved 13 April 2022.
  13. ^ "Dr Mohammad Razai wins John Maddox Early Career Researcher Prize". www.sgul.ac.uk. Retrieved 12 April 2022.
  14. ^ "2021 Edelman Award Ceremony". OR/MS Today. 48 (3) (June 2021 ed.). Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences. 9 June 2021. doi:10.1287/orms.2021.03.13. S2CID 241982291. Retrieved 12 April 2022.
  15. ^ Graham, Flora (2 December 2021). "Daily briefing: What a healthy, sustainable diet looks like". Nature. doi:10.1038/d41586-021-03639-4. PMID 34862507. S2CID 244872054.
  16. ^ "Research Day 2021 – Prizes announced and Thomas Young Lecture". www.sgul.ac.uk. Retrieved 12 April 2022.
  17. ^ "Dr Mohammad Razai". General Practice Awards. Retrieved 12 April 2022.
  18. ^ "Meet the Speakers - FPM Annual Symposium". FPM. 9 August 2021. Retrieved 13 April 2022.
  19. ^ Razai, Mohammad S.; Oakeshott, Pippa; Kankam, Hadyn; Galea, Sandro; Stokes-Lampard, Helen (21 May 2020). "Mitigating the psychological effects of social isolation during the covid-19 pandemic". BMJ. 369: m1904. doi:10.1136/bmj.m1904. ISSN 1756-1833. PMID 32439691. S2CID 218835068.
  20. ^ Razai, Mohammad S.; Kankam, Hadyn K. N.; Majeed, Azeem; Esmail, Aneez; Williams, David R. (15 January 2021). "Mitigating ethnic disparities in covid-19 and beyond". BMJ. 372: m4921. doi:10.1136/bmj.m4921. hdl:10044/1/87101. ISSN 1756-1833. PMID 33446485. S2CID 231606789.
  21. ^ Razai, Mohammad S; Oakeshott, Pippa; Esmail, Aneez; Wiysonge, Charles Shey; Viswanath, Kasisomayajula; Mills, Melinda C (2 June 2021). "COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy: the five Cs to tackle behavioural and sociodemographic factors". Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine. 114 (6): 295–298. doi:10.1177/01410768211018951. ISSN 0141-0768. PMC 8209756. PMID 34077688.
  22. ^ Razai, Mohammad S.; Chaudhry, Umar A. R.; Doerholt, Katja; Bauld, Linda; Majeed, Azeem (20 May 2021). "Covid-19 vaccination hesitancy". BMJ. 373: n1138. doi:10.1136/bmj.n1138. hdl:10044/1/91902. ISSN 1756-1833. PMID 34016653. S2CID 234783643.
  23. ^ Paul, Elise; Fancourt, Daisy; Razai, Mohammad (5 May 2022). "Racial discrimination, low trust in the health system and COVID-19 vaccine uptake: a longitudinal observational study of 633 UK adults from ethnic minority groups". Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine. 115 (11): 439–447. doi:10.1177/01410768221095241. ISSN 0141-0768. PMC 9723809. PMID 35512716.