Youssef Farag headshot

Youssef Farag, MD, PhD, MPH

Faculty Director, Postgraduate Medical Education, Harvard Medical School
Associate Faculty, Department of Epidemiology, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health

Dr. Youssef MK Farag is a Faculty Director in the Postgraduate Medical Education Department at Harvard Medical School, extensively involved in teaching and mentoring students in the Master of Medical Sciences in Clinical Investigation (MMSCI), Global Clinical Scholars Research Training (GCSRT) and Portugal CSRT. He is also the Lead Program Director of the Egypt Clinical Scholars Research Training (ECSRT), and serves as the Technical Advisor for the PGME-Egypt Programs at Harvard Medical School.

Dr. Farag holds an Associate Faculty appointment in the Department of Epidemiology at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. He is also the Senior Medical Director of Cardiovascular & Renal Department of US Medical Affairs at Bayer US, LLC. While he was the Medical Director of Clinical Development at Akebia Therapeutics, Inc., Dr. Farag participated in leading the pivotal global phase 3 cardiovascular outcomes trials, PRO2TECT and INNO2VATE, and developing vadadustat for the treatment of anemia associated with chronic kidney disease using the 2019 Nobel-winning hypoxia-sensing pathway, and co-authored the original articles that were published in the New England Journal of Medicine.

Dr. Farag is a physician and an epidemiologist. He received his medical degree from Mansoura University Faculty of Medicine in Egypt, and completed his clinical internship in Mansoura University Hospitals, and Harvard Medical School affiliated hospitals. He completed a postdoctoral research fellowship in the renal division of Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School. He earned a Master of Public Health (MPH) with a concentration on Epidemiologic and Biostatistical Methods for Public Health and Clinical Research, and Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in Epidemiology from Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

Dr. Farag's main research focus is the epidemiology and pathophysiology of chronic kidney disease. He is passionate for generating epidemiologic data on cardio-metabolic diseases for developing countries with poor research infrastructure. He is an author of nearly 60 original research contributions, review articles and conference proceedings, some of which were published in the New England Journal of Medicine.

Since 2010, Dr. Farag has been teaching introductory and advanced epidemiology, biostatistics and clinical research methods, and has accumulated over 3000 teaching hours since then. He received several prestigious departmental and institutional teaching and service awards from Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. In addition, he has extensive experience with online and blended education. Since 2012, he has been the Co-Director of the Clinical Nephropathology Certificate program (CNC) of the International Society of Nephrology, the world’s first nephropathology online teaching program.

Dr. Farag is the Scientific Assistant Editor for Gordis Epidemiology (6th Edition), Amazon’s bestselling book in epidemiology and clinical research. He is also an Associate Editor for Renal Failure, BMC Nephrology and BMC Health Services Research. Dr. Farag is a Fellow of the American Society of Nephrology and a Fellow of the American College of Epidemiology.