Professor Nazir Ahmed Ismail was appointed Executive Director of the NICD on 1 May 2026. Professor Ismail is a clinical microbiologist and internationally recognised authority in tuberculosis (TB) diagnostics, drug resistance, and genomic epidemiology. His most recent appointment was as Head of the Division of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases at the University of the Witwatersrand and the National Health Laboratory Service, with a new focus on one health, antimicrobial resistance, infection control and public health. He previously served as Team Lead for Diagnostics in the World Health Organization’s Global TB Programme, where he led the development of influential WHO policies on rapid molecular diagnostics, next-generation sequencing, and global standards for diagnostic access.

Before this, he led the Centre for Tuberculosis at the National Institute for Communicable Diseases, overseeing landmark national surveillance initiatives including South Africa’s TB Drug Resistance and TB Prevalence Surveys. He has published extensively, including first- and senior-author articles in leading international journals such as the NEJM and the Lancet group. His academic interests also include curriculum redesign, postgraduate supervision, and capacity building in laboratory medicine in high-burden settings.