Basmah Safdar, MD, MSc, is an emergency medicine physician and internationally recognized scholar in sex-specific research with a focus on microvascular health. She is the Norma Weinberg Spungen and Joan Lebson Bildner Professor in Women’s Health Research and Director of Women’s Health Research at Yale — an interdisciplinary research center dedicated to improving the lives of women through scientific discovery, education, translation, and dissemination. Since 1998, the center has injected crucial funding to incubate research at the earliest stages of discovery into health conditions that differently, disproportionately, and uniquely affect women, driving innovation and impact. Investments in Women’s Health Research at Yale’s Pilot Projects have yielded a 20-fold ROI, demonstrating value creation and scalable platforms.

Dr. Safdar applies a systems lens with her clinical, academic, and leadership expertise to inspire innovation, cultivate creative thinking that drives growth and improves outcomes. In 2011, Dr. Safdar’s seminal work exposed critical gaps in sex-specific emergency medicine research, catalyzing an NIH-funded national consensus conference and co-creating a national advocacy group. Funded by the NIH, CDC, foundations, and industry awards, The Safdar Lab is committed to precision-based diagnostics and clinical trials through an integrated, multidisciplinary clinical approach. She is past president of the Academy of Women in Academic Emergency Medicine (AWAEM) and a 2024 ELAM Fellow. She earned her MD from Aga Khan University and an MS in Epidemiology from Harvard.