Prof. Khalif Bile Mohamud graduated in Medicine from Sofia University, Bulgaria and subsequently
specialized in gastroenterology and tropical and subtropical diseases at the University of Rome, Italy. He
secured his PhD in Epidemiology of Communicable Diseases from the Karolinska Institute, Sweden in
1992 on the subject of Hepatitis Viral Infections in Somalia.
In his professional career he progressed from a practicing physician to hospital superintendent, before
joining the faculty of the nascent Somali National University (SNU) in 1973. He became a Professor of
Gastroenterology at the Faculty of Medicine in 1982. In the same year he was appointed as the Dean of
the college, a position he held for six years, before commencing a long association of over two decades
with the World Health Organization in a senior capacity in different countries including 13 years as WHO
Country Representative in Pakistan and Iran.
He is currently the Board Chair of the Somalia National Institute of Health, and Editor-in-Chief of the
Somali Health Action Journal and a Board member of the Somali Swedish Research Cooperation for
Health and the Somali Swedish Researchers’ Association. His major areas of expertise are health
system strengthening, health policy, planning and management, assessment and evaluation techniques,
human resource development, community oriented medical education, communicable diseases control
and humanitarian emergencies’ response.
Dr. Bile’s mission has remained focused on capacity building for the development of Somalia’s health
services and advancing the performance of the health workforce while fostering community participation
to achieve universal health coverage. He has over 95 scientific publications focusing on communicable
diseases and health system including assessments and evaluations. The latter include an assignment on
Country Coordination and Facilitation Approach in three African countries; Pakistan’s health sector
devolution review; evaluation and implementation of PHC services founded on intersectoral collaboration
and community participation for addressing the Social Determinants of Health in Pakistan, Somalia,
Djibouti, and Sudan, in addition to several other health evaluation missions.