Biography

Dr. Saif Khairat is an internationally recognized architect of AI-powered digital health ecosystems whose work bridges academic discovery, frontline clinical delivery, and national policy.

At UNC Chapel Hill, Dr. Khairat is the Beerstecher-Blackwell Distinguished Term Scholar and Professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He directs the NIH-funded Center for Virtual Care Value and Excellence (ViVE) and the Carolina Applied Informatics Research (CAIR) Lab, leading multidisciplinary teams that translate machine-learning, natural-language, and human-factors research into safer, more equitable models of virtual care.

With more than 15 years of advancing data-driven health transformation, Dr. Khairat’s scholarship focuses on two linked domains: AI-enabled virtual care models that close gaps in access, and the usability, safety, and cognitive burden of health IT systems in high-stakes environments, such as ICUs and oncology. He has served as principal investigator on over $ 7.5 million in federally funded research. He has published more than 120 influential peer-reviewed papers spanning informatics, implementation science, patient safety, and workforce resilience. His work is frequently cited in Harvard Business Review, the American Medical Association, and AHRQ Patient-Safety Network, and informs health-system redesign in both the United States and emerging economies.

On the global stage, Dr. Khairat serves as a trusted advisor to the World Health Organization (WHO), the Inter-American Development Bank, and several Ministries of Health, providing guidance on national AI-for-Health strategies, digital readiness indices, and governance frameworks. He has guided countries in Asia, the Caribbean, and the Middle East in the responsible deployment of AI, workforce capacity building, and the real-world evaluation of virtual care programs, thereby accelerating progress toward universal, data-driven care.

A  Fellow of the American College of Medical Informatics (FACMI), and a Fellow of the American Medical Informatics Association (FAMIA), Dr Khairat has served in national leadership roles, including Chair of the AMIA Education Committee. He is also an Affiliate Faculty of the UNC Clinical Informatics Fellowship, a Research Fellow at the Sheps Center for Health Services Research, and a member of the UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center. He earned his PhD in Health Informatics and BS/MS in Computer Science from the University of Missouri, and an MPH in Health Policy and Management from the UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health.

Dr. Saif Khairat CV

For more information on Dr. Khairat’s research lab, please visit: The CAIR Group

To contact Dr. Khairat, please click here