Nawar Shara, PhD is an internationally recognized leader in Data Science, healthcare informatics, biostatistics, artificial intelligence (AI), and Big Data solutions in healthcare. With a distinguished career spanning over two decades, she has made significant contributions to clinical and translational research, AI applications in healthcare, and healthcare informatics.
Dr. Shara serves as the Chief of Research Data Science at the MedStar Health Research Institute (MHRI) and is the Founding Director of the MedStar-Georgetown Collaborative Center for Artificial Intelligence in Healthcare Research and Education (AI CoLab). In these roles, she spearheads strategic initiatives that integrate AI innovation with clinical research and real-world healthcare applications.
Furthermore, as Director of the Center of Biostatistics, Informatics, and Data Science (CBIDS) at MedStar Health, Dr. Shara oversees a multidisciplinary team dedicated to advancing data-driven healthcare solutions, including predictive analytics, cohort discovery, and AI-driven decision support systems. As Associate Professor of Medicine at Georgetown University, she is deeply engaged in AI education and training, including curriculum development, lecturing on AI applications in healthcare, mentoring medical students and trainees, and leading initiatives to integrate AI-driven tools into clinical education. She also collaborates with interdisciplinary teams to explore the ethical, regulatory, and practical implications of AI in medicine, ensuring that future healthcare professionals are equipped with the knowledge and skills to leverage AI for improved patient care and medical decision-making.
Dr. Shara has extensive NIH funding and national leadership experience, including serving as site lead for the NIH-funded AIM-AHEAD consortium’s Data & Research Core and Data Science Training Core, where her team supports research for over 50 AIM-AHEAD investigators. She is also the Director of the Biostatistics, Epidemiology, and Research Design (BERD) Core and Co-Director of the Biomedical Informatics Core at the Georgetown-Howard Universities Center for Clinical and Translational Science (GHUCCTS), where she supports multi-institutional collaborations through the Clinical and Translational Science Award (CTSA) program.
Her research focuses on the responsible and effective deployment of AI in healthcare, with expertise in predictive modeling, machine learning applications for patient-centered outcomes, and the integration of AI into clinical workflows. She has pioneered the development of AI-powered digital health tools, including voice-assisted technologies to enhance patient-provider communication and machine learning models for clinical decision-making. Dr. Shara is a highly sought-after expert in AI applications in healthcare, serving as a scientific reviewer for the NIH and Veterans Affairs (VA). She is an international speaker, delivering keynote addresses and expert talks at national and global conferences on AI in healthcare.
Dr. Shara holds a PhD in Applied Statistics and a Master’s degree in Statistics from American University in Washington, DC, as well as a Bachelor’s degree in Economics from Damascus University.