Prof. Tariq Ahmed Madani is head of the Infection Control and Environmental Health Unit at the Jeddah-based King Abdul Aziz University Hospital. 

Madani obtained his bachelor’s degree in medicine and surgery (MBBS) in 1988 at the King Abdul Aziz University’s (KAU) faculty of medicine. A year later, he joined the university as a faculty member. In 1989, his degree was approved by the Medical Council of Canada’s Evaluating Examination.

He served as a medical resident at the University of Ottawa, Canada, between 1991 and 1994. Madani received a fellowship in infectious diseases from the University of Manitoba, Canada, in 1996. He served as an assistant professor at KAU from 1996 to 2001.

Madani obtained certifications in internal medicine and infectious disease from the American Board of Internal Medicine in 2004 and 2006, respectively. He also obtained a fellowship in internal medicine from the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada and a fellowship in infectious diseases from the same institute.

From 2000 to 2007, he was assigned to work as an adviser to the Saudi health minister. From 2002 to 2007, he served as an associate professor at KAU’s faculty of medicine, where he taught courses on internal medicine and infectious diseases.

In April 2014, the former acting health minister, Adel Fakieh, appointed Madani as an adviser to the Health Ministry to help contain the MERS coronavirus. 

He received a letter of appreciation and an award of SR100,000 ($26,666) in addition to three salaries from the late King Fahd for diagnosing Rift Valley fever in Saudi Arabia and designing a strategy to control the epidemic.