March 31, 2026, will mark the final working day of Prof. Massimo Pignatelli, Vice President for Medicine and Dean of the School of Medicine at Nazarbayev University.
Professor Pignatelli joined the University in 2013, and over the course of 12 years, he led the development of the School of Medicine, the University Medical Center, consisting of four teaching hospitals, and the University Biomedical Research Facility. Today, NU Medicine is an internationally respected example of integrated healthcare.
Dr. Massimo Pignatelli is a founding Dean of the NU School of Medicine. Under his leadership, the School introduced Kazakhstan’s first Doctor of Medicine (MD) program based on the US model. In the years that followed, master’s programs were launched in Public Health, Molecular Medicine, Pharmacology and Toxicology, as well as Sports Medicine and Rehabilitation, with a Nursing program scheduled to be launched this year. Doctoral programs were also established, including PhD programs in Global Health and Biomedical Sciences. A major milestone was the development of residency and fellowship programs aligned with the standards of the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME). Finally, in 2026, NU admitted 160 students into the new undergraduate MD program.
The academic programs achieved notable international recognition. The MD program was accredited by the World Federation for Medical Education (WFME), while the Master of Public Health program is accredited by the Agency for Public Health Education Accreditation (APHEA). In parallel, the clinical infrastructure was developed, culminating in the establishment of Kazakhstan’s first integrated academic medical center, the University Medical Center (UMC), consisting of four teaching hospitals, which now enjoys academic medical center accreditation from Joint Commission International (JCI). A new Biomedical Research Center has opened, serving as a modern platform for conducting biomedical and preclinical research in Kazakhstan.
Thanks to Prof. Pignatelli’s leadership, NU entered the 301–400 band of the Times Higher Education World University Rankings for Clinical and Health—an impressive achievement for a medical school that is only 13 years old.
Professor Pignatelli joined us from his role as Dean of the School of Medicine at the University of Glasgow. He holds an MD with honors from the University of Bologna and a PhD from University College London. A renowned and highly cited physician-scientist, Professor Pignatelli has authored numerous scientific publications focused on epithelial adhesion molecules and their applications as biomarkers for diagnosis, prognosis, and assessment of therapeutic efficacy.
NU President, Prof. Waqar Ahmad, offered this tribute to Prof. Pignatelli: ‘Massimo is someone of stature as a leader, physician, scholar, and professional. He established NU Medicine as an internationally significant system of integrated healthcare, combining outstanding teaching, internationally significant research, and world-class healthcare. We are grateful to Massimo for contributing to the development not only of NU Medicine but NU as a whole, as the leading research-intensive university in Central Asia and the Caucasus region.’
Prof. Ahmad went on to say: ‘I am also grateful to Massimo for supporting the search for a worthy successor and delighted that the distinguished research leader, Prof. Huck Hui Ng, will join us from a senior leadership position in Agency for Science, Technology and Research in Singapore.’
Prof. Huck Hui Ng will succeed Prof. Pignatelli from April 2026.
