Bagasra, Omar
Omar Bagasra
Dr. Omar Bagasra is a professor of biology at Claflin University, a Historically Black College and University in Orangeburg, South Carolina. He is also the founder and director of the South Carolina Center for Biotechnology. His research combines environmental medicine with molecular biology and health disparity issues. Dr. Bagasra is known for his contributions to the Polymerase Chain reaction. He helped advance HIV research by contributing to HIV by discovering in situ PCR, which allows researchers to determine the percentage of HIV-infected cells in a body.
“For those of us already involved, for minority communities, and even for the world, it is very essential that we have more people of color involved in this field. We need to know what is going on out there; we need more minorities to become experts in the field to make significant contributions to the future. ” Dr. Bagasra, 2016
Shamabadi Narges, S., Bagasra Anisah, Pawar, Shrikant, Bagasra Omar. May 2023. Potential use of endemic human coronaviruses to stimulate immunity against pathogenic SARS-COv-2 and its variant. Libyan Journal of Medicine, 18(1). 10.1080/19932820.2023.2209949
Bagasra, Omar, Shamabadi Narges, Pandey, Pratima, McLean Ewen. December 2021. Differential expression of miRNAs in a human developing neuronal cell line chronically infected with Zika virus. Libyan Journal of Medicine, 16(1). 10.1080/19932820.2021.1909902
Bagasra, O., McLean, E., 2023. Foresnsic DNA analyses made simple. CRC Press, Boca Raton. https://doi.org/10.1201/9781003182498
Bagasra, O., Gene Pace, D., 2017. A guide to AIDS. CRC Press, Boca Raton. https://doi.org/10.1201/b21840
Omar Bagasra was born in 1948 in a wooden oxcart as his family migrated from India to his father, Habib Ahmed Bagasra, and his mother, Amina Habib. He was born somewhere in the royal state of Junagadh on the border of Pakistan and India. He and his family were among the 25 million people who had to leave India during the partition and the independence struggles for India and Pakistan. Dr. Bagrasa’s family was Muslim, so his family moved to Pakistan. The Bagasra family settled in Karachi, and his father became a grain merchant. Dr. Bagrasa grew up with eleven siblings and completed his early and higher secondary schooling in Karachi.
When he was sixteen, Dr. Bagrasa chose to adopt a Buddhist life and moved to a monastery in Tibet. He also spent time in Afghanistan with Faqirs or ascetic monks. His time as a Faqir showed him the value of scientific and mystical knowledge.
Dr. Bagasra attended the University of Karachi for his undergraduate and graduate studies. In 1968 he graduated with his Bachelor’s in Microbiology and his Masters in Biochemistry in 1970. No higher education options were available in Karachi, so Dr. Bagasra then moved to the United States for his doctorate in 1972. Dr. Bagasra landed in Chicago’s Oh’Hare airport with just a suitcase and found a construction job. He later worked at a Ford Motor plant in Albion, Indiana. These jobs helped him save money to attend school and learn better English, his seventh language.
Dr. Bagasra earned his Ph.D. in Microbiology & Immunology from the University of Louisville in 1979. He moved to Albany, New York, for a postdoctoral fellowship in Infectious Disease. He then moved to Philadephia to continue working with his postdoc mentor. He was a junior faculty at Hahnemann University in Philadelphia from 1980 to 1987. During this time, he also became a U.S. citizen.
Dr. Bagasra was always interested in medicine and attended medical school at the Universidad Autónoma de Ciudad Juárez. He earned his Doctor of Medicine (M.D.) in 1985. He completed a residency in pathology at Hahnemann University and Temple University. Dr. Bagasra also completed a fellowship in Clinical Laboratory Immunology at Saint Christopher’s Hospital for Children. During this time, he was still a full-time faculty at Hahnemann University.
From 1991 to 1998, Dr. Bagasra worked at Thomas Jefferson University as the director of the Molecular Retrovirology Laboratory, Section Chief of Molecular Diagnostics of the Center for the Study of Human Viruses, and Professor of Medicine.
Dr. Bagasra has been interested in HIV and AIDS since 1981, when the first report on the disease was published. In 1998, he was a reviewer and investigator in the HIV trials in Libya, infamous for ex-pats allegedly injecting children with HIV. He wrote responses to the trials that disputed the findings. In 1998, Dr. Bagasra was the first person who could succinctly explain small RNA’s role in protecting against retrovirus and lentivirus, which he published in his book HIV and Molecular Immunity. His work and research findings have been published in over 200 scientific articles, book chapters, and books. Dr. Bagasra wrote In-situ PCR Technique with John Hansen. Dr. Bagasra is a reviewer for Science, one of the most prestigious science journals.
He has also been an Associate Professor of Microbiology at the University of Medicine & Dentistry of New Jersey and a Professor of Biology, Director of Laboratories of Transgenic & Recombinant Vaccines at Lincoln University.
Dr. Bagasra has received numerous national and international awards. In 1995, he was nominated for the King Faisal Award for Medicine. Dr. Bagasara was awarded the Faculty Scholar Award from the American Association for Cancer Research in 2002 and 2014. In 2006, he was the co-recipient of the South Carolina Governor’s Award for Excellence in Science.
Dr. Bagasra researches molecular pathogenesis, mechanical pathways for HIV/AIDS and Zika viruses, and microRNA’s protective role against lentiviruses. His work innovated biotechnology and led him to hold over a dozen patents. For the past several years, he has focused on the molecular pathogenesis of HIV and the role microRNA plays in protecting against lentiviruses.
In 2000, Dr. Bagasra started as a Professor of Biology at Claflin University’s South Carolina Center for Biotechnology. He also works as a Clinical Professor of Pathology, Microbiology, and Immunology at the University of South Carolina School of Medicine.
From 2002-2006 he was a Council Member of the American Association of Cancer Research (MICR-AACR).
Dr. Bagasra is board-eligible in anatomic pathology and is a diplomat to the American Board of Medical Laboratory Immunology (ABMLI) and the American Board of Forensic Examiners. He is also a Fellow of the American College of Forensic Examiners. Dr. Bagasra says this lifelong intellectual curiosity keeps him in the environmental field. “I’ve been very inquisitive since a young age, and my job gives me a great deal of opportunities to answer all kinds of questions,” he says. “I can work freely without much hindrance, and I love to teach. I know I’m making a difference in other people’s lives.”
Dr. Bagasra’s work is published in many prestigious journals, including The Proceedings of the National Academy of Science, New England Journal of Medicine, Journal of Virology, Journal of Immunology, Journal of Pediatrics, and Nature Medicine, Nature Protocol.
Dr. Bagasra is known for his research contributions that frequently challenge common knowledge and move scientific understanding forward. Luc Montagnier, 2008 Novel Laureate recipient, stated, “Every scientist knows that a significant percentage of circulating lymphocytes are infected with HIV. But in 1992, his findings were highly controversial.”
Dr. Bagasra’s current research includes the molecular pathogenesis of the Zika virus and the etiologies of autism ad Alzheimer’s disease. He published an article in EBioMed describing the mechanism of how the Zika virus causes microcephaly. Additionally, he is working on the mechanisms by which the Zika virus is sexually transmitted. He is also involved with developing and critiquing various bona fide endeavors in finding a viable vaccine for Zika.
Dr. Bagasra advises minorities considering environmental careers: “Go for it—because you are really needed in this area. For those of us already involved, for minority communities, and even for the world, it is very essential that we have more people of color involved in this field. We need to know what is going on out there; we need more minorities to become experts in the field to make significant contributions to the future” (2016).
Forensic DNA Analyses Made Simple: A Guide for the Curious - 1st Editi. https://www.routledge.com/Forensic-DNA-Analyses-Made-Simple-A-Guide-for-….
Interview conducted by Multicultural Environmental Leadership Development Initiative staff. 2016. University of Michigan – School of Natural Resources and Environment. Ann Arbor, MI.
Dr. Omar Bagasra, MD, PHD Claflin University. retrieved August 9, 2023 https://www.claflin.edu/academics-research/faculty-research/meet-our-fac….