Prof. Nafees A. Khan obtained his Ph.D. and D.Sc. at the Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh, India, and is a Professor of Plant Physiology in the Department of Botany of this university. Prof. Khan has over 200 research publications and has an H-index of 79, earning an exceptional research impact. He is on the Thomson Reuters /Clarivate Analytics Highly Cited Researchers list (2019-2023). Prof Khan has received recognition as the UGC-Research Award, UGC-Mid Career Award, Teaching Excellence Award, Research Excellence Citation Award-2023 (Clarivate Analytics), Plant Science and Agronomy in India Award for 2023 and 2024 by Research.com. He is a Fellow of the National Academy of Sciences, a Fellow of the National Academy of Agricultural Sciences, a Fellow of the Indian Botanical Society, and a fellow of the Indian Society of Plant Physiology. He is a member of the editorial board of Plant Physiology & Biochemistry, Plants, STRESSES, Annals of Phytomedicine and guest editor of special issues in Plant Physiology and Biochemistry, PLANT GENE, Plant and Soil, Antioxidants, Agriculture, Plants, Journal of Plant Physiology and Frontiers in Plant Science, Editor-in-Chief of Journal of Functional and Environmental Botany (2011-2013) and Editor of Indian Journal of Plant Physiology (2016).

His research focuses on responses of growth and photosynthetic processes, the antioxidant system to abiotic stress factors, and the identification of mechanisms for developing abiotic stress-tolerant crop plants through phytohormone signaling and its crosstalk with primary nutrient elements, nitrogen and sulfur. The key research observations and recommendations showed that the potential adverse effects of abiotic stress factors (salinity, drought, heat and metals) could be reduced by judicious synergism with signaling molecules to maximize the use-efficiency of primary mineral nutrient elements and establish a cross-talk. The phytohormone signaling molecules enhance the use-efficiency of primary nutrient elements that increase the efficiency of enzymatic and non-enzymatic antioxidants to increase the potential of photosynthetic machinery and abiotic stress tolerance, enhancing crop productivity under stressful environments.  These research findings have been reported in premier Plant Sciences and Plant Physiology journals. He has supervised 22 Ph.D.s. He has received research grants from the University Grants Commission, Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), UP-CST, Department of Science & Technology (DST) and Department of Biotechnology (DBT).