Ladan Akbarnia brings over 20 years of curatorial and research expertise in the arts of the Islamic world, with a focus on Iran, Central Asia, and South Asia. She will begin her new role as Head of Curatorial and Professor of Islamic World Collections at the Fitzwilliam Museum, University of Cambridge in September 2025, following key positions at The San Diego Museum of Art, The British Museum, the Brooklyn Museum, and the Iran Heritage Foundation. At SDMA, she organized the major NEH-, NEA-, and Getty-funded exhibition Wonders of Creation: Art, Science, and Innovation in the Islamic World (2024–2025). At the British Museum, she was a lead curator of the Albukhary Foundation Gallery of the Islamic World. She has taught Islamic art history at Smith and Wheaton Colleges and consulted for the Aga Khan Trust for Culture. Ladan holds advanced degrees from UCLA and Harvard, and has published widely on topics including Iranian and East Asian exchanges, Sufism, and contemporary Middle Eastern art. At the Fitzwilliam, she will lead curatorial research on Islamic art and material culture.