El Sheikh Mahgoub Gaafar (Arabic: الشيخ محجوب جعفر; born 2 March 1935 in Nuri) is a Sudanese mycologist and an international authority on mycetoma and bacteriology.

[5][6] In 1968, he established a mycetoma ward and clinic in Khartoum North Civil Hospital, and in 1972, Gaafar worked as Consultant to the World Health Organization in Teheran, Iran.

[1][7] Gaafar gained experience in clinical microbiology diagnosis at the West Middlesex University Hospital and the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine between 1976 and 1977.

He joined King Saud University as a professor in medical microbiology in 1977 because he could not return to Sudan after the 1969 Sudanese coup d'état and Jaafar Nimeiry seizing power (1969–1985) due to his association with the National Umma Party which was banned.

[8] He was then appointed as the Minister of Education, Higher Education and Scientific Research as part of the National Umma Party's Third coalition, which lasted until 1989 when Colonel (later Lieutenant General) Umar Hassan Ahmad al Bashir overthrew Sadiq al Mahdi and established the Revolutionary Command Council for National Salvation to rule Sudan.