Kamaluddin Ahmad is a Bangladeshi academic often called Bangladesh's "father of biochemistry and nutrition".[1] In the 1960s, he undertook a countrywide nutrition survey after which he introduced vitamin A capsules and iodine in salt.[1] He was the founding head of the department of Biochemistry at the University of Dhaka.[2]
Early life
editAhmad was born on 21 December 1921 in Gohira, Chittagong District, East Bengal, British India.[1] He completed his bachelor's degree and masters in chemistry at the University of Dhaka in 1943 and 1944 respectively.[1][3] In 1949, he finished his PhD at the University of Wisconsin.[1]
Career
editAhmad joined the University of Dhaka where he established the Department of Biochemistry in 1957.[1] He was awarded the Pakistan Academy gold medal in Physical Sciences.[3] He received a Research fellowship from the Southeast Asia Treaty Organization.[3] He received the Commonwealth Travelling fellowship and taught at the University of Chicago, Harvard University, Tufts University, University of Wisconsin, University of Lincoln, and the University of Calcutta.[3] He was the chairman of the Committee on Nutrition Survey and Surveillance of the International Union of Nutritional Sciences.[3] In 1960, he was made a fellow of the Pakistan Academy of Sciences.[3]
Ahmad received the Tamgha-e-Quaid-e-Azam and Sitara-i-Khidmat from the government of Pakistan.[3] He received the Sonali Bank Gold Medal from the Bangladesh Academy of Sciences.[3] He was the chairman of the Scientific Research Committee, Research Review Committee, and Ethical Review Committee of the International Center for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh.[3] He was the chairperson of the Standing Technical Committee of Bangladesh National Nutrition Council.[3] He is a former president of the Bangladesh Association for the Advancement of Science.[3]
Ahmad established the Department of Pharmacy and Institute of Nutrition and Food Science in 1964 and 1969 respectively.[1] In the 1960s, he performed the first nutrition survey of East Pakistan.[3] From 1969 to 1971, he was the Vice-Chancellor of the Bangladesh Agricultural University. He performed further surveys in Bangladesh in the 1970s and 1980s.[3] He was a syndicate board member of Bangladesh Agricultural University, Jahangirnagar University, and the University of Chittagong.[3]
Ahmad retired from the University of Dhaka in 1984.[1] He established Bangladesh Institute of Herbal Medicine, Nutrition and Social Development located in Savar Upazila.[1] In 1996, he established the Centre for Biomedical Research at the University of Dhaka.[1] He was one the founders of Bangladesh Academy of Sciences and had served as its president.[1] He was a fellow of the Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies, The World Academy of Sciences, and the Bangladesh Academy of Sciences.[3]
Death
editAhmad died on 4 July 2004.[1]