Rajput to be honoured by U of S
The University of Saskatchewan will celebrate the lifelong contributions of one of the world’s leading authorities on Parkinson’s disease, during U of S Fall Convocation next month.
Dr. Ali Rajput, who originally joined the medical faculty at the U of S back in 1967, will be awarded an honorary doctor of science at Fall Convocation in TCU Place on Oct. 28, says a U of S news release issued Monday.
Rajput, a distinguished professor emeritus who began researching Parkinson’s disease and treatments 50 years ago, served as the head of neurology at Royal University Hospital from 1985 to 2001.
Rajput has led many major developments in Parkinson’s research and treatment, and is particularly proud of his work with the internationally renowned Saskatchewan Movement Disorders Program that he started in the late 1960s at the U of S.
“I am indebted to the university and the health region for helping me achieve the academic goals that I set for myself,” Rajput said.
“I have been doing this work for 50 years and there are many oneof-a-kind discoveries we have made, which I am proud of.
“If I were to choose one that is most important, it would be establishing the Saskatchewan Movement Disorders Program. That is the anchor to which all our research is tied. That would be my most important research contribution to this institution.”
The honorary doctorate is the latest in a long list of awards for Rajput, who received the Saskatchewan Order of Merit in 1993 and was named an Officer of the Order of Canada in 1997 (the first Canadian born in Pakistan and first Muslim Canadian to receive the distinction). Rajput’s research was chosen in 2005 by the Saskatchewan Medical Association (SMA) as one of the four most significant advances in the field of medicine in the history of the province, and he was also named physician of the year by the SMA in 2006.