Mahmudur Rahman Choudhury (1 June 1928 – 24 June 1999) also known as Major General MR Choudhury, was a medical scientist and physician from Bangladesh who was the founder commandant of the

Armed Forces Institute of Pathology, Bangladesh The Armed Forces Institute of Pathology is a medical research laboratory and premier diagnostic institution of the Bangladesh Armed Forces. It is situated in Dhaka Cantonment. Major General Nishat Jubaida is the current commandant and Brigadier ...

. The government of Bangladesh awarded him the

Independence Day Award The Independence Award (), formally known as the Independence Day Award or Swadhinata Padak (), is the highest state award given by the government of Bangladesh. Introduced in 1977 by President Ziaur Rahman, this award is bestowed upon Banglade ...

, the highest civilian honor in the country, in 1977. The institution Choudhury built up, the

also received the same award as a center of excellence later in 1987.

Early life and career

Born on 1 June 1928, in

Sylhet Sylhet (; ) is a Metropolis, metropolitan city in the north eastern region of Bangladesh. It serves as the administrative center for both the Sylhet District and the Sylhet Division. The city is situated on the banks of the Surma River and, as o ...

, Choudhury graduated from

Calcutta Medical College Medical College, Kolkata, also known as Calcutta Medical College, is a Government medical college and hospital located in Kolkata, West Bengal, India. It is one of the oldest existing hospitals in Asia. The institute was established on 28 Janua ...

in 1951, as a student of the

University of Calcutta The University of Calcutta, informally known as Calcutta University (), is a Public university, public State university (India), state university located in Kolkata, Calcutta (Kolkata), West Bengal, India. It has 151 affiliated undergraduate c ...

and obtained D. Bact. with distinction from the

University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a collegiate university, federal Public university, public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The ...

in 1959. He was commissioned in the Pakistan Army Medical Corps in 1952. For his professional excellence as a junior major, Choudhury received a letter of commendation from the commander in chief and was honored with the civil award Tamgha-e-Quaide Azam. Dr. M.R. Choudhury was posted at Islamabad as the Executive Director of National Health Laboratories, now National Institute of Health, Islamabad in 1970. After the independence of Bangladesh Choudhury played the key role in the establishment of

in 1976. He also organized the Bangladesh Society of Microbiologists the same year and was its founder president. He had the distinction of being awarded MRCPath without examination, and subsequently FRCPath by the Royal Society of Pathologists of United Kingdom. General Choudhury played a pivotal role in the internationalization of Icddr,b and served on its Board of Trustees until his passing. He was instrumental in founding the National AIDS Committee in Bangladesh in 1985, led national HIV/AIDS policy development, and chaired the committee from 1989 to 1992. The monumental work of MR Choudhury was the publication of 'Modern Medical Microbiology (1980). The latest enlarged and revised version of the book was completed by the author just before his death. An analysis of the health sector of Bangladesh, which he conducted in 1987 and wrote along with Dr. Zafrullah Chowdhury (Gonosasthya Kendra) and Dr.

Muhammad Yunus Muhammad Yunus (born 28 June 1940) is a Bangladeshi economist, entrepreneur, and civil society leader who has been serving as the Chief Adviser of Bangladesh, Chief Adviser of the Interim government of Muhammad Yunus, interim Yunus ministry, g ...

(Grameen Bank). Although the health policy report was approved by the Government of Bangladesh, it was never published due to political reasons.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Choudhury, Mahmudur Rahman 1928 births 1999 deaths Bangladeshi military doctors Principals of Dhaka Medical College and Hospital University of Calcutta alumni Bangladesh Army generals Bangladeshi pathologists Recipients of the Independence Award Pakistani medical doctors