Mohamed Hussain Rezvi Sheriff is a retired

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, also known historically as Ceylon, is an island country in South Asia. It lies in the Indian Ocean, southwest of the Bay of Bengal, separated from the Indian subcontinent, ...

academic An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of tertiary education. The name traces back to Plato's school of philosophy, founded approximately 386 BC at Akademia, a sanctuary of Athena, the go ...

nephrologist Nephrology is a specialty for both adult internal medicine and pediatric medicine that concerns the study of the kidneys, specifically normal kidney function (renal physiology) and kidney disease (renal pathophysiology), the preservation of kid ...

, and

physician A physician, medical practitioner (British English), medical doctor, or simply doctor is a health professional who practices medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring health through the Medical education, study, Med ...

. He served as director of the

Postgraduate Institute of Medicine The Postgraduate Institute of Medicine (PGIM) of the University of Colombo is the graduate school that provides specialist training and board certification of medical doctors in Sri Lanka. The only type of its kind, it is similar to the prestigiou ...

, senior professor of medicine, and head of the Department of Clinical Medicine at the

Faculty of Medicine, University of Colombo ttps://med.cmb.ac.lk Faculty of Medicine - University of Colombo Official Website Established in 1870 as the Colombo Medical School, the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Colombo, is the second oldest medical school in South Asia. It is c ...

. He was a senior professor of medicine at

General Sir John Kotelawala Defence University General Sir John Kotelawala Defence University (KDU) ( Sinhala: ජෙනරාල් ශ්‍රිමත් ජෝන් කොතලාවල ආරක්ෂක විශ්ව විද්‍යාලය ''General Sir John Kotelawala'' ''Ar ...

from 2018 until his retirement. He is a consultant physician and

at the National Hospital of Sri Lanka. He is also the founder and owner of Western Hospital.

Education

Sheriff began his formal education at

Zahira College, Colombo Zahira College (commonly known as Zahira) (, ) is an Islamic school in Maradana, Colombo, Sri Lanka, founded in 1892 as Al Madrasathul Zahira by Islamic lawyer and educationalist, M. C. Siddi Lebbe, with the patronage of Ahmed Orabi, Ahmed Orab ...

, and later received a scholarship for

Royal College Colombo Royal College, Colombo also known as; Royal Colombo, Colombo Royal College or Colombo Royal) is a boys' school located in Cinnamon Gardens, Colombo, Sri Lanka. Started by Joseph Marsh in 1835, it was established as the Colombo Academy by Si ...

. He subsequently entered the

Faculty of Medicine A medical school is a tertiary educational institution, professional school, or forms a part of such an institution, that teaches medicine, and awards a professional degree for physicians. Such medical degrees include the Bachelor of Medicine, ...

, obtaining a Bachelor of Medicine, a Bachelor of Surgery, and a

Doctor of Medicine A Doctor of Medicine (abbreviated MD, from the Latin language, Latin ) is a medical degree, the meaning of which varies between different jurisdictions. In the United States, and some other countries, the ''MD'' denotes a professional degree of ph ...

. Sheriff is a Fellow of the

Royal College of Physicians, London The Royal College of Physicians of London, commonly referred to simply as the Royal College of Physicians (RCP), is a British professional membership body dedicated to improving the practice of medicine, chiefly through the accreditation of p ...

, the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh, and the

Ceylon College of Physicians The Ceylon College of Physicians (CCP) is a professional organisation for specialists in medicine in Sri Lanka. It is a non-profit organisation, and members contribute towards its activities voluntarily. Its specialities currently include cardiolo ...

Career

Sheriff began his academic career as a lecturer in medicine in the Department of Medicine under Professor Kumaradasa Rajasuriya in 1973. He obtained his MRCP after completing his postgraduate training in the UK and returned to Sri Lanka. His academic career in the Sri Lankan university system spans several decades. Sheriff worked with A. H. Sheriffdeen to establish the first transplant program in Sri Lanka in October 1985. With the support of the Colombo University team, they performed the first

kidney transplant Kidney transplant or renal transplant is the organ transplant of a kidney into a patient with end-stage kidney disease (ESRD). Kidney transplant is typically classified as deceased-donor (formerly known as cadaveric) or living-donor transplantat ...

in the country. Alongside

Surendra Ramachandran Deshamanya Surendra Ramachandran, FRCP was a Sri Lankan Physician and Nephrologist. He was the founder of Sri Lankas First Dialysis Unit. Education Educated at Royal College Colombo, he studied medicine Colombo Medical College now known as Fac ...

, Sheriff contributed to the development of

nephrology Nephrology is a specialty for both adult internal medicine and pediatric medicine that concerns the study of the kidneys, specifically normal kidney function (renal physiology) and kidney disease (renal pathophysiology), the preservation of kid ...

as a specialty in Sri Lanka. Nearly 1,000 transplants have been conducted under his oversight. He became Professor of Medicine in 1990, and was promoted to Senior Professor of Medicine in 1998. Sheriff is a senior advisory board member to SACTRC (South Asian Clinical Toxicology Research Collaboration) with

Nimal Senanayake Professor Nimal Senanayake is a Sri Lankan neurologist, physician, author, film and television scriptwriter and academic. Education Senanayake was educated at the University of Peradeniya. He trained at the Professorial medical unit at General ...

, Ravindra Fernando and Janaka de Silva. He founded the University of Oxford Colombo for studies on snake bites and yellow oleander poisoning. He served as the president of the

Sri Lanka Medical Association The Sri Lanka Medical Association (SLMA) is the professional association for doctors and surgical professionals in Sri Lanka. It is considered to be the oldest national professional organisation of medical professionals in Austra ...

, Sri Lanka Association for Nephrology and Transplantation, SAARC Society of Nephrology, Urology and Transplant Surgery and the founding president of the Hypertension Society in Sri Lanka in addition to being a founder of the Health Informatics Society in Sri Lanka and a councillor of the International Society of Nephrology. Rezvi is an External Examiner for MRCP in UK & Chennai. He is the Ceylon College of Physicians Coordinator for MRCP Examinations in Sri Lanka. He was appointed as the president of

in 2009. He has published academic articles on

organ transplantation Organ transplantation is a medical procedure in which an organ is removed from one body and placed in the body of a recipient, to replace a damaged or missing organ. The donor and recipient may be at the same location, or organs may be trans ...

snake bites A snakebite is an injury caused by the bite of a snake, especially a venomous snake. A common sign of a bite from a venomous snake is the presence of two puncture wounds from the animal's fangs. Sometimes venom injection from the bite may oc ...

, and oleander poisoning. Sheriff is also the founder and chairman of Western Infirmary Hospital in Colombo, a center for renal disease care, dialysis, and transplantation. In 2011, he was rated as the most prolific scientist from Sri Lanka according to the

Web of Science The Web of Science (WoS; previously known as Web of Knowledge) is a paid-access platform that provides (typically via the internet) access to multiple databases that provide reference and citation data from academic journals, conference proceedi ...

database. He retired from the

University of Colombo The University of Colombo (informally Colombo University or UoC) is a Public University, public research university located primarily in Colombo, Sri Lanka. It is the oldest institution of modern higher education in Sri Lanka. Specialised in t ...

on 30 September 2014, after rendering 41 years of service.

Honours and awards

Sheriff is an Honorary Fellow of the

Royal Australasian College of Physicians The Royal Australasian College of Physicians (RACP) is a not-for-profit professional organisation responsible for training and educating physicians and paediatricians across Australia and New Zealand. The RACP is responsible for training both ...

, the College of General Practitioners of Sri Lanka and a Fellow of the National Academy of Science of Sri Lanka. The honour

Vidya Jyothi The Vidya Jyothi (; ) is a Sri Lankan Sri Lankan honours system, national honour awarded "''for outstanding scientific and technological achievements''". It is the highest national honour for science in Sri Lanka for outstanding contribution to the ...

was conferred upon him by the

Government of Sri Lanka The Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL) (; ) is a Semi-presidential republic determined by the Constitution of Sri Lanka, Sri Lankan Constitution. It administers the island from both its commercial capital of Colombo and the administrative capital o ...

in 1993 in recognition of his contribution to nephrology, dialysis and transplantation in Sri Lanka. He also received a Lion International Merit Award.

Controversy

In 2019, Sheriff filed complaints with the

Criminal Investigation Department The Criminal Investigation Department (CID) is the branch of a police force to which most plainclothes criminal investigation, detectives belong in the United Kingdom and many Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth nations. A force's CID is disti ...

over social media allegations that he treated Zahran Hashim, the prime suspect behind the

2019 Sri Lanka Easter bombings On 21 April 2019, Easter Sunday, three churches in Sri Lanka and three luxury hotels in the commercial capital, Colombo, were targeted in a series of coordinated ISIS-related Terrorism, terrorist suicide bombings. Later that day, two smaller ...

Personal life

In October 2022, Sheriff underwent a kidney transplant at the Western Infirmary/Western Hospital.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Sheriff, Rezvi Sri Lankan nephrologists Sri Lankan academic administrators Alumni of Zahira College, Colombo Alumni of Royal College, Colombo Alumni of the University of Colombo Living people Fellows of the Royal College of Physicians Health informaticians Vidya Jyothi Academic staff of the University of Colombo Year of birth missing (living people) Fellows of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh