Highest Chinese award for Pakistani scientist

KARACHI: The Chinese Academic of Sciences (CAS) President’s International Fellowship Initiative (PIFI Fellowship) has conferred prominent Pakistani scientist, Prof Dr Muhammad Iqbal Choudhary, with the "Distinguished Scientist" award.

A press statement, issued by the International Center for Chemical and Biological Sciences (ICCBS), University of Karachi, said that Prof Choudhary was awarded this prestigious scientific award of the People’s Republic of China in recognition of his outstanding contributions to the field of bio-organic chemistry and very strong collaborations with Chinese universities and higher education institutions.

Prof Choudhary, who is currently serving as the ICCBS director, has 1355 publications in the fields of organic and bio-organic chemistry, including 67 international/US patents, 73 books, and 40 chapters in books, published by major American and European publishers. Currently, his h-index is 68 and has 27,394 citations. As many as 94 students have completed their PhD degrees under his supervision.

Prof Choudhary is one of the most notable scientists of Pakistan who has been conferred not only with the highest civilian awards of Pakistan, including the Tamgha-i-Imtiaz, Sitara-i-Imtiaz, and Hilal-i-Imtiaz but international awards as well. A research center in Benin, Nigeria, is named after him as the "Iqbal Choudhary Centre for Natural Product Research (ICC-NPR)" for his tremendous work in the fields of drug discovery and natural product research.

Prof Iqbal Choudhary is also a member of the National Commission for Science and Technology, chaired by the Prime Minister of Pakistan.

Vice-Chancellor, University of Karachi, Prof Dr Khalid Mehmood Iraqi, and Prof Atta-ur Rahman, ICCBS, Patron-in-Chief and Chairman of the Prime Minister's Task Force on Science and Technology, congratulated him and declared his outstanding achievement as an honor not only for the University but also for the whole nation.

-DN Report