Upcoming activities:
23rd SCAC: Fourth Industrial Revolution and Future Society (26-28, Oct'24)
Recent activities
On-Spot Project Review (BAS-USDA 6th Phase)- Jun'24
Fellow CV
List of Publications
(Fellow, 1999)
Professor (Dr) Liaquat Ali was born on 26 February 1957 in the village of Binodpur and subsequently brought up in the village of Sabdalpur (Upazilla Nachole), both in the District of Chapai Nawabganj. His Mother’s name is Hamsha Uddin and his Father is M Shahabuddin.
He passed SSC (1972) and HSC (1974) examinations from Alinagar High School and Rajshahi Government College (both under Rajshahi Education Board) respectively. He had his medical graduation (MBBS) from Sir Salimullah Medical College (SSMC) under the University of Dhaka in 1982 and then MPhil in Medical Biochemistry from IPGMR (presently BSMMU) under the same University in 1986. He was awarded PhD in Medical Cell Biology from Uppsala University, Sweden in 1990.
In the initial years of professional life Dr Ali served as a Clinician in various capacities like Assistant Surgeon/Medical Officer and Assistant Registrar in different hospitals in the country including IPGMR and Rajshahi Medical College Hospital. After his MPhil he served briefly as a Lecturer in Physiology & Biochemistry in Sir Salimullah Medical College. During 1991-2009 he served BIRDEM (an Institute under Dhaka University owned by the Diabetic Association of Bangladesh or BADAS) in various capacities, the last being the Professor of Biochemistry and Cell Biology.
Professor Ali’s major research areas include physiology of insulin secretion, pharmacology of antidiabetic plant materials, pathophysiology of diabetes mellitus and cardiovascular diseases, nutritional values of local food materials, and public health issues in Bangladesh. His work has already made significant contributions in understanding the role of sodium in pancreatic B cells, developing experimental models and approaches for scientific investigation of plant materials, exploring the biochemical and genetic characteristics of fibrocalculus pancreatic diabetes, etiopathogenesis of diabetes mellitus among Bangalee population, and evaluating the glycemic NEFA- and insulinemic responses of common foods in Bangladesh. In recent years he has been contributing significantly in public health areas specially in the epidemiology of cardiometabolic diseases and health system research.
In addition to his contribution in his professional fields Prof Ali is also known as a leading sociocultural and literary activist in Bangladesh. He was the founding time Secretary of the Bishwa Sahittya Kendra (World Literature Centre founded by Abdullah Abu Sayeed) in late 70 and early 80s and he served the Organization as a Director until the middle of 1991. He is the Founding Chair of Pothikrit Foundation which operates a popular intellectually oriented cultural centre (Sangskriti Bikash Kendra or SBK) in Dhaka. In SBK he conducts a philosophically oriented weekly study circles on History of Ideas. He has particular interest in history and philosophy of sciences and among his writings in this field the book ‘Geometry and Philosophy’, published by Bangla Academy, is widely acclaimed by the readers.
Prof Ali has published more than 200 papers/articles in peer- reviewed journals/books and he has presented more than 100 invited lectures in 38 countries of the world.
He was the founding Director of the Bangladesh Institute of Health Sciences (an Institute under Dhaka University owned by BADAS) and he became the founding Vice-Chancellor of the first health- related private university in the country, the Bangladesh University of Health Sciences (BUHS), which was established in 2012 under the Private University Ordinance 2010. He served BUHS as the Vice-Chancellor and Honorary Professor of Biochemistry & Cell Biology till July 2018. Presently he is serving as the Honorary Advisor of the Pothikrit Institute of Health Studies (PIHS) which is a newly established health research institute in Dhaka under Pothikrit Foundation. Also he is now leading the Pothikrit Health & Development Consultant, a Firm providing expert consultancy services to various public, private and Development Partner organizations in the country conducting activities in the relevant fields.
Apart from the positions as mentioned above Prof Ali, through voluntary services, made major contribution to the development/ expansion/ operation of BADAS and its Projects during his long association with the organization. His Honorary positions included the followings: Coordinator of the Biomedical Research Group (BMRG) of BIRDEM, Planning Coordinator of the National Laboratory Network or NLN (presently NHN), Executive Advisor of the Health Economics Unit as well as Information Management Unit of BADAS, first Coordinator (2003-2011) and then Executive Director (2011-2018) of the Health Care Development Project (HCDP), and Team Leader/ Coordinator/ Organizing Secretary of a large number of Research/Development Projects and scientific meetings under the auspicious of BADAS and its institutions. He has been serving as an Expert Member/Convener of a number of Committees formed by various Organizations specially the Director General of Health Services, Director General of Drug Administration, Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, Dhaka University, Bangladesh Medical Research Council and University Grants Commission of Bangladesh.
He was awarded with Fellowships/Memberships/Honors from various professional/organizations including World Health organization or WHO (Fellow), International Program in the Chemical Sciences or IPICS from Sweden (Fellow), International Foundation for Science or IFS from Sweden (Fellow), Bangladesh Academy of Sciences (elected Fellow since 1999 and Best Scientist Award in the Biological Sciences, 2014), European Association for the Study of Diabetes or EASD (Member), International Diabetes Federation or IDF (Member), International Union of Pure & Applied Chemistry or IUPAC (Honorary Fellow in 2003), Indian Public Health Association (Gold Medal in 2011), and Islamic World Academy of Sciences (IAS-COMSTECH Award in 2013 and elected Fellow since 2017). He served as the General Secretary of the Bangladesh Endocrine Society during 2000-2015. Presently he is the President of the Bangladesh Society of Medical Biochemists (BSMB).
Dr Liaquat Ali is at present a member of COVID-19 public health advisory group of the Government of Bangladesh.