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The President
of Pakistan, General Pervez Musharraf, honoured Shamsh
Kassim-Lakha, President and founding trustee of Aga Khan University,
by conferring on him the prestigious Civil Award of Hilal-i-Imtiaz
at the investiture ceremony in Islamabad on March 23, 2003.
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| The
President of Pakistan, General Pervez Musharraf, conferring
the Hilal-i-Imtiaz award on Shamsh Kassim-Lakha, President of
Aga Khan University, at the investiture ceremony in Islamabad
on March 23, 2003. The award recognised Kassim-Lakha's vision,
ability and creative leadership in the fields of environmental
protection, higher education, and industrial development in
Pakistan. |
Also honoured
on this occasion was Dr.
Mohammad Khurshid, Medical Director and Associate Dean, Clinical
Affairs of Aga Khan University Hospital, who was awarded the Pride
of Performance for his significant contributions to medical education
and research.
 |
| The
President of Pakistan, General Pervez Musharraf, conferring
the Pride of Performance award on Dr. Mohammad Khurshid, Medical
Director and Associate Dean, Clinical Affairs of Aga Khan University
Hospital, at the investiture ceremony in Islamabad on March
23, 2003. The award recognised Dr. Khurshid's significant contributions
to medical education and research. |
The second highest
honour awarded for civic service in the nation, the Hilal-i-Imtiaz
recognised Kassim-Lakha's "vision, ability and creative leadership
in the fields of environmental protection, higher education, and
industrial development in Pakistan."
Expressing his sentiments at this occasion, Kassim-Lakha said, “This is a great honour not only for me but also for everyone
at Aga Khan University and other institutions with whom I have had
the privilege of working. I am fortunate that the government has
allowed me to make a humble contribution towards the uplift of our
society.” He added that the University was increasingly becoming
an agent of change by focusing on high quality academic and service
standards in programmes relevant to the needs of developing countries.
Through the relevance of its research, it was a referee of choice
in government policy dialogues on health and education.
Educated at
South Bank and Westminster Universities of London, UK, and the University
of Minnesota, USA, Kassim-Lakha's career in social development and
higher education spans over four decades. Under the direction and
vision of His Highness Prince Karim Aga Khan, the Chancellor of
AKU, he led the overall planning, construction and operation of
the Institution which was chartered in 1983 as Pakistan's first
private university.
In March 2002,
President Pervez Musharraf appointed Kassim-Lakha as Chairman of
the Steering Committee on Higher Education with the status of Minister
of State to oversee reforms in Pakistan's higher education. Prior
to this, he was co-chair of the Task Force for Improvement of Higher
Education. He is also Chairman of the Board of Directors of the
newly established, independent Pakistan Centre for Philanthropy
and has served in the past as member of the Board of Habib Bank
Ltd and Pakistan Medical and Dental Council. He was also a member
of the Economic Development Council for Karachi for two years.
President Kassim-Lakha
served as member of the Pakistan Environmental Protection Council
(PEPC), the country's apex body for formulating national policies
on environmental issues, and chaired the Council's tripartite Environmental
Standards Committee to oversee the development, legislation and
implementation plan of the country's first National Environmental
Quality Standards. From 1998 to 2000, Kassim-Lakha also chaired
the Federal Advisory Board on Environment.
A recipient
of several noteworthy awards, President Kassim-Lakha was conferred
the
Officier de Ordre National du Mérite by the President of France
in 2001, the Sitara-e-Imtiaz by the President of Pakistan in 1998,
and the degree of Doctor of Laws, Honoris Causa, by McMaster University,
Canada, in 1994.
Professor Mohammad
Khurshid of AKU, recipient of Pride of Performance Award, said, "I feel happy that such an honour will be in actuality a recognition
of the efforts of all my colleagues at the Aga Khan University .
that in some way we are making a contribution to society." Professor
Khurshid has been a faculty member and clinical practitioner at
AKU since 1985, when the University's campus was inaugurated. As
Director of Aga Khan University Laboratory Services from 1985 to
2000, he set up a modern scientific clinical laboratory at the University
Hospital with laboratory specimen collection units across Pakistan.
Professor Khurshid
has a distinguished academic record and has excelled in teaching
and research. His research contributions in the field of haematology,
particularly leukaemia, are well documented in renowned international
journals. Based on his national role in the development of haematology
in , he was recently elected President of the Pakistan Society of
Haematology
(2001-2003) and European Council Member, the International Society
of Haematology
(Asia Division). With over 73 research papers to his credit, he
holds the second highest rank on the list of scientists in Health
Sciences, as published by the Pakistan Council for Science and Technology.
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