Fellow

Dr. K. M. Sultanul Aziz

(Fellow, 2000)

Dr. K. M. Sultanul Aziz was born in Nabinagar of Brahmanbaria District in 1936.

He received B.Sc. (Hons.) and Master's degree from Dhaka University in 1956 and 1957, respectively. He had Ph.D. from DukeUniversity, Durham, N.C., U.S.A. in 1965 with Major in Botany, specializing in Marine Phycology.

Dr. Aziz served as a Lecturer of Botany in Dhaka University and as Associate Professor of Biology in N.C. Central College, renamed as North Carolina Central University. He worked in the Cholera Research Laboratory, Dhaka, renamed as the International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh (icddr,b) for over 20 years.

Professor Sultanul Aziz had a distinguished career in the field of sports and was awarded Fazlul Haque Hall Blue in Gymnastics and Dhaka University Blue in Swimming. He held executive positions in the National and Asian Swimming Federations. The International Swimming Federation (FINA) awarded him Gold Pin during the Sydney Olympic Games for his distinguished service for over 16 years in the FINA Sports Medicine Committee. For his contributions as a sports organizer, the National Sports Council of Bangladesh awarded him a cash award and Gold Medal with a cita-tion and the Asian Amateur Swimming Federation (AASF) awarded him a Gold Medal and also the highest award of this Internatioal body, the AASF prize. In recognition of his lasting contributions since its founding, he has been elected as the Honorary Life Secretary General of AASF.

He had a pioneering role in transforming the institution into an International Centre of excellence. He played a key role in establishing Research Review and Ethical Review committees and chaired them for over 12 years.

He pioneered the concept of Vibrio cholera as an environmental organism and described for the first time Aeromonas hydrophila responsible for epidemics of diarrhoea in humans. He discovered diarrhoea producing toxin in Microcystis aeruginosa. He described rat as a cholera toxin assay model. The American Association for the Advancement of Sciences elected him as Fellow citing his contributions on Oral Rehydration Therapy.

Dr. Aziz took initiave in the globalization of the use of Oral Rehydration Therapy. As a follow up of this he conceptualized and organized four African Conferences on Diarrhoeal Diseases and thirteen Asian Conferences on Diarrhoeal Diseases in nine different Asian countries.

Dr. Aziz published over 60 scientific articles in peer reviewed national and international journals.

During his tenure of service, he held scientific and administrative management positions in the institution and made lasting contributions in its structure and function. He served as a Professor in the Institute of Life Sciences in Jahangirnagar University, Savar and as a Microbiologist in the Ministry of Health in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. He was the Chief organizer for six Asian Swimming Championships over a period of 20 years in five different Asian countries and served as an Olympic official during the Olympic Games in Los Angeles, Barcelona, Seoul, Atlanta, Sydney and London.

He was elected the General Secretary of the Bangladesh Academy of Science and also for the Association for the Advancement of Science and as the President of the Bangladesh Society of Microbiologists. He participated in several marine biological expeditions and has been trained as a single person submarine operator for deep sea exploration.