Prof Atta elected chairman of board of Kidney Foundation

Prof Dr Atta-ur-Rahman has been elected as chairman of the board of the Kidney Foundation for a three-year term.

A spokesman for the International Centre for Chemical and Biological Sciences (ICCBS), University of Karachi, on Monday said that Prof SA Jafar Naqvi proposed the appointment of Dr Rahman as the chairman. The proposal was unanimously adopted in the meeting, the spokesman said.

Currently, Prof Rahman is serving as the chairperson of the prime minister’s task force on science and technology, vice chair on the PM's task force on technology-driven knowledge-economy, and co-chairperson of the task force on information technology. He has also served as a federal minister for science and technology and the Higher Education Commission's (HEC) chairperson.

The professor is Pakistan's most decorated scientist, having won four civil awards, including Tamgha-i-Imtiaz, Sitara-i-Imtiaz, Hilal-i-Imtiaz, and Nishan-i-Imtiaz.

Prof Rahman obtained his PhD in inorganic chemistry from Cambridge University in 1968. He has 1250 publications in several fields of organic chemistry, including 775 research publications, 45 international patents, 69 chapters in books, and 341 books published largely by major US and European presses. He is also the editor-in-chief of eight European chemistry journals. He has also been awarded various national and international awards in recognition of his outstanding contributions to the field of science and technology.