Syed Ziaur Rahman


Syed Ziaur Rahman is a permanent member of 'Board of Trustees' and Chair of the Advisory Council, International Association of Medical Colleges. He also serves as Chairman, Department of Pharmacology, Jawaharlal Nehru Medical College, Aligarh, Elected Secretary of IAOMC and Society of Pharmacovigilance, India.

Family background and education

Syed Ziaur Rahman's father Hakim Syed Zillur Rahman, grandfather Hakim Syed Fazlur Rahman and great grandfather Hakim Syed Karam Husain were all physicians of Unani medicine.
He earned his matriculation in 1987 from Minto Circle, graduation in 1995 and postgraduation in 2000 from Jawaharlal Nehru Medical College, a part of Aligarh Muslim University, India. His PhD thesis was a part of the project on health, medications and lifestyle factors in relation to self-rated memory from UWS School of Medicine, University of Western Sydney, Australia.

Contribution in medical science

Rahman contributed in the area of Alternatives to animal testing. He believed in the philosophy of '3Rs" of Russell and Burch" on humane experimental pharmacology. He delivered a series of lectures in 2004 at "Alternatives, Animal Welfare and the Curriculum – A training Seminar and Workshop" in different cities of India. He addressed in the meetings of International Network for Humane Education and International Centre for Alternatives in Research and Education. On the recommendation of Medical Council of India, and after getting survey related to the attitude of undergraduate medical students towards Alternatives to animal testing and Animal experiments, he initiated and established a separate lab on "Alternatives to Animal Experimentation" in the Department of Pharmacology at Jawaharlal Nehru Medical College. This was the first attempt in any medical college of India to have an exclusive lab where experimental work on animals was demonstrated by Computer aided education. In addition, he edited "A guide to alternatives to animal experiment in pharmacology", which was included in the curriculum of second professional MBBS course. He even translated few papers into Urdu in the field of Alternatives to animal testing.
Rahman also works in the field of Traditional medicine with special reference to Unani medicine. While working on morphine de-addiction properties of medicinal plants, he proposed a modified method for moderately and severely induced morphine dependent rats. He specifically screened Delphinium denudatum for its protective activity in morphine induced physical dependence.
His other field of works is Pharmacovigilance and Pharmacoepidemiology. In the field of Pharmacovigilance, he gave the concept of Pharmacoenvironmentology and differentiated the term Ecopharmacology from Pharmacoenvironmentology. However, some scientists also suggest the term, 'EcoPharmacovigilance' and 'PharmEcovigilance' in place of Pharmacoenvironmentology. He started as editor-in-chief, the official journal of the Society of Pharmacovigilance, India in 2003 – "Journal of Pharmacovigilance & Drug Safety "

Medico-social services

Rahman is a Trustee of Ibn Sina Academy of Medieval Medicine and Sciences. He bequeathed his ancestral property worth of crores of rupees to this Academy. In the Academy, he arranged many medical camps on the occasion of World AIDS Day, World Health Day and World Tuberculosis Day.
Rahman is a fellow and member of many professional academic bodies such as 'Fellow of Faculty of Pharmaceutical Medicine', 'Fellow of International Medical Sciences Academy', 'Fellow of National Academy of Medical Sciences, 'Elected Member of National Academy of Medical Sciences, India', 'Fellow of IMA Academy of Medical Specialties, 'Fellow of Indian Academy of Biomedical Sciences', Life member of Indian Science Congress Association, Indian Medical Association, Safety Pharmacology Society, Australian and New Zealand Society of the History of Medicine, Australasian Society of Clinical and Experimental Pharmacologists and Toxicologists, International Society for Neurochemistry, International Brain Research Organization, IndiaCLEN, Indian Science News Association, Association of Physiologists and Pharmacologists of India, Indian Pharmacological Society and Academics of Indian origin, Australia.

Selected awards