Ali Hussain Rajput, March 1983.
Born in a farming village with the number 30 but no name in Sind, Pakistan, on December 8, 1934, Ali was the gold medallist when he graduated in medicine from the University of Sind. After post-graduate training in Chicago, New York, Ann Arbor and Kingston, he joined the staff of the University of Saskatchewan and University Hospital in 1967, and was head of the Division of Neurology from 1985 to 2001. A Professor Emeritus since 2002, he is director of the Saskatchewan Centre for Parkinson’s Disease and Movement Disorders. Author or co-author of 166 scientific papers and twenty-four book chapters, Ali is a recognized international authority on the diagnosis and treatment of Parkinson’s disease. He has followed personally for years, until autopsy, more patients with Parkinsonism and patients with Essential Tremors than any other doctor in the world, and is a leader in the analysis of dystonia. His honours include the Saskatchewan Order of Merit (1993), Tony Dagnone Spirit of Royal University Hospital Award (1996), Officer of the Order of Canada (the first Canadian of Pakistani origin and first Muslim Canadian to be so honoured, 1997), Morton Shulman Award (2001), and Distinguished Canadian Award (2002).
C. Stuart Houston