Pakistani Woman Scientist Gets Award for Research Excellence

A Pakistani woman scientist, namely Dr Farzana Shaheen has been included among eleven talented women scientists from Africa, the Middle East, Asia,Latin America and the Caribbean for her research excellence.

The Elsevier Foundation, Third World Academy of Sciences (TWAS) and the Organization for Women in Science for the Developing World (OWSD) have recognized eleven talented women scientists from the said regions for their research excellence.

An official of the International Centre for Chemical and Biological Sciences (ICCBS), Karachi University (KU) said that these women scientist were awarded OWSD prizes at a special ceremony held during the International Symposium on Women in Science and Engineering (WISE 2011) hosted by the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation, and Institute Kimia Malaysia in Kuala Lumpur from September 29-30. Each winner received a cash prize of US$5,000.

“From Asia, Dr. Farzana Shaheen, Assistant Professor at H.E.J. Research Institute of Chemistry, University of Karachi, received OWSD award 2011 for Young Women Scientists for her outstanding achievements in Chemistry. Dr. Farzana Shaheen earned her Ph.D. degree in chemistry from the H.E.J. Research Institute of Chemistry under the supervision of Director ICCBS Prof. Dr. M. Iqbal Choudhary. She did her first postdoctoral studies with Prof. A. Ganesan (University of Southampton, UK) in the field of combinatorial chemistry through the award of UNESCO Fellowship for Young Women in Life Sciences in 2005. She learned the advanced techniques of combinatorial chemistry from Prof. Dr. Kit S. Lam (UC-Davis, USA) under J. William Fulbright Scholar Program 2008-2009. She has over 50 research publications in international Journals and two patents. KU Vice Chancellor Prof Dr Pirzada Qasim Raza Siddiqui, former Chairman of Higher Education Commission Prof Dr Atta-ur-Rehman and Director ICCBS Prof Dr M Iqbal Choudhary have congratulated Dr Shaheen on her achievement.