When Professor Dr. Md. Ridwanur Rahman departed on October 25, 2023, at the age of 65, Bangladesh lost far more than a brilliant clinician and researcher. It lost a visionary mentor, a pioneer in global public health, and above all, a deeply humane soul whose feet remained firmly planted in the soil of his rural upbringing even as his academic contributions echoed across the globe.
On the occasion of his death anniversary, the medical community, former students, and many others will reflect on a life defined by unwavering integrity, relentless intellectual rigor, and an enduring commitment to human service. Dr. Ridwan, as he was known to most, belonged to a rare breed of medical professionals who believed that medicine was not merely a livelihood, but a calling - a sacred duty to understand both the root causes of disease and the lived realities of the people afflicted by them.
Born on April 21, 1958, on the morning of Eid-ul-Fitr, in the serene surroundings of Moulvi Bari in Kanchana Union under Satkania Upazila, Chittagong, Md. Ridwanur Rahman was the sixth of seven children born to Begum Amatun Noor and Mohammad Monirul Haq. Affectionately nicknamed "Rizu" by his family, a pet name that endured throughout his life, he was remembered as a quiet, observant child with an innate curiosity about the world around him.
He spent the first 16 years of his life in Kanchana, completing his primary and secondary schooling at the historic Amilaish Kanchana Bong Chandra Ghosh (A.K.B.C. Ghosh) Institute. It was here that his moral compass was shaped, grounded in the values of empathy, community cohesion, and modesty.
Upon the guidance of his elder brother, Dr. Khaliquzzaman, young Riju made the transition from his rural home to the bustling capital to pursue his higher secondary education at Adamjee Cantonment College in Dhaka. The culture shock was immediate. Coming from a Chittagong dialect-speaking background into an environment populated by urban, English-speaking peers (many of whom had returned from Pakistan post-war), the quiet teenager turned inward. However, under his brother’s steady mentorship - which included a daily discipline of reading The Bangladesh Observer with an open dictionary beside him - Riju quickly mastered the English language, sitting for his Higher Secondary Certificate (HSC) exams in English.
Though initially admitted to the prestigious Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET) to study engineering, a family conversation shifted his path. His parents and elder brother expressed a gentle wish: to have a doctor in the family who could serve society. Yielding to their wishes, he forfeited his BUET seat and enrolled at Chittagong Medical College (CMC). It was a decision that would alter not only his own destiny, but the trajectory of infectious disease research in Bangladesh.
At CMC, Dr. Ridwan developed a legendarily relaxed yet deeply thorough academic style. Friends and classmates often noted that he rarely appeared to be cramming for exams; instead, he read medical textbooks out of pure passion, treating complex medical literature like engaging literature. While others pulled all-nighters before professional examinations, Riju slept peacefully. His deep, intuitive grasp of medical concepts bore fruit in 1982 when he graduated with his MBBS degree, securing the second position in the national combined merit list. He subsequently earned his Fellowship of the College of Physicians and Surgeons (FCPS) in Medicine from the Bangladesh College of Physicians and Surgeons (BCPS).
Dr. Ridwan joined the government service through the 5th Bangladesh Civil Service (BCS) Health Cadre in 1983. His early career postings took him to some of the most challenging terrains in the country, in the remote border unions of Rangamati and Bandarban, and thereafter Khagrachari.
It was in Khagrachari in the late 80s that Dr. Ridwan’s research instinct was first ignited. Witnessing hundreds of patients dying from severe malaria every month despite standard treatment, he suspected that the parasite had evolved. Conducting independent clinical observations, he became the first researcher in Bangladesh to formally document chloroquine resistance in local malaria strains - a finding that drew immense praise from a visiting World Health Organization (WHO) delegation and laid the groundwork for modern antimalarial strategies in the region.
Returning to his alma mater, Chittagong Medical College as Assistant Professor, in 1994, Dr. Ridwan entered what many consider his foundational decade as a master clinician and educator. Alongside Professor Abul Faiz, he co-founded the Malaria Research Group. Over the next decade, this research team conducted rigorous clinical trials on novel artemisinin-based combination therapies (ACTs)- the landmark medical discovery by Nobel laureate Dr. Tu Youyou. Their clinical trials proved pivotal in establishing global treatment protocols that have saved millions of lives over the last three decades. One of Dr. Ridwan’s landmark papers on malaria was published in The Lancet and was subsequently honored as the "Best Paper of 2010" by the British Medical Journal (BMJ). His expertise led to his appointment as a WHO Clinical Monitor across various African nations, including Tanzania, Ghana, and Zambia.
In 2003, Dr. Ridwan was transferred to Dhaka, where he served at Sir Salimullah Medical College and Dhaka Medical College before assuming the position of Head of the Department of Medicine at Shaheed Suhrawardy Medical College in 2006 (then known as Begum Khaleda Zia Medical College). For eleven years, he poured his heart into the institute, transforming its department of medicine into a center of academic excellence and affectionately referring to the institution simply as "my medical college."
His scholarly contributions were equally profound in the fight against Visceral Leishmaniasis, locally known as Kala-azar. Between 2010 and 2016, serving as the Principal Investigator for a Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative (DNDi) project in Mymensingh, Dr. Ridwan led groundbreaking clinical trials on single-dose liposomal amphotericin B and combination therapies. His empirical findings directly transformed WHO treatment guidelines globally. In a poignant alignment of history, just days after his passing in late October 2023, the World Health Organization officially certified Bangladesh as the first country in the world to eliminate Kala-azar as a public health problem—a monument to the research to which Dr. Ridwan had dedicated his life.
Even after retiring from government service in 2017, Dr. Ridwan refused to step back from science. He joined the Universal Medical College Research Center as Chief Researcher, working tirelessly until his final days. By the end of his career, he had published over 167 peer-reviewed papers in international journals, accumulating over 5,284 academic citations. In his later years, his focus expanded toward Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs) and the urgent need to reform Bangladesh’s medical education system, advocating for modernized curricula that emphasized analytical thinking over rote learning.
As an educator, Professor Ridwan was revered by generations of medical students, many of whom now hold prominent professorships across the globe. His clinical teaching was rooted in acute observation, logical deduction, and respect for the patient.
Former students frequently recall his bed-side clinical rounds. Teaching would be directed based on the patients seen and adapted to the needs of the time.
He was fiercely opposed to unnecessary polypharmacy and excessive drug prescriptions, a habit he viewed as a failure of clinical diagnosis. He frequently issued a stern warning to his trainees that reverberates through medical lecture halls to this day:
"When you prescribe medicine for every single complaint, then you are nothing but a trained quack."
To Dr. Ridwan, true medicine required sitting with the patient, understanding the story behind the symptoms, diagnosing the root cause through scientific logic, and prescribing only what was essential.
What truly elevated Professor Dr. Md. Ridwanur Rahman from a great scientist to a beloved legend was his unyielding connection to his roots. Despite his global acclaim, international travel, and dense academic schedules, his heart never left Kanchana.
For more than thirty consecutive years, during every Eid holiday, Dr. Rahman returned to his village home. There, setting up a makeshift chamber in a local market, he spent days offering free medical consultations to hundreds of impoverished villagers whether it was hot, rainy or freezing winter time.
His sense of social justice during these free clinics was absolute. He strictly refused to allow anyone - whether a wealthy relative, an influential local figure, or a childhood friend - to jump the queue. When asked why he was so uncompromising about serial numbers in a rural market, he gave a characteristic answer: "If I let someone skip the line because they know me, the poor patient who has been waiting in the heat since morning will silently curse my parents. I will not let my parents be cursed for someone else's privilege."
He maintained lifelong friendships with his childhood peers from A.K.B.C. Ghosh Institute, regularly hosting them for Iftar during Ramadan and organizing annual trips. He quietly funded educational initiatives, school infrastructure improvements, and medical treatments for underprivileged families—charitable acts that came to light largely after his death.
Dr. Ridwan's personal life was a partnership of mutual respect and shared medical commitment. He was married to Professor Dr. Rasheda Samad, an accomplished Professor of Pediatrics in her own right, with whom he built a home centered on intellect, service, and warmth.
Though he passed away on October 25, 2023, leaving behind his wife, children, colleagues, and thousands of devoted students, Professor Dr. Md. Ridwanur Rahman remains vibrantly alive in the fabric of Bangladeshi medicine.
As Bangladesh reflects on his lifetime of service, his legacy stands as a timeless reminder that the ultimate measure of a physician lies not merely in titles or citations, but in character, humility, and an unquenchable love for humanity.
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***Raiiq Ridwan is a UK-based doctor and traveller, and the only son of Prof. Dr Md Ridwanur Rahman.