Qasim Mehdi

Syed Qasim Mehdi (13 February 1941 – 28 September 2016) was a Pakistani molecular biologist who worked in population genetics. He was a founding member of the Human Genome Diversity Project (HGDP) with prominent role in the initiation of this project at the Stanford University.

Biography

Mehdi was born in Lucknow, India, where he completed his B.S. from the Lucknow University. He received his MS from MIT and then a D.Phil. (doctorate) degree from the Oxford University, where he had mentors like Nobel laureates Sir Hans Krebs and Rodney Porter. His doctoral education was followed by a series of fellowships at the Oxford and the Wellcome Trust, until appointed by the Stanford University as a research associate in 1976 and later a senior research fellow, affiliated with the Stanford University Departments of Chemistry and Radiology and Stanford Cancer Biology Research Labs. In past, he had served as a Distinguished National Professor, Higher Education Commission Pakistan, and director general of the Biomedical & Genetic Engineering Division, Islamabad,

Other than his role in HGDP, he is known for his groundbreaking work on the genetics of human populations,

Mehdi died peacefully in Lahore on 28 September 2016 after a protracted illness.

Fellowships Wellcome Trust Biochemical Society Third World Academy of Sciences Pakistan Academy of Sciences Islamic Academy of Sciences Chemical Society of Pakistan

Selected publications