Rashid Gatrad

Abdul Rashid Gatrad (born 1946) is a Malawi-born consultant paediatrician of Memon heritage, working in England.

Early life

Gatrad was born in Blantyre, Malawi in 1946. His father Mahomed Gatrad was a leader of the Asian community in Malawi

He was educated at a Gujarati school in Malawi, and then Founders High School in Bulawayo, Rhodesia.

While in Malawi he played cricket for the national side, against Mashonaland and Matabeleland, and in Bulawayo he played for his school. and head of the Paediatrics Department at Walsall Manor Hospital, he is Professor of Paediatrics and Child Health at the University of Kentucky and at the University of Wolverhampton.

He completed his PhD in 1994, at the University of Wolverhampton, while working full-time as a physician, with a thesis entitled "The Muslim in hospital, school and the community: practitioner awareness of the Muslim way of life in Walsall, West Midlands, United Kingdom".

He has published over 80 academic papers;

He is a postgraduate examiner for the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health. He is the founder of Walsall Against Single Use plastic (WASUP), which is being expanded as World Against Single Use plastic.

He created the Jubaida Gatrad Maternity & Children's Hospital, named after his mother, in Gujarat. In 2014 he was awarded the Freedom of the Borough of the Walsall in acknowledgement of halving the mortality of new-borns in Walsall, and for his work to improve paediatric services. In 2015 he received the Honorary Degree of Doctor of Science (D.Sc.) from the University of Wolverhampton. In 2017, the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health awarded him honorary fellowship.

Rotary International awarded him their Paul Harris Fellowship for his work helping to eradicate polio, and for setting up an orphanage for 200 children in Lalpur, India.