Aly Tewfik Shousha

Sir
Aly Tewfik Shousha
Pasha
علي توفيق شوشة
Born(1891-08-17)17 August 1891
Cairo, Khedivate of Egypt
Died31 May 1964(1964-05-31) (aged 72)
OccupationBacteriologist
Awards
Academic background
Education
Academic work
Institutions

Sir Aly Tewfik Shousha, Pasha (Arabic: علي توفيق شوشة; 17 August 1891 – 31 May 1964) was an Egyptian doctor and a founding member of the World Health Organization.[1]

Early life and education

Aly Tewfik Shousha was born in Cairo, on 17 August 1891. He graduated from the School of Medicine, Humboldt University of Berlin in 1915, and specialized in the study of bacteriology at the University of Zurich. He later became an assistant at the Hygienische Institute in Zurich (1916–1917).[2][3]

Career

Shousha returned to Egypt to serve as a bacteriologist in 1924, before he served as a Director of Laboratories of the Ministry of Public Health in 1930.[4] He then became the Undersecretary of the Ministry of Health in 1939.[5] On 1 July 1949, he became the first Regional Director of the Eastern Mediterranean Region of the World Health Organization (WHO) at its inception.[6][7] He was also one of WHO's founding members[8] and the Chairman of the Executive Board of WHO.[2][9][1]

Shousha published many articles on bacteriology, including immunology.[10] He contributed to the editing of the facilitated Arabic Encyclopedia, and was elected to the Academy of the Arabic Language in Cairo in 1942.[11][12]

Death

Shousha died on 31 May 1964, aged 72, while he was attending the WHO Executive Board meeting in Geneva.[1] He was attending as a representative of the League of Arab States, whose health activities he directed.[13][14]

Awards and honours

Shousha's many decorations include Order of the Nile in 1936, the US Typhus Commission Medal in 1944, Order of Pashwiya on 26 April 1945,[15] and Commander and then Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1948.[2] A street in Nasr City, Cairo, was named after him.[16]

In 1966, the ninth World Health Assembly established a foundation to honour his memory as one of the World Health Organization founders and first WHO Regional Director for the Eastern Mediterranean. The foundation's purpose is to award a prize known as the Shousha Prize, which is given to a person who made the most significant contribution to any health problem in the geographical area in which Dr Shousha served the WHO. The foundation also gives a fellowship every six years that amounts to US$15,000.[17][18]

References

  1. ^ a b c "Dr. Aly Tewfik Shousha, 72, Founder‐Member of W.H.O." The New York Times. 2 June 1964. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on 11 February 2023. Retrieved 11 February 2023.
  2. ^ a b c "biographical note: Sir Aly Tewfik Shousha, Pasha, Chairman of the WHO Executive Board and Director-designate of the WHO Regional bureau in Alexandria". IRIS Home. 1949. Retrieved 27 June 2024.
  3. ^ Report by [the] Surgeon General, Public Health Service, Chairman of the United States Delegation to the World Health Assembly. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, Public Health Service. 1970. Archived from the original on 25 March 2023. Retrieved 12 February 2023.
  4. ^ Le Mondain Egyptien (The Egyptian Who is Who). F. E. Noury et Fils, Cairo, 1939
  5. ^ "United Nations Audiovisual Library". United Nations UN Audiovisual Library. Archived from the original on 11 February 2023. Retrieved 11 February 2023.
  6. ^ "World Health Organization". International Organization. 3 (2): 357–360. 1949. doi:10.1017/S0020818300020786. ISSN 0020-8183. JSTOR 2703761. Archived from the original on 14 February 2023. Retrieved 11 February 2023.
  7. ^ "دور منظمة الصحة العالمية وبرنامجها العربي في النهوض باللغة العربية". World Health Organization - Regional Office for the Eastern Mediterranean. 6 March 2009. Retrieved 27 June 2024.
  8. ^ Fee, Elizabeth; Cueto, Marcos; Brown, Theodore M., eds. (2019), "The Birth of the World Health Organization, 1945–1948", The World Health Organization: A History, Global Health Histories, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 34–61, doi:10.1017/9781108692878.003, ISBN 978-1-108-69287-8, S2CID 216663686, archived from the original on 25 April 2020, retrieved 11 February 2023
  9. ^ "Speech by Dr. Aly Tewfik Shousha Pasha Chairman of the Executive Board of the World Health Organization". IRIS Home. 1949. Retrieved 27 June 2024.
  10. ^ Shousha, A. T. (1948). "Cholera Epidemic in Egypt (1947): A Preliminary Report". Bulletin of the World Health Organization. 1 (2): 353–381. ISSN 0042-9686. PMC 2553924. PMID 20603928.
  11. ^ مجمع اللغة العربية بالقاهرة: أعضاء المجمع السابقون Archived 25 August 2017 at the Wayback Machine
  12. ^ "Medical News". The British Medical Journal. 1 (4649): 382–384. 1950. ISSN 0007-1447. JSTOR 25375138. Archived from the original on 14 February 2023. Retrieved 11 February 2023.
  13. ^ "Obituary Notices". British Medical Journal. 1 (5399): 1711–1714. 27 June 1964. doi:10.1136/bmj.1.5399.1711. ISSN 0007-1447. S2CID 220232145. Archived from the original on 11 February 2023. Retrieved 11 February 2023.
  14. ^ "FINALACTOFTHEINTERNATIONAL HEALTHCONFERENCE". paperspast.natlib.govt.nz. Archived from the original on 11 February 2023. Retrieved 11 February 2023.
  15. ^ "pashalst-2". www.egy.com. Archived from the original on 2 January 2018. Retrieved 21 February 2023.
  16. ^ "شارع علي توفيق شوشه, القاهرة". www.cartogiraffe.com. Archived from the original on 12 February 2023. Retrieved 12 February 2023.
  17. ^ "Dr A.T. Shousha Foundation Prize and Fellowship". WHO. Archived from the original on 19 February 2023. Retrieved 1 December 2022.
  18. ^ Award of the Dr A.T. Shousha Foundation Prize and Fellowship. World Health Organization. Regional Office for the Eastern Mediterranean. 2015. hdl:10665/250518.