CMC Alumni of USA award

On the occasion of the 8th Triennial Global Reunion 2023 Chittagong Medical College Alumni of USA confers Lifetime Achievement Award to Professor Mohammad Omar Faruq for a lifetime of excellence and groundbreaking contribution to healthcare in USA and Bangladesh.

Professor Omar Faruq has been a legendary student. The famous phrase “Morning Shows The Day” comes vividly true in Dr Omar Faruq. Dr. Faruq got enrolled in Chittagong Medical College in 1966 after standing 1st in HSC examination in Comilla board. His career as a top student in Chittagong Medical College has been a matter of decades of story telling and legends. He stood first in the Professional examinations and his Honors scores in 8 subjects in professional examinations remains a record that is yet to be broken 50 years since he graduated!

After graduation Dr Faruq moved to USA where although he trained in Internal Medicine and Psychiatry, he made a career in Emergency Medicine in historical Coney Island Hospital in Brooklyn New York. He served as Associate Chair of Emergency Services of Coney Island Hospital. A testament to his commitment to the community beyond his own professional domain is his 1982 role in founding Bangladesh Medical Association of North American as its founding General Secretary.

At that point – 1995 – in an unprecedented step for a Bangladeshi physician practicing in USA – Dr Faruq decided to pack and return to Bangladesh with his young family!

The next phase of his career is even more productive and singular. As an associate professor, he opened the first multidisciplinary critical care unit in Bangladesh as BIRDEM hospital. While doing so he pioneered CPR/BLS/ ACLS training courses, Trauma Skill Workshop, Critical Care nursing in Bangladesh and established Bangladesh’s first post graduate program in Critical Care Medicine. He has been a crucial member of the pioneering team that performed the first liver transplantation in Bangladesh. He is lovingly called the father of critical care medicine in Bangladesh.

At present, Professor Faruq is one of the most prominent critical care medicine specialists, not only in Bangladesh, but in whole of Asia pacific region. He is the founding President of Bangladesh Society of Critical Care Medicine, Bangladesh life support foundation and founding secretary general of Association of SAARC critical care societies!

Professor Faruq is the founding editor of Bangladesh Journal of Critical Care Medicine and part of the editorial team in several other regional and international journals. He is a prolific author and is heavily published.

Dr Faruq received numerous recognition awards from many organizations including BMANA, CMC Alumni Association Golden Jubilee organizing committee, Bangladesh Lung Foundation etc.