Professor Anwar received his Ph.D. from the University of Tokyo in 1991 and his BSc (Hons) and MSc in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology from the University of Dhaka in 1981 and 1983, respectively. He completed his post-doctoral research at the Robert-Wood Johnson Medical University in NJ, USA, as well as Suntory Crop in Osaka, Japan. Dr. Anwar worked as a visiting professor at the Rhein-Waal University in Germany and the Department of Cultural Fisheries at Kochi University in Japan.
An excellent personality in the fields of molecular microbial genetics, bioinformatics, and vaccine development, Professor Md. Anwar Hossain is currently the vice chancellor of Jashore University of Science and Technology (JUST) and has already made a name for himself both at home and abroad. He has received the University Grants Commission (UGC) Best Researcher Award 2011, the BAS-National Professor Dr. M. Innas Ali Memorial Gold Medal Award 2017, UGC Gold Medal 2018 for Understanding and received the national Ekushey Padak in 2022.
Dr. Anwar and his team have been working on a variety of research topics, including Foot-and-Mouth Disease Virus and vaccine development; Antibiotic resistance mechanisms and pollutions; Poultry diseases and pathogen transmission routes; Arsenic microbiomes and bioremediation; and Mastitis microbiome and bioinformatics. Professor Anwar has received research grants totaling 1.5 million US dollars from domestic and international funding agencies such as the World Bank, UGC, the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Science and Technology, The World Academy of Science, Bangladesh Academy of Science-United States Department of Agriculture, and others. His research team currently consists of one Associate Professor, one Assistant Professor, three lecturers, seven Ph.D. students, twelve M.Sc students, and two trained laboratory workers. He has established research collaborations with a variety of national and international research groups, including World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) reference laboratories APHIS in the United States, Molecular Epidemiology Laboratory, Pirbright Institute in the United Kingdom, University of Rhein-Waal in Germany, and a number of national collaborations. As part of his research enthusiasm, he has developed two contemporary biotech research facilities (BSL-2 and BSL-1) at the University of Dhaka, as well as one sophisticated genomic research laboratory at JUST. Dr. Hossain was recognised internationally for his scientific breakthrough in the Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD) vaccine. In 2018, his team created and announced the most effective trivalent vaccination against FMD at a press conference held by the Higher Education Quality Enhancement Project (HEQEP), a UGC authority.
Dr. Anwar has a distinguished administrative career and has served as a Syndicate Member of the University of Dhaka on several occasions. He was elected to the Senate five times. He has served on the Syndicate, Academic Council, and Board of Advance Studies at a number of public and private universities. He was twice the chairman of the Microbiology department.
As Vice Chancellor of JUST since May 2017, he has taken steps to develop the university as a research-oriented, vibrant institution. He developed an integrated academic calendar at JUST and staged the university’s third convocation, during which a Nobel laureate scientist delivered the convocation speech.
