Nasima Akhter ( bn, নাসিমা আক্তার; born 1970) is a Bangladeshi scientist who specializes in

nuclear medicine Nuclear medicine or nucleology is a medical specialty involving the application of radioactive substances in the diagnosis and treatment of disease. Nuclear imaging, in a sense, is " radiology done inside out" because it records radiation emi ...

. In 2010, she won the BAS-TWAS Young Scientists Prize for her research involving nuchal translucency for fetal anomalies and research into nuclear cardiology. In 2013, she was honoured with the

Elsevier Foundation Award The OWSD-Elsevier Foundation Awards for Early-Career Women Scientists in the Developing World are awarded annually to early-career women scientists in selected developing countries in four regions: Latin America and the Caribbean, East and Sou ...

for her work on nuclear medicine and

ultrasonography Ultrasound is sound waves with frequencies higher than the upper audible limit of human hearing. Ultrasound is not different from "normal" (audible) sound in its physical properties, except that humans cannot hear it. This limit varies fr ...

Biography

Born in 1970, Nasima Akhter attended Sylhet MAG Osmani Medical College, graduating in 1995. She went on to earn an M. Phil from

Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University (BSMMU) is a graduate medical university in Bangladesh. It was established in 1965. The university offers postgraduate degrees only, not offering undergraduate medical or dental degrees. History Est ...

(2001) and a

Ph.D. A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields. Because it is ...

from

Kanazawa University Kanazawa University ( ja, 金沢大学, Kanazawa Daigaku, abbreviated to ja, 金大, Kindai) is a Japanese national university in the city of Kanazawa, the capital of Ishikawa Prefecture. Founded in 1862, it was chartered as a university in 1 ...

, Japan, (2008) followed by training in obstetric ultrasonography at Japan's

Kagawa University is a national university in Takamatsu, Kagawa, Japan. The university was established in 1949 as a national university after the consolidation and reorganization of the Kagawa Normal School, the Kagawa Normal School for Youth and the Takamatsu ...

. In 1998, Akhter began working as a nuclear medicine physician at the Bangladesh Atomic Energy Commission in

Dhaka Dhaka ( or ; bn, ঢাকা, Ḍhākā, ), formerly known as Dacca, is the capital and largest city of Bangladesh, as well as the world's largest Bengali-speaking city. It is the eighth largest and sixth most densely populated city i ...

. She has researched anomalies during the first three months of pregnancy using nunchal translucency. She has also used adjunct medication with

radioiodine therapy Iodine-131 (131I, I-131) is an important radioisotope of iodine discovered by Glenn Seaborg and John Livingood in 1938 at the University of California, Berkeley. It has a radioactive decay half-life of about eight days. It is associated with nuc ...

to research Graves' disease treatment. Her work has also focused on experiments with rats and mice to develop

radiotracer A radioactive tracer, radiotracer, or radioactive label is a chemical compound in which one or more atoms have been replaced by a radionuclide so by virtue of its radioactive decay it can be used to explore the mechanism of chemical reactions by tr ...

s for investigating

dementia Dementia is a disorder which manifests as a set of related symptoms, which usually surfaces when the brain is damaged by injury or disease. The symptoms involve progressive impairments in memory, thinking, and behavior, which negatively affe ...

schizophrenia Schizophrenia is a mental disorder characterized by continuous or relapsing episodes of psychosis. Major symptoms include hallucinations (typically hearing voices), delusions, and disorganized thinking. Other symptoms include social wit ...

and tumor growth by means of

sigma receptor Sigma receptors (σ-receptors) are protein cell surface receptors that bind ligands such as 4-PPBP (4-phenyl-1-(4-phenylbutyl) piperidine), SA 4503 (cutamesine), ditolylguanidine, dimethyltryptamine, and siramesine. There are two subtypes, ...

imaging.

Awards

As a young scientist, Nasima received a number of awards, including the Young Scientist Award and the Gold Medal from the Bangladesh Society of Nuclear Medicine. In 2010, she won the BAS-TWAS Young Scientist Prize and in 2013 she was honoured with the OWSD-Elsevier Foundation Award for her pioneering work in medicine and life sciences. In addition to a monetary prize, The Elsevier award included attendance at the American Association for the Advancement of Science meeting in

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

References

External links

* 1970 births Living people Bangladeshi scientists Bangladeshi women scientists Sylhet MAG Osmani Medical College alumni Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University alumni Kanazawa Seiryo University alumni Bangladeshi nuclear medicine physicians {{Bangladesh-scientist-stub