Tipu Zahed Aziz, FMedSci ( bn, টিপু আজিজ জাহেদ; born 9 November 1956) is a

Bangladesh Bangladesh (}, ), officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the eighth-most populous country in the world, with a population exceeding 165 million people in an area of . Bangladesh is among the mos ...

i-born

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

professor Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an Academy, academic rank at university, universities and other post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin as a "person who pr ...

neurosurgery Neurosurgery or neurological surgery, known in common parlance as brain surgery, is the medical specialty concerned with the surgical treatment of disorders which affect any portion of the nervous system including the brain, spinal cord and peri ...

at the

John Radcliffe Hospital The John Radcliffe Hospital (informally known as the JR) is a large tertiary teaching hospital in Oxford, England. It forms part of the Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and is named after John Radcliffe, an 18th-century physici ...

in Oxford, Aarhus Denmark and Porto, Portugal. He specialises in the study and treatment of

Parkinson's disease Parkinson's disease (PD), or simply Parkinson's, is a long-term degenerative disorder of the central nervous system that mainly affects the motor system. The symptoms usually emerge slowly, and as the disease worsens, non-motor symptoms becom ...

multiple sclerosis Multiple (cerebral) sclerosis (MS), also known as encephalomyelitis disseminata or disseminated sclerosis, is the most common demyelinating disease, in which the insulating covers of nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord are damaged. This d ...

dystonia Dystonia is a neurological hyperkinetic movement disorder in which sustained or repetitive muscle contractions result in twisting and repetitive movements or abnormal fixed postures. The movements may resemble a tremor. Dystonia is often inten ...

spasmodic torticollis Spasmodic torticollis is an extremely painful chronic neurological movement disorder causing the neck to involuntarily turn to the left, right, upwards, and/or downwards. The condition is also referred to as "cervical dystonia". Both agonist and ...

, fixed abnormal posture of the neck,

tremor A tremor is an involuntary, somewhat rhythmic, muscle contraction and relaxation involving oscillations or twitching movements of one or more body parts. It is the most common of all involuntary movements and can affect the hands, arms, eyes, fa ...

, and intractable neuropathic pain. Besides his medical work, he is also notable as a public commentator in support of

animal experimentation Animal testing, also known as animal experimentation, animal research, and ''in vivo'' testing, is the use of non-human animals in experiments that seek to control the variables that affect the behavior or biological system under study. This ...

Early life and education

Aziz was born in

into what ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'' called a "medical dynasty". He arrived in Britain at the age of 17 with just three

O-levels The O-Level (Ordinary Level) is a subject-based qualification conferred as part of the General Certificate of Education. It was introduced in place of the School Certificate in 1951 as part of an educational reform alongside the more in-depth ...

, but after passing A-levels, he studied

Neurophysiology Neurophysiology is a branch of physiology and neuroscience that studies nervous system function rather than nervous system architecture. This area aids in the diagnosis and monitoring of neurological diseases. Historically, it has been dominated b ...

University College London , mottoeng = Let all come who by merit deserve the most reward , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £143 million (2020) , budget = ...

, where he became interested in

deep brain stimulation Deep brain stimulation (DBS) is a neurosurgical procedure involving the placement of a medical device called a neurostimulator, which sends electrical impulses, through implanted electrodes, to specific targets in the brain (the brain nucleu ...

. He went on to study for a doctorate at

Manchester University , mottoeng = Knowledge, Wisdom, Humanity , established = 2004 – University of Manchester Predecessor institutions: 1956 – UMIST (as university college; university 1994) 1904 – Victoria University of Manchester 1880 – Victoria Univer ...

, where he began his research on animals.

Career

In February 2006, Aziz came to public prominence in the UK when he spoke out in favour of the use of animals in medical research to several hundred demonstrators during a rally held by

Pro-Test Pro-Test was a British group that promoted and supported animal testing in medical research. It was founded on 29 January 2006 to counter SPEAK, an animal-rights campaign opposing the construction by Oxford University of a biomedical and animal ...

, a new British group set up to promote the construction by

Oxford University Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

of a new biomedical centre in which research on animals, including

primate Primates are a diverse order of mammals. They are divided into the strepsirrhines, which include the lemurs, galagos, and lorisids, and the haplorhines, which include the tarsiers and the simians (monkeys and apes, the latter including huma ...

s, will be conducted. Aziz is one of two Oxford neurosurgeons who sit on the Pro-Test committee. Pro-Test was formed to counter SPEAK, an

animal rights Animal rights is the philosophy according to which many or all sentient animals have moral worth that is independent of their utility for humans, and that their most basic interests—such as avoiding suffering—should be afforded the sa ...

organisation aiming to end vivisection in the UK. In March 2006, he came to public attention again when he defended the use of animals in

cosmetics Cosmetics are constituted mixtures of chemical compounds derived from either natural sources, or synthetically created ones. Cosmetics have various purposes. Those designed for personal care and skin care can be used to cleanse or protect ...

testing, which is banned in Britain. His comments were described as "perhaps unfortunate" by one colleague.

Research interests

Aziz's work involves inducing Parkinsonian symptoms in

monkey Monkey is a common name that may refer to most mammals of the infraorder Simiiformes, also known as the simians. Traditionally, all animals in the group now known as simians are counted as monkeys except the apes, which constitutes an incomple ...

s, either surgically or using

drugs A drug is any chemical substance that causes a change in an organism's physiology or psychology when consumed. Drugs are typically distinguished from food and substances that provide nutritional support. Consumption of drugs can be via inhalat ...

, then switching off the symptoms using electrodes he has implanted in their brains. During development of his techniques he has used around 30 monkeys in tests over 20 years, and many believe that as many as 40,000 people around the world have benefitted from the techniques. ''The Guardian'' writes that some patients have described the surgery as "miraculous". In a 2006

BBC Two BBC Two is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It covers a wide range of subject matter, with a remit "to broadcast programmes of depth and substance" in contrast to the more mainstream an ...

documentary ''Monkeys, Rats and Me: Animal Testing,'' animal rights philosopher

Peter Singer Peter Albert David Singer (born 6 July 1946) is an Australian moral philosopher, currently the Ira W. DeCamp Professor of Bioethics at Princeton University. He specialises in applied ethics and approaches ethical issues from a secular, ...

described Aziz's research as "justifiable" on

utilitarian In ethical philosophy, utilitarianism is a family of normative ethical theories that prescribe actions that maximize happiness and well-being for all affected individuals. Although different varieties of utilitarianism admit different charac ...

grounds. Singer later clarified his statement saying that it would only be justified, in his opinion, if Aziz were willing to do the same experiments on humans of a similar mental capacity. Aziz has said that the emphasis of his future research will be upon viral, gene, and

stem cell therapy Stem-cell therapy is the use of stem cells to treat or prevent a disease or condition. , the only established therapy using stem cells is hematopoietic stem cell transplantation. This usually takes the form of a bone-marrow transplantation, but ...

to treat Parkinson's and similar movement disorders.

Research criticism

According to ''

The Oxford Student ''The Oxford Student'' is a newspaper produced by and for students of the University of Oxford; often abbreviated to ''The OxStu''. The paper was established in 1991 by the Oxford University Student Union (Oxford SU) and is published every for ...

'',

Malcolm Macleod Malcolm Macleod (born in Edinburgh in 1965) is a Scottish neurologist and translational neuroscientist. Biography Macleod spent his early years in Achiltibuie and Inverness. He attended the Leachkin Primary School, Jedburgh Grammar School and ...

, a clinical neuroscientist, was asked by

Animal Aid Animal Aid is a British animal rights organisation, founded in 1977 by Jean Pink. The group campaigns peacefully against the consumption of animals as food and against animal cruelty such as their use for medical research—and promotes a cruel ...

to conduct a systemic review into Aziz's research. Macleod accidentally sent an email intended for a colleague to the animal rights group. The e-mail stated he felt that deep brain stimulation was an "area of weakness often trumpeted as a success, but which in reality is probably a failure." He asked for "advice" and suggested he would "avoid, play a straight bat or price imselfout of the market" for the review requested. Animal Aid said about the e-mail "He r Macleodfeared that an objective investigation of the associated animal research would expose the treatment's shortcomings. He was determined to avoid being drawn into the front line of the vivisection debate." Dr Macleod claimed that he stood by his choice not to do the review "I was not comfortable taking part in a study which was motivated by a desire to undermine Aziz."

Animal testing controversy

Aziz has been vocal in support of

animal testing Animal testing, also known as animal experimentation, animal research, and ''in vivo'' testing, is the use of non-human animals in experiments that seek to control the variables that affect the behavior or biological system under study. This ...

and his criticism of the

animal liberation movement The animal rights (AR) movement, sometimes called the animal liberation, animal personhood, or animal advocacy movement, is a social movement that seeks an end to the rigid moral and legal distinction drawn between human and non-human animals ...

, calling them "misinformed and sometimes illiterate anti-

vivisection Vivisection () is surgery conducted for experimental purposes on a living organism, typically animals with a central nervous system, to view living internal structure. The word is, more broadly, used as a pejorative catch-all term for experiment ...

ists who adopt terrorist tactics" and who " nderminethe process of democracy" through "intimidation". Britain has "probably the most violent and absurd animal rights movement in the world." He told ''The Guardian'', "The problem with British society is it has a humanoid perception of animals that’s almost cartoon-like."

Defence of cosmetics testing

In an interview published on 4 March 2005, Aziz condoned testing cosmetics on animals, a practice banned in the UK since 1998 and fully across the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been des ...

by 2013. He said that to argue cosmetics testing is wrong is "a very strange argument", and that " ople talk about cosmetics being the ultimate evil. But beautifying oneself has been going on since we were cavemen. If it's proven to reduce suffering through animal tests, it’s not wrong to use them. To say cosmetics is an absolute evil is absurd." Other scientists who use animals in research have "distanced themselves" from Aziz's remarks. Clive Page, a researcher at the University of London, said: "I don't think we can justify using animals for cosmetics research. rof Aziz like myself and a few others who talk out about this have worked very hard to try and explain to the public why we do medical research on animals and why it's still necessary. To muddy the waters by bringing back an issue of using animals for something that’s not actually approved in the UK is perhaps unfortunate."

Simon Festing Simon Festing is operations director of the CIBSE. Education Festing graduated in 1987 as a Bachelor of Medicine from the London Hospital Medical College. He worked as a medical doctor for three years before leaving medicine in 1990 to study En ...

, director of the pro-animal experimentation lobby group

Research Defence Society The Research Defence Society was a British scientific society and lobby group, founded by Stephen Paget, in 1908, to fight against the anti-vivisectionist "enemies of reason" at the beginning of the 20th century. At the end of 2008, after being a ...

said of Aziz: "He's not involved in cosmetic testing himself, ritain'snot involved in cosmetic testing, it's been banned here. There's no movement from the scientific community or the cosmetics industry to have it brought back in. I can't see it being particularly relevant apart from being his personal view."

Felix

An animal rights campaign has formed around a seven-year-old macaque monkey that Aziz has used in his research. Named Felix by Aziz himself, he is one of 100 purpose-bred monkeys used in animal experiments by Oxford University. Felix was featured in a November 2006 BBC documentary about Aziz's work, "Monkeys, Rats and Me". The monkey was shown being "shaped", that is, being encouraged to perform certain tasks by having food and water withheld, in advance of having the symptoms of

induced. Electrodes were implanted in his brain to test the effects of

on the Parkinsonian symptoms and on his ability to perform the tasks. He will be destroyed at the end of the experiment, which could continue for several years. Since the BBC documentary aired, SPEAK, a British animal rights campaign formed in 2002, has used the "Fight for Felix" as a public focus of their efforts to halt the construction of a new £20 million animal-testing facility in South Park Road, OxfordWrong Again, Part I
Felix segment starts at six minutes
Wrong again, part II
SPEAK, The Voice for the Animals. Retrieved 21 June 2008.

Awards and nominations

In January 2013, Aziz was nominated for the Service to Medicine award at the

British Muslim Awards The British Muslim Awards are an annual award ceremony that honours the success and achievements of British Muslim individuals, groups and businesses. It was established in 2013. Overview The British Muslim Awards was founded by Oceanic Consulti ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Aziz, Tipu 1956 births Living people Bangladeshi Muslims British Muslims Bangladeshi emigrants to the United Kingdom Naturalised citizens of the United Kingdom British neurosurgeons Alumni of University College London Alumni of the University of Manchester Fellows of the Academy of Medical Sciences (United Kingdom) Physicians of the John Radcliffe Hospital 20th-century Bengalis 21st-century Bengalis