16 Facts About Tipu Aziz

Tipu Zahed Aziz was a Bangladeshi-born British professor of neurosurgery at the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford, Aarhus Denmark and Porto, Portugal.

Tipu Aziz specialised in the study and treatment of Parkinson's disease, multiple sclerosis, dystonia, spasmodic torticollis, fixed abnormal posture of the neck, tremor, and intractable neuropathic pain.

Tipu Aziz arrived in Britain at the age of 17 with just three O-levels, but after passing A-levels, he studied Neurophysiology at University College London, where he became interested in deep brain stimulation.

Tipu Aziz went on to study for a doctorate at Manchester University, where he began his research on animals.

In February 2006, Tipu 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, a new British group set up to promote the construction by Oxford University of a new biomedical centre in which research on animals, including primates, will be conducted.

Tipu Aziz was one of two Oxford neurosurgeons who sat on the Pro-Test committee.

Tipu Aziz's comments were described as "perhaps unfortunate" by one colleague.

Tipu Aziz's work involved inducing Parkinsonian symptoms in monkeys, either surgically or using drugs, then switching off the symptoms using electrodes he has implanted in their brains.

Singer later clarified his statement saying that it would only be justified, in his opinion, if Tipu Aziz were willing to do the same experiments on humans of a similar mental capacity.

Tipu Aziz said that the emphasis of his future research would be upon viral, gene, and stem cell therapy to treat Parkinson's and similar movement disorders.

Tipu Aziz was determined to avoid being drawn into the front line of the vivisection debate.

An animal rights campaign has formed around a seven-year-old macaque monkey that Tipu Aziz has used in his research.

Tipu Aziz will be destroyed at the end of the experiment, which could continue for several years.

Tipu Aziz died of oesophageal cancer in Oxford, UK, on 25 October 2024, at the age of 67.

Tipu Aziz is survived by his wife Jocelyn, and daughter Laila from a previous marriage.

In January 2013, Tipu Aziz was nominated for the Service to Medicine award at the British Muslim Awards.