Dr. Teepu Siddique to Receive CCN's Ibn Sina Award for 2011
Chicago, IL: Each year Compassionate Care Network (CCN) chooses to recognize at its Annual Banquet an individual or organization for their outstanding services in the medical field. This award is given in the name of Ibn Sina, a renowned Muslim physician philosopher, whose towering figure in the field of medicine dominated the stage of science for centuries throughout the Middle Ages.
This year CCN is pleased to present the Ibn Sina Award for Humanitarian Service & Pioneering Medical Research to Dr. Teepu Siddique, MD, from the Fineberg School of Medicine at Northwestern University in Chicago, for his pioneering research in the field of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS aka Lou Garret’s Disease). ALS affects an estimated 350,000 people around the world, with about half of the people dying within three years of its onset. The breakdown occurs in the recycling system in the nerve cells of the spinal cord and the brain. In order to function properly, the protein building blocks in the cells need to be recycled. But in ALS, that system is broken. The cells cannot repair or maintain themselves and become severely damaged.
Dr.Siddique and his team found a protein, ubiquilin2, which should be directing the recycling process within nerve cells, does not work in people with ALS. Dr. Teepu Siddique believes, "This opens up a whole new field for finding an effective treatment for ALS. We can now test for drugs that would regulate this protein pathway or optimize it, so it functions as it should in a normal state."
This discovery is very significant could have a role to play in other neurodegenerative diseases as well, including dementia and Parkinson's disease.
Dr. Siddique’s other passion in life is his study of the works of the poet philosopher Muhammad Iqbal who is credited with having conceived the idea of Pakistan and whose poetry to have been the inspiration behind the Iranian Revolution that brought democracy to Iran. From being the President of Iqbal Society in Chicago to being an articulate exponent of the powerful message of Iqbal for Muslims worldwide, Dr.Siddique spends long hours in educating young and old within the community, to understand the writings and the message of this remarkable poet-philosopher of modern times.
Dr. Siddique’s deep sense of religiosity and Islamic scholarship is evident in his dealings with both Muslims and non-Muslims. His Friday sermons at Northwestern where he volunteers as their resident khateeb, are heard with much attention and anticipation. As a senior staff faculty in the medical school, he always finds time to be available to listen and counsel students, when they approach him with problems either professional or personal.
In giving this award to Dr. Teepu Siddique, Compassionate Care Network recognizes and honors not only the dedicated research and pioneering work of a scientist whose work has resulted in breakthrough knowledge, but also whose commitment to learning and to the growth and development of the human spirit, has become an inspiration for all.
