Congratulations, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa! A Teacher’s Pride
A proud moment for Dr. Shah Khalid, an accomplished neurosurgeon and neuro-oncology trainee of Aga Khan University (AKU), who has been awarded the Sitara-e-Imtiaz at a remarkably young age for his contributions to brain tumor surgery and awake craniotomy.
The achievement carries a special significance for his mentor, who introduced awake craniotomy in Pakistan in 2015 and has watched Dr. Khalid build upon that foundation to advance specialized neurosurgical care in northern Pakistan.
After completing his training in brain tumor surgery at AKU, Dr. Khalid dedicated himself to developing and advancing complex brain tumor surgery and awake craniotomy services in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa—bringing specialized care to a region where such expertise has historically been concentrated in major cities.
Dr. Khalid is part of a remarkable community of AKU-trained neurosurgeons serving Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, including Dr. Naveed Zaman at Rehman Medical Institute, Dr. Bilal Afridi at Lady Reading Hospital, and Dr. Sarmad Bukhari, who recently returned from Harvard to Peshawar.
Their journey reflects a much larger contribution by AKU-trained neurosurgeons across Pakistan. From Karachi and Lahore to Islamabad, Quetta, Gilgit, Gambat, and Peshawar, they are establishing services, performing complex neurosurgical procedures, promoting evidence-based practice, training younger colleagues, and expanding access to specialized neurosurgical care.
The true measure of a training program is not simply the surgeons it produces, but the lives, institutions, and communities those surgeons go on to transform.
A teacher’s greatest reward is seeing a trainee build upon what they have learned and accomplish far more than their teacher could have imagined.
Congratulations, Dr. Shah Khalid, on this well-deserved honor.
And congratulations, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The future of neurosurgery in the province is exceptionally bright.
