Ather Enam

Syed Ather Enam (born November 1961) is a Pakistani neuroscientist, a professor of neurosurgery at Aga Khan University, founding president of the Pakistan Society of Basic and Applied Neuroscience (PASBAN), founding president of the Pakistan Society of Neuro-Oncology (PASNO), and founder of the Pakistan Academy of Neurological Surgery (PANS).

Enam studied surgery before returning to Pakistan to develop a neurosurgery programme at the Aga Khan University. He has trained a new generation of surgeons for Pakistan.

Enam introduced a neurorobotics exoscope and neuronavigation system to treat the most complicated brain and central nervous system-related conditions. This machine provided advanced imaging facilities that enabled surgeons to see deeper into the brain. The detailed, 3D images of fibres inside the brain distinguished between safe and precarious areas that helped a surgeon decide the safest approach to reach the area affected by the brain tumour before starting the surgery.

The equipment facilitated Enam to perform the first awake craniotomy in Pakistan. It is a type of procedure performed on the brain while a patient is awake and alert.

Enam is involved in many clinical and basic science research projects and has published more than 300 manuscripts, chapters, abstracts, editorials, and articles. His primary focus is the promotion of neuroscience and neuro-oncology in Pakistan.

Enam is one of the editors of the book Surgical Education and Training in Pakistan: Creating a Model, which details how surgical training programmes can be improved in Pakistan and in other low-and-middle-income countries, based on learning from the surgical training programmes at Aga Khan University over the past four decades.

• 2017: Sitara-i-Imtiaz, Pakistan's one of the highest civilian award, for Enam's work in the field of medicine