For the first time a Pakistani women, Asifa Akhtar, has become the Vice President of the prestigious “Max Planck Society” research institute in Germany.
Pakistan-born scientist Asifa Akhtar has become the first international female vice president of the biology and medicine section at one of the world’s leading research institute. The institute which was established in 1948 and is responsible for producing 18 Nobel laureates.
Ms Akhtar will be serving as in charge of the institutes of the mentioned sections and will also be the contact person for the Max Planck Schools.
Akhtar, on the society’s website, says, “My heart beats for the young scientists.”
During an interview, she told the society that “Academic science is a beautiful example of integration because you have people from all over the world exchanging knowledge beyond boundaries, cultures or prejudice.”
Akhtar aims to address prevalent issues of the society as well, “Gender equality needs to be worked on continuously. There are outstanding women in science, and we should make all the efforts and use our resources to win them for the Max Planck Society,” she said.
“If we want women to progress in science, we need to enable practical solutions such as childcare and time-sharing or home office options,” she added.
Asifa is the first biologist to have achieved the honor of being a vice president. She was born in Karachi, Pakistan, in the year 1971.
She then moved to Germany, where she was a Postdoctoral fellow at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) in Heidelberg and the Adolf-Butenandt-Institute in Munich from 1998 to 2001.
Ms Akhtar was awarded the Early Career European Life Science Organisation Award in 2008, EMBO membership in 2013, and the Feldberg Prize in 2017. She was also elected as a member of the National Academy of Science Leopoldina in 2019.
Pakistan is proud on this achievement and congratulated her on twitter:
Pakistani Scientist Becomes First Woman to Lead a Section at International Max Planck Society. #AsifaAkhtar has been appointed as the first international female Vice President of the Biology and Medicine Section in the Max Society, most successful scientific institution, Germany pic.twitter.com/QHmEMeVoux
— Iqra Naseer (@iqraqazi7) July 15, 2020
Karachi, Pakistan-born scientist #AsifaAkhtar has become the first international female vice president of the #biology and medicine section at Germany’s prestigious #MaxPlanckSociety #womanpower #Pakistan #talent pic.twitter.com/CUtGVEkOUl
— آکاش (@AAKASHPUNHANI) July 16, 2020
Pakistan-born scientist becomes first woman to head section at renowned body https://t.co/doUooonHSX
— Mubashir Zaidi (@Xadeejournalist) July 15, 2020
1st Int'l female VP of MaxPlanck Germany Asifa Akhtar. You are r Pride You are t Star
Thank you for being from Us!— Rafiuz Zaman Siddiqui (@RafiuzZamanSidd) July 16, 2020
Foreigners are also ecstatic on such an achievement:
Congratulations @AsifaAkhtar1, on becoming 1st international female vice president of biology&medicine section of prestigious #German Max Planck Society! 18 Nobel laureates are among its ranks! Glad to see a talented scientist from #Pakistan contributing to progress of science! https://t.co/a6Gx4AOrN3
— Bernhard Schlagheck (@GermanyinPAK) July 16, 2020
The institute also congratulated her:
MPFI sends a warm Florida welcome to Asifa Akhtar, our new vice president for the biology medicine section at @maxplanckpress We look forward to working with you! https://t.co/ZlUc7rVz55
— Max Planck Florida Institute for Neuroscience (@MPFNeuro) July 14, 2020
We also wish our heartiest congratulations to the young scientist and wish her successful strides in the field of science.
