Dr. Mahabub Hossain, Distinguished Professor and Chairperson of the Economics and Social Sciences Department at BRAC University, passed away at Cleveland Clinic, USA, on 3 January, 2016 (around 2:00 AM Bangladesh time). He was 71 years old at the time of his death. Dr. Mahabub Hossain was extremely modest and sincere and had a stimulating personality. He was immensely loved and respected. His novel and pro-active work in agricultural economics and rural development is greatly appreciated by both academia and practitioners worldwide and has had a pivotal impact on Bangladesh’s development.
Dr. Mahabub Hossain, immediate past Executive Director of BRAC, joined BRAC University as a Distinguished Professor and Chairperson of Department of Economics and Social Sciences on June 1, 2015.
Dr. Hossain joined as Executive Director of BRAC in June 2007. Prior to joining BRAC, he was Head of the Social Sciences Division at the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI), Philippines, and coordinator of the Consortium for Unfavorable Rice Environments (CURE) in Asia. Dr. Hossain, trained in development economics at the University of Cambridge, UK, and has made substantial contributions to research on development economics and agricultural policy in South and Southeast Asia. Dr. Hossain began his career in 1970, as a staff economist at the Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies (BIDS, former PIDE) and rose through the ranks to become its Director General from 1988 to 1991. He also worked as a visiting scientist at the Institute of Developing Economies in Tokyo (1981), the International Food Policy Research Institute, Washington DC (1985-87), and the Overseas Development Institute, London (1990).