Gold-Headed Cane Award Recipient
M. Ebadat Ali, MD
“I knew from a very young age that I wanted to be a physician,”
shares M. Ebadat Ali, MD. He smiles, remembering his childhood
in India. “Starting when I was five, maybe six, my family began
calling me ‘The Doctor.’” As a pulmonologist who practiced
in Fort Worth for over 45 years throughout a career that
spanned over five decades, Dr. Ali found that it
turned out to be an accurate description.
October 2019 I Tarrant County Physician I 17
by Allison Howard
D during the monsoon season and the boat
rocked wildly, which led to a very difficult
journey.
When Dr. Ali at last arrived in Pakistan,
ill from his trip and with only 800 rupees
(approximately 11 dollars) hidden in the
sole of his shoe and a small pack of
belongings, he waited for his friend, who
was supposed to meet him at the port.
He waited one hour, then two. Then four.
“I have never been so discouraged as I
was at that point. Friendless, without the
support of my family and with no job, I
felt completely alone,” remembers Dr.
Ali. He shakes his head. “But I was not.
God was with me. I have faced many
sad and difficult circumstances in my life,
but God has saved me many times. He
has given me miracles. This was one of
those times.” Desperately trying to come
up with a plan, Dr. Ali remembered that
a friend’s brother was a medical school
student in a nearby town. Without a
name or an address, he set out to find
this man, and surprisingly, he was able to
do so that very same day. Soon, with the
support of his new friends, he once again
enrolled in medical school. As there was
no loan system available in Pakistan, Dr.
Ali obtained income for tuition by using
his artistic talents, selling drawings to
newspapers and print publications. He
also eventually got commissions to paint
portraits of some well-known individuals
in the area. At this same time, he also
held jobs as a science teacher and tutor
at a local institution. Dr. Ali did all of this
while he continued to attend medical
school. This left him with little time to
sleep or rest, and by the time he reached
his third year of medical school, things
took a turn for the worse.
Dr. Ali became acutely ill with hepatitis A
due to contaminated food. He became
jaundiced and his condition deteriorated
rapidly. He eventually fell into a coma, and
the prognosis was grim. “By the grace
of God, though, I made it,” he says. Still
weak and having missed several weeks
of school, Dr. Ali worked desperately to
catch up. He had worked so hard to get
to this point; he couldn’t give up now.
Finally, he graduated from medical
school and returned to India for a short
time, where he met and married his wife,
Shameem. At that point, he was getting
ready to begin his residency in Pakistan
and had limited income, so she stayed
with her family in India while he began the
last stage of his education.
Dr. Ali began an Internal Medicine
residency in Pakistan and then, when
the opportunity arrived, he moved
to England, where he continued his
training at Cambridge Hospital and
South Hampton University Hospital.
Shameem was able to reunite with her
husband, and the family would spend
r. Ali’s road to medical
school was far from
easy. At the young
age of 14 his father
passed away, and
Dr. Ali soon realized
that he would have to work hard and be
patient to come up with the funds for
medical school. By the time he was 18,
he had also lost his mother. Discouraged
but not daunted, he continued with his
schooling and graduated with a Bachelor
of Science from Osmania University
in Hyderabad, India. Dr. Ali was soon
accepted into a local medical school,
but his financial situation did not allow
him to keep up with the required tuition.
Disheartened, Dr. Ali dropped out of
school for a time, instead getting a
government position in the agricultural
department. He worked hard and was
successful at his job, but he still dreamed
of a time when he could complete
medical school.
“I wanted to help others. There was
nothing for me besides being a doctor.
I knew I needed to get there, but I just
wasn’t sure how,” says Dr. Ali. He spoke
with a friend who had moved to Pakistan
and said Dr. Ali should come there to
look for work. Having few attachments in
India, Dr. Ali decided to make the move.
Because he had limited money, he went
by cargo ship rather than plane. It was
Gold-Headed Cane continued on page 18 ☛