Saulat Jahan was professor of surgery at the Fatima Jinnah Medical College for Women and a consultant surgeon at the Sir Ganga Ram Hospital, Lahore, Pakistan, where she was known for her care of the sick, poor and destitute. She was born and raised in Delhi and gained her MB BS degree from Lady Hardinge College of Women, New Delhi. In England she gained her diploma from the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists and her fellowship of the Royal College of Surgeons. She was a surgical intern to McNeil Love. She married Mirza Mahmud Shah in 1934, who died just a year after their marriage. She later married Richard Pankhurst, but they divorced. She had one child, a daughter. She died on 18 November 2001 and was buried in Calgary, Canada.