Lieutenant General Malik Shaukat Hasan was director of surgery in the Pakistan Army and a pioneer of cardiothoracic surgery in his country. He was born on 12 May 1919 in Amritsar, India, the third son of a middle class Muslim cloth merchant; his paternal grandfather was from Kashmir and his maternal grandfather from Afghanistan. His father and two elder brothers continued in the family business but, being academically inclined, he chose medicine instead: he was the first in his family to go to university. He attended the prestigious King Edward Medical College in Lahore from 1936 to 1941, where he stood first amongst his Muslim classmates in his final year. After a house post in surgery at the Mayo Hospital, Lahore, he joined the British Indian Army in 1942 and faced the rigours of the Second World War at the Burmese Front. In 1947 he witnessed the horrors of the subcontinent’s Partition and mass migration, losing his father in the massacre. He finally found a prosperous haven in the newly created Pakistan as a military surgeon. He was selected for training abroad in the UK and, in 1950, won the Hallet prize at the Royal College of Surgeons of England, awarded to the candidate obtaining the highest marks in the first attempt at the primary FRCS examination. In 1951 he gained his FRCS and spent a further two years training in cardiothoracic surgery at Harefield Hospital, Middlesex. He then returned home and established the Pakistan Army’s first cardiothoracic unit in the old barracks at Rawalpindi Military Hospital, pioneering chest surgery in Pakistan. He set up an experimental theatre to practise procedures on stray animals before operating on humans. He had the distinction of becoming Pakistan’s first closed heart surgeon when he performed closed mitral valvotomies in the late 1950s. Celebrated as a titan in his field during his lifetime, not just for his indisputable professional expertise but also for the integral humanity, sincerity and humility that defined him, he treated all patients with the same meticulous care. He often asserted that he was a poor man’s doctor and was always willing to forego his fees for the improvident. Chest surgery was his special interest and forte, but his expertise extended to gastrointestinal, hepatobiliary, urogenital, vascular, orthopaedic, thyroid, breast, paediatric, plastic and reconstructive surgery. As a military surgeon, he was also adept at managing all levels of trauma. He passed on his skills to many sets of surgical trainees. A strong advocate of advancing postgraduate training facilities within the Pakistan Army, he was actively involved in the selection, training and supervision of the next generation of surgeons. He was an instructor in surgery at the Army Medical Corps School (which later became the Armed Forces Medical College) from 1953 until his retirement in 1979, with his students gaining distinction in their respective fields. As director of surgery, he enjoyed the privilege of heading many Army delegations on study tours abroad, particularly to the USA, UK and China, where they observed and benefited from the latest advancements. Deeply invested in advancing Pakistan’s medical institutions, he strove to optimise the specialist training of young doctors and promote budding talent. A founding member of the College of Physicians and Surgeons Pakistan, established in 1962, he often served as a part II examiner in surgery for the College. He was also instrumental in the formation of the Fauji Foundation Medical Centre in 1958, serving as a consultant surgeon there from its inauguration to the end of his working life. One of his former students, Masud Ahmed Cheema, wrote: ‘…Lt Gen Malik Shaukat Hasan…had the most refined and delicate touch in surgery. Besides teaching us exemplary surgical craft, he willed us to embody a healing personality that combines courageous clinical decision making with profound empathy, compassion and respect towards patients.’ Surgery was his over-riding passion, but his interests were multidimensional. A voracious reader, he avidly consumed volumes of world, political and military history, classic and modern literature, biographies, philosophy, Urdu poetry and fairy tales for his kids. He loved movies, TV dramas, live sports, music, art, bridge, chess and travel. Strong and athletic, he enjoyed sports, including tennis, cricket, swimming, volleyball and trout fishing. Despite a tendency towards introspection, he was an ebullient society man and a loving family member. He married a doctor, Shamim Hasan, in 1959 and had six children, four of whom chose to study medicine. Intensely religious without making a public show of his piety or belief, he had a profound knowledge of the Quran. His calm and tolerant temperament was acquired after much reflection, self-discipline and perseverance. He espoused a code of truth and honesty above all, a standard he upheld throughout life. Malik Shaukat Hasan died on 31 May 2014 in Rawalpindi aged 95. His long life took in a rich spectrum of experiences – from growing up amidst the burgeoning Indian freedom movement, enjoying student days in the cultural vitality of historic Lahore, to witnessing the horrors of the subcontinent’s Partition and playing a pioneering role in the growth of his new homeland, Pakistan. His formidable intelligence, indomitable spirit and infinite learning capacity made him the man he was – thoughtful, focused, patient, compassionate and persevering. These qualities enabled him to garner many honours in his rise to the top of his profession as a military surgeon and spearhead a wave of surgical innovation that gained him universal renown.