Mr. Maqbool Ali, Father, small business owner, 1965, India

School in India

Masarrat, after 10th Grade, 1971

Masarrat Ali at his maternal grandfather’s Farm, 1973 (High School)

Ali speaking at the podium at Aligarh
 

Dr Ali at Univ. Paris, 1982
 

Mr. and Mrs. Ali standing for a picture




Ali children

Dr. Ali at LSU with colleague
 

Alpha Diagnostic Intl, a biotech company, founded in 1993 in San Antonio.  The new building is 30,000 Sq ft on 4-acre track.

Dr. Masarrat Ali is a father, scientist, businessman, and a community leader. He has given back to the community by establishing educational, religious, civic, and health care organizations. Now he is ready to serve at the public level by offering his lifetime of experience in order to help and to lead San Antonio and the state of Texas.  

He is blessed with a sincere, educated, and caring wife named Parveen. They've been married for 23 years and have lived in San Antonio for the last 17 years. Together, they have 3 grown, hard-working children who are each pursuing degrees in universities across Texas.

Born in the small town of Jhansi, India, Masarrat Ali is the oldest of 9 children. Though it was difficult living in a town where the electricity often went out and even candles were expensive, Masarrat and his family learned the value of appreciating what they had—family, commitment, and honesty.  

His parents saw early signs of active interest in studying. Masarrat became the first in the family to graduate from high school.  He was accepted at the Aligarh University, one of the most prestigious universities in India.  Aligarh University has continuous ties with the United States. The university has given an honorary degree to Mrs. Eleanor Roosevelt, and named their arts and cultural activities center after John F. Kennedy. 

Based upon high educational merits, Masarrat earned full financial assistance, relieving his simple family of paying for his schooling. He received a B.S. in pre-medicine, and soon after received an M.S. in Biochemistry as the highest ranked student in the program with a Gold Medal.  His studies on how genes regulate in healthy and cancerous cells earned him his Ph.D. in 1981 at the Central Drug Research Institute. Dr. Ali excelled in scientific research, publishing over 50 research papers in both American and British journals. 

It was his love of education that propelled him out of India in the first place. His flight to France was the first time the young doctor had ever seen an airplane on the ground. Dr. Ali was awarded a fellowship to continue studying in the hospital at the University of Paris, where he soon was appointed research assistant professor. Dr. Ali did so well in Europe that he attended training at the University College in London, England.  

His real desire was to go to the United States of America. In 1984, Dr. Ali was offered a post-doctoral fellowship at the Louisiana State University Medical Center in New Orleans. With only $20 in his pocket, he made the daring move to the U.S. with only a dream and a prayer. He spent ten years at LSU Medical Center and the Pennington Biomedical Research Center in Baton Rouge as a faculty research assistant professor. 

The rising concern of breast cancer inspired Dr. Ali to find a new research facility that would accommodate his needs and support his desire to pursue studies. He became a research scientist at the University of Texas Health Science Center in San Antonio.  

After years of medical research, Dr. Ali wanted to devote his life to find medical solutions to fight diseases that were causing harm to people all over the world. In San Antonio, he founded in 1993 and remains the CEO of Alpha Diagnostic Intl. (ADI). This international biotech company does research for some of the worst medical conditions affecting humanity, such as cancer, Alzheimer’s, obesity, diabetes, and to develop vaccines for malaria, Bird and Swine Flu. ADI also works with several military research institutions to fight bio-terrorism. 

After 17 years, ADI is regarded as one of the larger biotechnology companies not only in San Antonio, but also across Texas.  When a well-established, 15-year-old genetic engineering company started reporting losses in San Francisco, Dr. Ali acquired it and brought it to San Antonio.  Dr. Ali used his business skills to cut expenses and bring it to profitability within the first year of operation.   

Dr Ali is a firm believer of living within means.  His companies have never received financial assistance or subsidies from the city, the state or the federal government. Each company has never reported a business loss and have remained debt free to this day.  These 2 biotech companies owned by Dr. Ali have had a cumulative financial impact of $106 million in San Antonio’s economy during the last 10 years. 

His privately owned businesses excelled so well that the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) chose Dr. M. Ali as the 2004 Ronald Reagan Republican Gold Medal Award winner for outstanding leadership in business, and for displaying a commitment to President Reagan’s vision for an entrepreneurial America.  

Dr. Ali was always an active member of the Indian Asian community in Texas. Deciding the American political system could offer a hand in helping his community, he became more involved with the Texas Democratic Caucus. Dr. Ali was alarmed to note that a number of Asian Americans, as well as from other ethnic minority groups, are not even registered to vote. He became a vocal member to get many in Bexar County to get active in the political process who never did before.  Dr. Ali founded the Children’s Education and Civic Center in San Antonio, an organization to engage the community in civic affairs. 

Dr. Ali also served as president of the Federation of Aligarh Alumni of Associations from 2008 to 2009. These associations continue to promote academics and to distribute financial aid to the underprivileged children in India and the United States.  He also started an audio book digitization project to help blind students study.  He is a strong believer in education and is working with many organizations to promote higher education in America and abroad, particularly with underprivileged children.  

He was part of San Antonio’s Chamber of Commerce delegation in 2008 and 2010 to visit Washington and meet with U.S. Congressmen and Senators to lobby for the establishment of a bio-terrorism research institute in San Antonio to bring higher paying job opportunities.   

Dr. Ali has lived and worked in several countries and traveled extensively all over the world. He has a good command of over 5 languages. He has diverse interests in classical music, poetry, preservation of historical manuscripts, and comparative religious studies. He also participates in many sporting activities such as tennis, swimming, scuba diving, skiing, boating and fishing, chess, table tennis, and is a recreational aviator.