Padma Bhushan Dr. R. Ahmed

Rafiuddin Ahmed (24 December 1890 - 9 February 1965) was an Indian dentist, educator and later minister in the West Bengal cabinet, who founded the first dental college of India. He established the Indian Dental Journal in 1925, and played a key role in founding the Bengal Dentist Act in 1939. In 1920, with funding from the New York Soda Fountain, he founded the first dental college of India, "Dr. R. Ahmed Dental College and Hospital", where he remained its Principal until 1950. For the first three years, it had 11 students, one of whom was Fatima Jinnah, a future founder of Pakistan. In 1925, he established the Indian Dental Journal and served as its editor until 1946. By 1928, the college was established as an organized institution for the education of dental studies. In that year, he published the first student's handbook on Operative Dentistry.

In 1946, he established The Bengal Dental Association which was then renamed as the Indian Dental Association. He served three terms as the President of the Indian Dental Association. In 1949, the College joined the University of Calcutta. That same year, he bestowed his College to the West Bengal government and named it Calcutta Dental College. Ahmed received a Fellowship from the International College of Dentists in 1947, and the Royal College of Surgeons of England and the Pierre Fauchard Academy in 1949. In 1964, he became the first Indian dentist to be awarded the Padma Bhushan, the third highest civilian award of the republic of India.