April
30, 1998
								Contact:
Ida Lee Wootten
									  (804)
924-6857

STUDENT FEELS UNIVERSITY HAS NOT JUST GIVEN HIM ANSWERS;
MORE IMPORTANTLY, IT HAS GIVEN HIM QUESTIONS

	Shaharyar M. Khan thinks about thinking.  He puzzles over the
thought process itself and delves into each thought.  Thinking is his
passion.
	Soon to graduate with a B.A. in philosophy with honors from the
University of Virginia, Khan has engaged in deep thought with the best
of them: his thesis advisor is the renowned philosopher Richard Rorty.  	
	Khan's love for puzzling over life's hidden meanings has also
given him a deep sense of commitment.  Named at age 21 a Parkinson's
Disease Foundation Research Fellow, Khan conducts research at U.Va.'s
Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases with Dr. James P. Bennett Jr.,
professor of neurology and psychiatric research.
	Author or co-author of four research articles to date (two in
press in national publications), Khan investigates possible causes of
side effects of therapy used to treat Parkinson's.  He is also part of a
team investigating the prevalent theories of the disease's causes.  The
research has so engaged Khan that he plans on postponing medical school
for at least a year so that he continue his research with Bennett.
	"I want to study what changes occur during therapy, so we can
fine-tune the therapy as needed and help sufferers," said Khan. 
	"Shaharyar Khan epitomizes the desirable combination of
rationality, logical thinking and ethical character gained through the
hard work of a philosophical education, mixed with curiosity about the
natural world and tenacity to see the problems through," said Bennett. 
	Khan eventually plans on earning both an M.D. and a Ph.D.
because he wants to combine practicing medicine with a carefully
thought-out philosophy.  "I want to think of how best to interact with
patients and what this means in terms of care and healing," he said.
	That sense of caring prompted him to co-found Students for Human
Rights, an organization that fosters awareness of human rights
violations in such areas as Rwanda, Bosnia and Palestine.  
	He's also served as a volunteer in several Madison House
programs at U.Va..  He has 
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been an emergency room patient representative and has volunteered on the
epilepsy unit and at the General Clinical Research Center.  
	He has also served in leadership positions at the Muslim
Students Association.  He sees all of these activities as parts of a
whole -- parts of his determination to understand thought.
	"It's an exploration of thought with relevant social concerns.
It's a very private search, but could have very public meaning," said
Khan, the son of Khizer and Ghazala Khan of Centreville.
	His thinking has been spurred in part by his family's move from
Pakistan when he was five.  "My parents were seeking freedom -- not just
economic freedom, but freedom from oppression," said Kahn, who also has
a younger brother in Army ROTC at U.Va.  
	"I think about what it means to be an American and a Muslim.
There is a conversation [in my head] between my understanding of Islam
and the ideas discussed in the University community, creating a hybrid
of thinking.  I see myself as an American who holds ideals of freedom,
and I'm a Muslim with ideals of social justice.  I think about what it
means to care in a general culture of apathy," he said.
	Khan's passion for thinking started at age 9 after he read
Plato's "The Republic."  "I immediately started thinking, 'what is
thinking?' 'why do we think?'"
	He feels lucky to have been chosen a Jefferson Scholar and an
Echols Scholar and to have had the freedom to explore thought through
the honors philosophy program.  
	"The University has left a legacy in my life that pales in
comparison to anything I could leave behind.  I will spend my life in
search of answers to questions that have been raised through my
University experience," Khan reflected.
						###
	For more information, he can be reached at (804) 243-2369 or via
smk5r@virginia.edu.  Television reporters should contact the TV News
Office at (804) 924-7550.
	









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