The body of a man missing in waters off the Gold Coast has been found.
Police said 35-year-old Luqman Jubair went into the water at Miami on Thursday night after being alerted by a fisherman that a man was in trouble.
He was one of several members of the public who went to the man's aid but he himself was dragged out to sea.
An extensive land, air and water search failed to find him. Members of the public found his body off Mermaid Beach in the early hours of Saturday morning.
Dr Jubair in 2014 fled from Iraq, where he was a qualified doctor, and requalified in Australia, where he was a cancer researcher at Griffith University.
Nigel McMillan worked with Dr Jubair at Griffith and spoke to ABC Radio Gold Coast about their time together.
"Luqman was a great colleague, a friend, a dedicated scientist. He's someone who came from a pretty harsh background — from Iraq, and came to Australia for opportunity. Very talented, medically qualified. He'll be someone that we'll sorely miss," Dr McMillan said.
"We're shocked obviously, to hear the news, but in some ways not surprised that he went into the surf to do that particular rescue. It's the sort of person he was, an incredibly, singularly brave act."
Dr McMillan said Dr Jubair was working on a gene-editing technology called CRISPR, to be used in the fight against cancer, however, his achievements overshadowed by the pandemic.
"His work was actually the very first in the world to show that CRISPR could be used to actually cure cancer, to completely eliminate it and he did this in animals," he said.
"We published that work just at the end of 2019 and we all know what happened after that. I think a lot of the sort of publicity and glory in the life that perhaps he would have got from that work was a bit stifled by COVID.
"He then went back to medical studies from there and he was actually working in the COVID Ward at Gold Coast University Hospital this year.
"In the end, while he made very significant discoveries in his PhD. I think his best work was probably ahead of him in terms of the things he would have done in the future so it's a loss for humanity."
Griffith University said they were "incredibly shocked and deeply saddened" by Dr Jubair's death.
"His real passion was to help others in medical oncology through cancer research," a university the spokesman said in a statement.
"We are grieving the loss of such a talented and selfless humanitarian who throughout his life always placed others before himself."
Gold Coast Health said in a statement Dr Jubair had recently joined the health service as a registrar.
It is understood he had been working in Mildura before coming to the Gold Coast.
"It was with great sadness that we heard of the tragic passing of our colleague," a spokeswoman said.
"Gold Coast Health recently welcomed Dr Jubair as a registrar and much-valued member of the health service.
"We offer our heartfelt sympathies and condolences to Dr Jubair's family, friends and healthcare colleagues."
Queensland's Chief Health Officer John Gerrard said he didn't know Dr Jubair personally but said his death was a "terrible tragedy".
"I can't imagine what his family must be going through at the moment," Dr Gerrard said
"[He was] an amazing young man.
"He was, I understand he was very well liked by his colleagues, a very competent doctor.
"A real hero."
In the statement, Gold Coast Health said the service was "focused on ensuring staff who knew Dr Jubair are supported at this difficult time".
Police will prepare a report for the coroner.
