He is a professor at the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology of University of Dhaka and a member of the Standing Committee of the Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal.
Mohiuddin who began his career as an apprentice of the British Railway was serving as station master of Juri when Anwar was born.
In 1982 Anwar was awarded a Monbukagakusho Scholarship with which he pursued doctoral studies at Kyoto University, Japan under the supervision of Kozi Asada.
Hossain was elected as Dean of the Biological Sciences and the Founding Project Director of Dhaka University's Department of Biotechnology and Genetic Engineering.
He has, in the past, served as the elected General Secretary and President of the Dhaka University Teachers' Association (DUTA) for multiple terms.
[22] After his PhD he returned to Bangladesh for 2–3 years, and then again went to Kyoto Prefectural University as a part of a Biotechnology Career Fellowship Program (1987–1990).