However, due to his parents' financial condition, he decided to enter the medical faculty of the University of Indonesia (UI) in Salemba, Jakarta.

Upon receiving his undergraduate degree in February 1956,[5] Sujudi was sent by UI to study medicine at the Stanford University for a year.

He sent most of his staff, including future rector Usman Chatib Warsa [id] and researcher Pratiwi Sudarmono, to pursue postgraduate studies in Japan.

The university's academic senate, which consisted of UI professors and dean, nominated Sujudi and Harsya Bachtiar from the literature faculty to replace Mardjono.

Sujudi was mostly favored to become the new rector due to his position as well as support from the entirety of UI, including the literature faculty.

[8] Nugroho demoted Sujudi from the highly influential post of first deputy rector to the head of UI's research center in June 1984.

[12] Following his appointment as health minister in March 1993, Sujudi continued holding the rector's office, with the day-to-day running of the university being handed over to his deputy Muhammad Kamil Tadjudin.

Peter Sumariyoto, the last chairman of the UI student council before it was dissolved in 1982, was expelled by Nugroho after refusing to resign from his position.

[21] The forum finally accepted the minister's decree following a prolonged meeting with the university's authority and representatives from the department of education.

He held leading positions in academic organizations, such as the chairman of the Association of Indonesian Microbiologists and the education director of the Al-Azhar Foundation.

[28] His membership in ICMI led to his appointment by President Suharto as a member of the People's Consultative Assembly in early 1993 and as minister of health on 19 March 1993.

[2][9][29] On the new year's eve of 1994, Sujudi announced that the amount of certified AIDS sufferers in Indonesia has increased to more than four-fold.

[30] The health department began preventive measures to curtail the disease by establishing an agency to combat the spread of the virus and implementing mass-scale HIV/AIDS testing for social groups deemed as "high-risk".

[32][33] The month after the incident, Sujudi introduced mandatory regular HIV/AIDS checks for expatriates in Indonesia in order to prevent further spread of the disease.

[39] At the end of his term, in early 1998 Indonesia experienced a financial crisis which causes prices to skyrocket, including medical supplies.

Prior to his death, Sujudi was about to gave a speech in an event held at the hospital when he suddenly fell unconscious to the ground due to a heart attack.