Dr Firdausi Qadri, a Bangladeshi scientist, has won this year's Ramon Magsaysay Award for being instrumental 'in developing vaccines that have saved millions of lives'.
The emeritus scientist at the International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research (icddr,b) specialises in immunology and infectious disease research.
The award, also widely considered the Nobel Prize equivalent in Asia, is the highest honour awarded in the region.
Amzad Sadik of Pakistan and Steven Mansi of South-East Asia are the other two recipients of the award.
Dr Firdausi Qadri is a founder and a member of the Board of Advisory of the Bangladesh Society of Microbiologists. She is also the International Ambassador for the American Society for Microbiology Bangladesh and a fellow of the Bangladesh Academy of Sciences since 2008.
The scientist received the L'Oréal-UNESCO For Women in Science Awards in 2020 for her research on understanding and preventing infectious diseases that affect children in developing countries, as well as for advocating for early diagnosis and global vaccination.
