Dr. Firdausi Qadri

Dr. Firdausi Qadri, born on February 21, 1951, in Dhaka, Bangladesh, is a world-renowned immunologist and vaccine researcher who has dedicated her career to fighting infectious diseases. She is the Director of the Infectious Diseases and Immunology Division at the International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh (icddr,b). Dr. Qadri has made groundbreaking contributions to the development of oral cholera vaccines and has led research on typhoid, rotavirus, and other vaccine-preventable diseases. She was awarded the prestigious Christophe Mérieux Prize in 2012 and the African Union's Africa Prize for Innovation in 2019. In 2023, she received the L'Oréal-UNESCO Award for Women in Science. Her work has saved millions of lives across the developing world and she is considered one of the most important vaccine researchers from South Asia.