Anita Zaidi

Anita Kaniz Mehdi Zaidi (born 1964) is a Pakistani physician and the Director of Vaccine Development at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. She has previously served as Professor of Paediatrics and Child Health at the Aga Khan University.

Anita Zaidi
Born1964
Pakistan
Alma materAga Khan University
Duke University
Scientific career
InstitutionsAga Khan University
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

Early life and education

Zaidi was born in the United Kingdom. Her mother is a paediatrician and her father was an anesthesiologist.[1][2] Her father was appointed the national physician of the Pakistan men's national field hockey team, and Zaidi would often accompany him on their tours.[2] Whilst visiting a cousin in the United Kingdom Zaidi became interested in the microbiology and applied to work in a clinical commercial laboratory.[2] Zaidi eventually studied medicine at Aga Khan University and earned her Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery in 1988.[3] During her degree she enjoyed her courses in community health and spent time working in the Pakistan’s urban squatter settlements (katchi abadis).[2] She has spoken about Claire Panosian Dunavan, a Visiting Professor from University of California, Los Angeles, being one of her inspirations.[2] Zaidi was one of the first cohorts of medical students to graduate Aga Khan and was the inaugural winner of the Best Medical Graduate Award.[1][4][5] After graduating she worked on a United States Agency for International Development program in remote northern Pakistani territories (now Gilgit-Baltistan), which inspired her to dedicate her career to global public health.[1][5] Her project involved establishing a community surveillance program for diarrhoeal disease and to identify what infrastructure the Aga Khan Health Services needs to implement to improve healthcare.[2] She completed her residency training in paediatrics at Duke University and also undertook medical microbiology at Duke University. She took specialist training in paediatric infectious diseases at Boston Children's Hospital. Zaidi earned a Masters in Tropical Public Health at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health in 1999.[6]

Research and career

In 2002, after completing her specialist training, Zaidi returned to Pakistan. She was one of the youngest faculty members to be promoted to full Professor when she became Chair of the Department of Paediatrics and Child Health at Aga Khan University. In 2011 she was awarded an endowed position; the Ruby and Karim Bahudar Ali Jessani Professor and Chair.[7] At Aga Khan University Zaidi established a state-of-the-art laboratory that investigates paediatric infectious diseases.[5] Zaidi is the only woman from the developing world to contribute a chapter to Nelson Textbook of Paediatrics.[5]

Zaidi was the first recipient of the Caplow's Children's Prize for her work supporting poverty-stricken communities in Karachi in 2013.[6][8] She used the prize to reduce neonatal deaths in Rehri Goth. Her efforts focussed on eliminating malnutrition, improving access to healthcare and vaccinations and training for community health professionals.[6][9] She developed programs that supported mother and child health before, during and after children were born. Zaidi estimated that the program would reduce child mortality by 65%, saving the lives of 200 children over two years.[4]

In 2014 Zaidi was shortlisted for physician of the year by Medscape. She is Director of the Vaccine Development, Surveillance, and Enteric and Diarrhoea Diseases programs and co-Director of the Maternal, Newborn & Child Health Discovery & Tools programs at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.[10][11] In this capacity Zaidi supports the development of new vaccinations to protect communities around the world.[12]

Zaidi uses social media to share her work in public health using the Twitter handle @AnitaEDD. She has written for The Conversation, the Skoll Foundation,[13] Project Syndicate[14] and HuffPost.[15]

Selected publications

Her publications include;

  • Zaidi, Anita K. M. (2005-04-01). "Hospital-acquired neonatal infections in developing countries". The Lancet. 365 (9465): 1175–1188. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(05)71881-X. PMID 15794973.
  • Zaidi, Anita K. M. (2009). "Pathogens Associated with Sepsis in Newborns and Young Infants in Developing Countries". The Pediatric Infectious Disease Journal. 28: S10–S18. doi:10.1097/INF.0b013e3181958769. PMID 19106757.
  • Zaidi, Anita K. M. (2004). "Burden of infectious diseases in South Asia". British Medical Journal. 328 (7443): 811–815. doi:10.1136/bmj.328.7443.811. PMC 383379. PMID 15070639.

Personal life

Zaidi is married with a daughter and a son.[2]

References
  1. Mushtaq, Ammara (2013-06-22). "Anita Zaidi: promoting newborn and child health in Pakistan". The Lancet. 381 (9884): 2156. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(13)61427-0. ISSN 0140-6736. PMID 23791335.
  2. Syed, Sana (2016-12-06). "A Conversation with Anita Zaidi — A Discussion of Global Child Health, Empowering Women and…". Medium. Retrieved 2019-12-14.
  3. AKU Alumni - Dr Anita Zaidi, retrieved 2019-12-13
  4. "Alumni News and Features". alumni.sph.harvard.edu. Retrieved 2019-12-13.
  5. "Award of Excellence in Research | Convocation 2013, Pakistan | The Aga Khan University". www.aku.edu. Retrieved 2019-12-14.
  6. Boston, 677 Huntington Avenue; Ma 02115 +1495‑1000 (2014-01-09). "Alumna Anita Zaidi awarded $1 million to save children's lives in Pakistan village". News. Retrieved 2019-12-13.
  7. "Anita Zaidi". Women Leaders in Global Health. Retrieved 2019-12-13.
  8. "Making a real difference: A Q&A with Dr. Anita Zaidi (part 1) – The Children's Prize". Retrieved 2019-12-14.
  9. "Infectious Diseases & Child Health in Pakistan Research Training Program - Fogarty International Center @ NIH". www.fic.nih.gov. Retrieved 2019-12-14.
  10. "Demystifying the Gates Foundation". LSHTM. Retrieved 2019-12-14.
  11. "Anita Zaidi". Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Retrieved 2019-12-13.
  12. Seattle PAP – Interview with Anita Zaidi from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, retrieved 2019-12-13
  13. "Skoll | Anita Zaidi". Retrieved 2019-12-14.
  14. "Anita Zaidi". Project Syndicate. Retrieved 2019-12-13.
  15. "Anita Zaidi | HuffPost". www.huffpost.com. Retrieved 2019-12-13.
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