Senior Scientist & Head of Mucosal Immunology & Vaccinology Unit, IDD
International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh, Bangladesh
Disclosure(s): No financial relationships to disclose
DR FIRDAUSI QADRI
Position : Senior Scientist and Head, Mucosal Immunology and Vaccinology Unit, Infectious Diseases Division
EDUCATION/TRAINING
Institution and Location Degree Completion Year Field of Study
University of Dhaka, Bangladesh BS 1975 Biochemistry and Mol. Biology
University of Dhaka, Bangladesh Masters 1977 Biochemistry and Mol. Biology
University of Liverpool, U.K. PhD 1980 Biochemistry/Immunology
Personal Statement
Firdausi Qadri, Senior Scientist and Head, Mucosal Immunology and Vaccinology Unit, Infectious Diseases Division at the icddr,b in Dhaka, Bangladesh. An immunologist with interest in vaccines and natural infection, her work has involved the planning, implementation and setting up of research priorities in the field of vaccines and infectious diseases relevant to Bangladesh and globally to meet MDG and SDG goals. Her interests involve laboratory, clinical and field implementation of vaccines with enteric vaccines being the major field of experience. Using immunological, molecular biological and high throughput genomic and proteomic studies, the team within her unit work on natural infections and vaccine related responses. Special interests include pathogenesis and vaccine studies related to V. cholerae, ETEC, Salmonella spp, Helicobacter pylori and Hepatitis E Virus.
Over the last decade she has been leading the largest field studies in over 3.2 million doses of an oral cholera vaccine in urban slums as well as in Rohingya population in Cox’s Bazar in Bangladesh so as to pave the way forward for introducing cholera vaccine in high risk people in the country, in humanitarian crisis and in the near future in the region and globally. She is leading large field trials of the typhoid conjugate vaccine in Bangladesh in children.
Currently, extensive work is going on in mucosal immunology and vaccinology laboratory on novel coronavirus. Seroprevalence of COVID-19, genomic epidemiology of SARS-CoV-2 in Bangladesh and in-depth longitudinal immunological analyses has been planned for Bangladesh that is being carried out in the laboratory.
Dr Qadri has received numerous awards for her achievements in the field of natural infections and vaccines. These include the Gold Medal for outstanding research in Biological Sciences from the Bangladesh Academy of Science, Moselio Schaechter Award for scientific achievement by the American Society for Microbiology (ASM), Christophe & Rodolphe Mérieux Foundation Prize, French Academy of Sciences, Prof. C.N.R. Rao Prize for contribution to scientific research from TWAS, in 2019 the Kazi Mahbubullah Award by local philanthropic, L’Oréal-UNESCO for Women in Science International Awards for outstanding research in vaccines and infectious work. She has been elected fellow of many societies including ASM, AAM, TWAS, IDSA, BAS, INSA and serves on advisory boards including the ISDB science, biotechnology and innovation board. Recently, Bill Gates calls Dr Firdausi Qadri a hero in the field and fight against the world’s longest running pandemic cholera.
Positions
1981-1988 Assistant & Associate Professor- Department of Biochemistry, University of Dhaka
1988-1993 Associate Scientist - Immunology Section, Laboratory Sciences Division, icddr,b
1993-1995 Scientist, and Head Immunology Section- Laboratory Sciences Division, icddr,b
1996- Senior Scientist, Head Immunology Section- Laboratory Sciences Division, icddr,b
2002- International Scientist, icddr,b, promoted to P-5 level
2011-2015 Director- Centre for Vaccine Sciences, icddr,b
2015-2018 Senior Director - Infectious Diseases Division, icddr,b
2018 Senior Scientist - Infectious Diseases Division, icddr,b
Memberships
2008- Member of the scientific advisory board- Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University, Bangladesh
2007- Adjunct Professor, Department of Mathematics and Natural Sciences, Biotechnology Unit, BRAC University
2005- Site Director and mentor for Fogarty Clinical Research Scholars
2005- Mentor for infectious disease fellows and students including those from Harvard Medical School, Tufts University, and University of
Gothenburg.
2003 2008 Member, Steering Committee on Diarrhoeal Disease Vaccines, World Health Organization, WHO Geneva
2000- Senior Associate, Department of International Health, Bloomberg School of Public Health
1999- Member, Animal Experimentation Ethics Committee, icddr,b
1990- External Examiner, BSc, MSc and PhD courses. Department of Biochemistry, Microbiology, Dhaka, University. Supervisor of MSc,
PhD students, research fellows from home and abroad.
2009-2012 Member of the Government of Bangladesh team to the World Health Organization as
advisor on cholera in Executive Board Meeting and the World Health Assembly
2009- Member of GLaDNet, CHOLDINet on cholera and other diarrheal illness.
2009- US Panel member of US-Japan Cooperative Medical Science Program on ‘Cholera and other Bacterial Enteric Infections
2009- Member of Committee and Technical Committee on Drug Administration, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of
Bangladesh
2010- Member of Bangladesh Medical Research Council and its Ethical Review Committee
2010- Member, Technical Committee of the Bangladesh Drug Administration Directorate
2011- Advisory Group Member of WHO Global Action Plan (GAP) for influenza vaccines
2011- Member of the Coalition against Typhoid (CAT)
2012- Member of the advisory group on Coalition for Cholera Prevention and Control (CCPC)
2012- Member of the Committee of Action for Research, Extension and Services (CARES)
2012 Member of Initiative against Diarrheal and Enteric diseases in Asia.
2013 Honorary International Fellow of ASTMH.
2013 Member of Global Task force on Cholera Control (GFTCC)
2014 Member, Clinical Trail coordinating Committee of the Bangladesh Drug Administration
2014 Steering Committee Member of the GABRIEL Network, Fondation Mérieux
2015 Member of the SAGE Working Group on oral cholera vaccine to WHO.
2016 - 21 SAGE Member advisory panel of the World Health Organization (WHO)
2016 Member of the National Technical Committee on Bio-Technology of MoST.
2016 Fellow of Indian National Science Academy
2017 National task Force Committee (NTFC) for Laboratory Containment of Poliovirus, Bangladesh
2017 Member of the Animal Experimentation Ethical review Committee ( AEERC) of DU
2017 Committee of Control and Prevention of Food and Water born diseases of DGHS
2017 Vaccine Investment Strategy Steering Committee of GAVI
2017 National Committee for Thalasamia Control and Prevention core Group, of DGHS, Bangladesh
2017 One Health Bangladesh
2017 Scientific Advisory Committee of Vaccines Against Shigella and ETEC (VASE)
2018 National Committee for Immunization Practices (NCIP) of MoH&FW
2018 Member of the IsDB Scientific Advisory Board
2018 South-East Asia Regional Immunization Technical Advisory Group (SEAR-ITAG)
2018 Chairman, 15th Asian Conference on Diarrhoeal Disease & Nutrition (ASCODD)
2019 Foreign Fellow of the National Academy of Sciences, India (NASI), Allahabad, India
2020 Member of “Expert Committee for Chemistry & Manufacturing of Vaccines and Bio- Products" DGDA
2021 Executive Committee member of HerStory Foundation
2021 Steering Committee Member - Global Typhoid Genomics Consortium
2021 Member of 2021-2022 TWAS Advisory Committee on Covid-19
Honours
2006 Fellow, Infectious Diseases Society of America (FIDSA), USA
2010 Fellow of the Bangladesh Academy of Sciences (BAS)
2012- ASM Country Ambassador for Bangladesh
2012 Elected Fellow of the Academy of Developing world (TWAS)
2014 Fellow of American Academy of Microbiology
2014- Member of the UN Secretary-General's High-level Panel on Technology Bank for the Least Developed Countries (LDCs)
2015 Adjunct Professor, Bangladesh University of Health Sciences
Awards
2006 Gold Medal for outstanding research in Biological Sciences for 2006 by the Bangladesh Academy of Science
2011 Moselio Schaechter Award for scientific achievement by the American Society for Microbiology (ASM)
2012 Christophe & Rodolphe Mérieux Foundation Prize, French Academy of Sciences
2013 Prof. C.N.R. Rao Prize for contribution to scientific research from TWAS
2019 Kazi Mahbubullah Award by local philanthropic of Bangladesh for outstanding research in vaccines and infectious work
2019 Rtv Joya Alokito Nari, 2019
2020 L'Oréal - UNESCO International Awards 2020 for Women in Science International Awards
2020 Bill Gates announce Dr Firdausi Qadri a hero in the field against the world’s longest running pandemic (cholera)
Publications : 490 Publications in peer reviewed journal of high impact (Web of Science). Some selected list below:
1. Firdausi Qadri, Farhana Khanam, Xinxue Liu, Katherine Theiss-Nyland, Prasanta Kumar Biswas, Amirul Islam Bhuiyan, Faisal Ahmmed, Rachel Colin-Jones, Nicola Smith, Susan Tonks, Merryn Voysey, Yama F Mujadidi, Olga Mazur, Nazmul Hasan Rajib, Md Ismail Hossen, Shams Uddin Ahmed, Arifuzzaman Khan, Nazia Rahman, Golap Babu, Melanie Greenland, Sarah Kelly, Mahzabeen Ireen, Kamrul Islam, Peter O’Reilly, Karin Sofia Scherrer, Virginia E Pitzer, Kathleen M Neuzil, K Zaman, Andrew J Pollard, John D Clemens. Protection by vaccination of children against typhoid fever with a Vi-tetanus toxoid conjugate vaccine in urban Bangladesh: a cluster-randomised trial. The Lancet. 2021
2. Lauren A. Cowley, Mokibul Hassan Afrad, Sadia Isfat Ara Rahman, Md Mahfuz Al Mamun, Taylor Chin, Ayesha Mahmud, Mohammed Ziaur Rahman, Mallick Masum Billah, Manjur Hossain Khan, Sharmin Sultana, Tilovatul Khondaker, Stephen Baker, Nandita 8 Banik, Ahmed Nawsher Alam, Kaiissar Mannoor, Sayera Banu, Anir Chowdhury, Meerjady Sabrina Flora, Nicholas R. Thomson, Caroline O. Buckee, Firdausi Qadri, Tahmina Shirin. Genomics, social media and mobile phone data enable mapping of SARS-CoV-2 lineages to inform health policy in Bangladesh. Nat Microbiology, 2021
3. Fahima Chowdhury, Taufiqur Rahman Bhuiyan, Afroza Akter, Md Saruar Bhuiyan, Ashraful Islam Khan, Motaher Hossain, Imam Tauheed, Tasnuva Ahmed, Shaumik Islam, Tanzeem Ahmed Rafique, Shah Alam Siddique, Nabila Binta Harun, Khaleda Islam, John D. Clemens, Firdausi Qadri. Immunogenicity of a killed bivalent whole cell oral cholera vaccine in forcibly displaced Myanmar nationals in Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh. PLoS Negl Trop Dis. 2020 Mar; 14(3): e0007989.
4. Firdausi Qadri, Marjahan Akhtar, Taufiqur R Bhuiyan, Mohiul I Chowdhury, Tasnuva Ahmed, Tanzeem A Rafique, Arifuzzaman Khan, Sadia I A Rahman, Farhana Khanam, Anna Lundgren, Gudrun Wiklund, Joanna Kaim, Madeleine Löfstrand, Nils Carlin, A Louis Bourgeois, Nicole Maier, Alan Fix, Thomas Wierzba, Richard I Walker, Ann-Mari Svennerholm. Safety and immunogenicity of the oral, inactivated, enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli vaccine ETVAX in Bangladeshi children and infants: a double-blind, randomised, placebo-controlled phase 1/2 trial. Lancet Infect Dis. 2020 Feb; 20(2): 208–219.
5. Dorman MJ, Domman D, Uddin MI, Sharmin S, Afrad MH, Begum YA, Qadri F, Thomson NR. High quality reference genomes for toxigenic and non-toxigenic Vibrio cholerae serogroup O139. Sci Rep. 2019 Apr 10;9(1):5865. doi: 10.1038/s41598-019-41883-x.
6. Khan AI, Islam MS, Islam MT, Ahmed A, Chowdhury MI, Chowdhury F, Siddik MAU, Clemens JD, Qadri F. Oral cholera vaccination strategy: Self-administration of the second dose in urban Dhaka, Bangladesh. Vaccine. 2019; 37(6):827-832.
7. Qadri F, Azad AK, Flora MS, Khan AI, Islam MT, Nair GB, Singh PK, Clemens JD., Emergency deployment of oral cholera vaccine for the Rohingya in Bangladesh. Lancet. 2018; 391(10133):1877-1879.
8. Qadri F, Ali M, Lynch J, Chowdhury F, Khan AI, Wierzba TF, Excler JL, Saha A, Islam MT, Begum YA, Bhuiyan TR, Khanam F, Chowdhury MI, Khan IA, Kabir A, Riaz BK, Akter A, Khan A, Asaduzzaman M, Kim DR, Siddik AU, Saha NC, Cravioto A, Singh AP, Clemens JD. Efficacy of a single-dose regimen of inactivated whole-cell oral cholera vaccine: results from 2 years of follow-up of a randomised trial. Lancet Infect Dis. 2018.
9. Qadri F, Islam T, Clemens JD. Cholera in Yemen - An Old Foe Rearing Its Ugly Head N Engl J Med. 2017; 377(21):2005-2007.
10. Clemens JD, Nair GB, Ahmed T, Qadri F, Holmgren J. Cholera, Lancet. 2017: S0140-6736(17)30559-7.
11. Qadri F, Wierzba TF, Ali M, Chowdhury F, Khan AI, Saha A, Khan IA, Asaduzzaman M, Akter A, Khan A, Begum YA, Bhuiyan TR, Khanam F, Chowdhury MI, Islam T, Chowdhury AI, Rahman A, Siddique SA, You YA, Kim DR, Siddik AU, Saha NC, Kabir A, Cravioto A, Desai SN, Singh AP, Clemens JD. Efficacy of a Single-Dose, Inactivated Oral Cholera Vaccine in Bangladesh. N Engl J Med. 2016; 374(18):1723-32.
12. Qadri F, Ali M, Chowdhury F, Khan AI, Saha A, Khan IA, Begum YA, Bhuiyan TR, Chowdhury MI, Uddin MJ, Khan JAM, Chowdhury AI, Rahman A, Siddique SA, Asaduzzaman M, Akter A, Khan MA, You YA, Siddik AU, Saha NC, Kabir A, Riaz BK, Biswas SK, Begum F, Unicomb L, Luby SP, Cravioto A, Clemens JD. Feasibility and effectiveness of the oral cholera vaccine, in an urban “cholera-endemic” setting in Bangladesh: a cluster-randomised non-blinded trial. Lancet.2015; 386(10001):1362-71.
13. Bhuiyan TR, Choudhury FK, Khanam F, Saha A, Sayeed MA, Salma U, Lundgren A, Sack DA, Svennerholm AM, Qadri F. Cellular and Cytokine Responses to Salmonella enterica Serotype Typhi Proteins in Patients with Typhoid Fever in Bangladesh. Vaccine. 2014; 32(9):1055-60.
14. Harris JB, LaRocque RC, Qadri F, Ryan ET, Calderwood SB. Cholera. Lancet. 2012; 379 (9835): 2466-76.
15. Merrell DS, Butler SM, Qadri F, Dolganov NA, Alam A, Cohen MB, Calderwood SB, Schoolnik GK, Camilli A. Host-induced epidemic spread of the cholera bacterium. Nature. 2002; 417(6889):642-5.