Anita Zaidi honoured as outstanding alumna by Harvard School of Public Health

The Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health Alumni Association recently announced the recipients of the 2023 Alumni Awards, who were chosen by their peers through a nomination and voting process, said a news report that appeared on the website of the Harvard T.H. Chan School on September 13.

The awards will be presented during this year’s Alumni Weekend, which takes place September 28-30. Established in 1992, the Alumni Award of Merit is the highest honour presented by the Alumni Association to an alumna/us of Harvard Chan School.

Anita Zaidi, who was part of the first graduating class of doctors at Aga Khan University (AKU) receiving the school’s inaugural ‘Best Medical Graduate Award’, is one the recipients In recognition of her accomplishments, Zaidi, was elected to the US National Academy of Medicine in 2021, one of the highest honours in the fields of health and medicine.

She became the AKU’s first female chair of pediatrics, established South Asia’s first training programme in pediatric infectious diseases as a clinical specialty, and won the first $1 million Caplow Children’s Prize to support her efforts to reduce child mortality in Rehri Goth, a poor suburb of Karachi.

These days, Zaidi is taking on a new first. In 2020, she became the first-ever president of Gender Equality at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, where she leads the foundation’s work to create a gender-equal world by investing in women’s economic empowerment, leadership, and more.

The Emerging Public Health Professional Award recognizes early-career public health achievements and contributions of Harvard Chan School graduates who received their degree within the past 10 years.

Another recipient, Megan Murray, has dedicated her four-decade career to improving people’s lives through groundbreaking—and actionable—research.

One of the world’s leading experts on tuberculosis, she conducted studies that changed how we treat the disease, including by challenging the long-held assumption that drug-resistant TB was less transmissible and by investigating risk factors such as micronutrient deficiencies and diabetes.

After completing her medical training at Harvard Medical School, Murray earned an MPH and an SD from Harvard Chan School. She serves as a professor at both schools, and has led field studies all over the globe to better understand infectious diseases and promote the health of vulnerable populations.