Friends of CIHR is pleased to announce that Dr. Zulfiqar Bhutta, Founding Director of the Institute for Global Health and Development and the Centre of Excellence in Women and Child Health at the Aga Khan University and Co-Director of the SickKids Centre for Global Child Health, is the recipient of the 2023 Henry G. Friesen International Prize in Health Research.

Toronto – March 20, 2023 – Dr. Zulfiqar A. Bhutta PhD, MBBS, FRCPCH, FAAP, FRS, is the Distinguished University Professor and Founding Director of the Institute for Global Health and Development and the Centre of Excellence in Women and Child Health, at the Aga Khan University. He also holds the Robert Harding Inaugural Chair in Global Child Health at the Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, and is the Co-Director of the SickKids Centre for Global Child Health. He holds adjunct professorships at several leading Universities globally including the Schools of Public Health at Johns Hopkins (Baltimore), George Washington University (DC), Boston University School of Public Health, University of Alberta as well as the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine. He is a designated Distinguished National Professor of the Government of Pakistan and Chairs the Board of Governors of the National Institute of Health, Pakistan. Dr. Bhutta was a member of the Independent Expert Review Group (iERG) appointed by the UN Secretary General for monitoring global progress in maternal and child health MDGs (2011-2015). He represented the global academic and research organizations on the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunizations (Gavi) Board and served on its Evaluation Advisory Committee. Dr. Bhutta was also the co-Chair of the Global Countdown for 2015 and 2030 Initiatives from 2006-2017, co-Chair of the Maternal and Child Health oversight committee of World Health Organization (WHO) Eastern Mediterranean Region (EMRO) and a technical member of the high-level UN Health and Human Rights committee. He has served as co-Chair of Knowledge and Science committee of the Partnership for Maternal, Newborn & Child Health (PMNCH) and was a member of the Independent Expert Group producing the Global Nutrition Reports since its inception in 2014 to 2021. Dr Bhutta was a member of the WHO Strategic Advisory Committee for Vaccines (SAGE) from 2010-15 and is a member of STAGE, the strategic and technical advisory group for maternal, child and adolescent health of WHO. He is currently the Executive Director of the NCD Child Secretariat based at the Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto.

Dr. Bhutta was educated at the University of Peshawar (MBBS) and obtained his PhD from the Karolinska Institute, Sweden. He has published ten books, over 150 book chapters, and 1275 indexed publications to date. He is one of the most highly cited academics in global health (H index 203, i10 index 985, >275,000 citations) and has ranked among the top 1% of Highly Cited Researchers globally by the Web of Science consecutively since 2013. He has been a leading member of major Lancet series reflecting his advocacy in global health, whose evidence-based interventions have strengthened global Health Research Policy. Most outstanding is his work on the “first thousand days” of life. He leads large research groups based in Canada, Pakistan & Central Asia with a special interest in research synthesis, scaling up evidence-based interventions in community settings and implementation research in fragile health systems. He led the recent Lancet series on optimizing child and adolescent health (2022) which provides a blueprint for post COVID-19 recovery for children globally.

Dr. Bhutta has received numerous awards over the years, most recently being recognized by the Senate of Canada with its Canada 150 Medal for contributions to Global Child Health, admitted to the National Academy of Medicine and elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society. He was awarded the Roux Prize 2021 for his work on evidence-based public health impact and is the recipient of the 2022 John Dirks Canada Global Health Award. He is ranked among the top 100 medical scientists globally by Research.com.