Banchob Sripa () is a Thai scientist who is professor and head of the Tropical Disease Research Laboratory (TDRL) at

Khon Kaen University Khon Kaen University (; KKU) is a public research university. The university was the first institution of higher education in the northeastern Thailand and remains the oldest and the most competitive university in the region. The university is a ...

Khon Kaen Khon Kaen (, ) is the capital of Khon Kaen province and the List of municipalities in Thailand#Largest cities by urban population, fourth-largest city in Thailand. It is one of the four major cities of Isan, Northeast Thailand, also known as the ...

, Thailand. He is also the head of the World Health Organization Collaborating Centre for Research and Control of

Opisthorchiasis Opisthorchiasis is a parasitic disease caused by certain species of genus '' Opisthorchis'' (specifically, '' Opisthorchis viverrini'' and '' Opisthorchis felineus''). Chronic infection may lead to cholangiocarcinoma, a cancer of the bile ducts. M ...

, an infectious parasitic disease caused by the Southeast Asian liver fluke, which is endemic in

northeastern Thailand Northeast Thailand or Isan (Isan/, ; ; also written as Isaan, Isarn, Issarn, Issan, Esan, or Esarn; from Pāli ''isāna'' or Sanskrit ईशान्य ''īśānya'' "northeast") consists of 20 provinces in northeastern Thailand. Isan is T ...

and other portions of the

Mekong River The Mekong or Mekong River ( , ) is a transboundary river in East Asia and Southeast Asia. It is the world's List of rivers by length, twelfth-longest river and List of longest rivers of Asia, the third-longest in Asia with an estimated l ...

basin. He is also coordinator for the Asian Neglected Tropical Disease Network. He has a doctorate in tropical health from the

University of Queensland The University of Queensland is a Public university, public research university located primarily in Brisbane, the capital city of the Australian state of Queensland. Founded in 1909 by the Queensland parliament, UQ is one of the six sandstone ...

, Australia. He received the Outstanding Scientist Award from the Foundation for the Promotion of Science and Technology in 2013.

The Lawa model

An opisthorchiasis control program known as the "Lawa model" was started in 2007 by the Thailand Development Research Institute (TDRL) under Banchob. Using an

EcoHealth Health ecology (also known as eco-health) is an emerging field that studies the impact of ecosystems on human health. It examines alterations in the biological, physical, social, and economic environments to understand how these changes affect ...

approach, the program has been more successful than earlier control programs. The program operates in 12 villages surrounding the Lawa Lake south of Khon Kaen. The liver fluke infection rate has declined to less than 10 percent from an average of 60 percent since the start of the program. Banchob has published more than 200 peer-reviewed scientific articles and eight book chapters in English.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sripa, Banchob Banchob Sripa Cancer researchers Banchob Sripa 1958 births Living people University of Queensland alumni