Samir Kumar Saha (born December 28, 1955) is an eminent

Bangladeshi Bangladeshis ( ) are the citizens and nationals of Bangladesh, a South Asian country centred on the transnational historical region of Bengal along the Bay of Bengal, eponymous bay. Bangladeshi nationality law, Bangladeshi citizenship was fo ...

microbiologist A microbiologist (from Greek ) is a scientist who studies microscopic life forms and processes. This includes study of the growth, interactions and characteristics of microscopic organisms such as bacteria, algae, fungi, and some types of par ...

and public health expert. He is the

professor Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an Academy, academic rank at university, universities and other tertiary education, post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin ...

, senior consultant and head of the department of Diagnostic Division of Microbiology at the Dhaka Shishu Hospital for children and also the executive director of The Child Health Research Foundation (CHRF) at the Bangladesh Institute of Child Health.

Education

Saha attended Chandpur Government College. He earned his BSc. and MSc. from The

University of Dhaka The University of Dhaka (), also known as Dhaka University (DU), is a public university, public research university located in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Established in 1921, it is the oldest active university in the country. The University of Dhaka w ...

in 1983, and his PhD from the Institute of Medical Sciences of Banaras Hindu University,

Varanasi Varanasi (, also Benares, Banaras ) or Kashi, is a city on the Ganges river in northern India that has a central place in the traditions of pilgrimage, death, and mourning in the Hindu world.* * * * The city has a syncretic tradition of I ...

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

, in 1989.

Career

Saha is known for his research on

pediatric Pediatrics (American English) also spelled paediatrics (British English), is the branch of medicine that involves the medical care of infants, children, adolescents, and young adults. In the United Kingdom, pediatrics covers many of their youth ...

infectious diseases infection is the invasion of tissues by pathogens, their multiplication, and the reaction of host tissues to the infectious agent and the toxins they produce. An infectious disease, also known as a transmissible disease or communicable dise ...

specializing in

pneumonia Pneumonia is an Inflammation, inflammatory condition of the lung primarily affecting the small air sacs known as Pulmonary alveolus, alveoli. Symptoms typically include some combination of Cough#Classification, productive or dry cough, ches ...

meningitis Meningitis is acute or chronic inflammation of the protective membranes covering the brain and spinal cord, collectively called the meninges. The most common symptoms are fever, intense headache, vomiting and neck stiffness and occasion ...

and

enteric fever Enteric fever is a medical term encompassing two types of salmonellosis, which, specifically, are typhoid fever and paratyphoid fever. Enteric fever is a potentially life-threatening acute febrile systemic infection and is diagnosed by isolating ...

. He is focused on finding the true burden of these diseases, their causative organisms, drug resistance patterns and

serotype A serotype or serovar is a distinct variation within a species of bacteria or virus or among immune cells of different individuals. These microorganisms, viruses, or Cell (biology), cells are classified together based on their shared reactivity ...

distributions. In 2017, Saha was the first scientist from a developing country to receive the American Society for Microbiology (ASM) award for his outstanding research in

Clinical Microbiology Medical microbiology, the large subset of microbiology that is applied science, applied to medicine, is a branch of medical science concerned with the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of infection, infectious diseases. In addition, this field ...

. Following which he has been elected to Fellowship in the

American Academy of Microbiology American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, p ...

. The same year Saha received the UNESCO Carlos J. Finlay Prize in Microbiology, along with Shahida Hasnain, also a renowned Pakistani microbiologist for research and work in the field of microbiology. The November 2017 edition of National Geographic Magazine published
Here’s Why Vaccines Are So Crucial
, an article revolving around the need and impact of vaccines in society and vividly highlighted the lifelong dedication of Saha's fight to beating

and other pneumococcal infections in Bangladesh. After the publication of the article Saha was invited to attend a panel discussion on the various aspects of pneumococcal vaccines and vaccines in general, hosted and broadcast by

National Geographic ''National Geographic'' (formerly ''The National Geographic Magazine'', sometimes branded as ''Nat Geo'') is an American monthly magazine published by National Geographic Partners. The magazine was founded in 1888 as a scholarly journal, nine ...

, and the

Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation The Gates Foundation is an American private foundation founded by Bill Gates and Melinda French Gates. Based in Seattle, Washington, it was launched in 2000 and is reported to be List of wealthiest charitable foundations, the third largest char ...

at the International Vaccine Access Center, the

Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health The Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health is the public health graduate school of Johns Hopkins University, a private university, private research university primarily based in Baltimore, Maryland. It was founded as the Johns Hopkins ...

, Baltimore, US.

Personal life

Samir Kumar Saha is microbiologist Senjuti Saha's father. His wife Dr. Setarunnahar Setara is a public health researcher. His youngest son is also a microbiologist by profession.

Achievements

Saha played a key role in implementing vaccines against two

bacteria Bacteria (; : bacterium) are ubiquitous, mostly free-living organisms often consisting of one Cell (biology), biological cell. They constitute a large domain (biology), domain of Prokaryote, prokaryotic microorganisms. Typically a few micr ...

that cause

and pneumonia in Bangladesh. It had a direct positive impact on the health of children in the country. As a leading researcher in pediatrics, he has been performing surveillance on invasive childhood diseases in Bangladesh for more than a decade. He has also led research into the resistance to treatment of some pneumococcal diseases. Saha along with his team designed and set up four sentinel hospital surveillance network in Bangladesh. The "community adjusted hospital-based surveillance" is a model of surveillance that records data of the burden of diseases at a population level. The surveillance data is generated on invasive childhood diseases caused by ''Streptococcus pneumoniae'', ''Haemophilus influenzae'', ''Salmonella typhi/paratyphi'', etc. Saha has published more than 150 papers in peer-reviewed journals, mostly exploring the topics of childhood pneumonia and meningitis.

Public health organizations

A member of Pneumococcal Awareness Council of Experts (PACE), he also heads the steering committee of the Coalition Against Typhoid (CaT) of the

Sabin Vaccine Institute Sabin Vaccine Institute ( ), located in Washington, D.C., is a global nonprofit organization that advances vaccine development for unmet medical needs and expands immunization coverage by strengthening vaccine access and acceptance. In partnersh ...

. He is an associate of the Department of International Health of

Johns Hopkins University The Johns Hopkins University (often abbreviated as Johns Hopkins, Hopkins, or JHU) is a private university, private research university in Baltimore, Maryland, United States. Founded in 1876 based on the European research institution model, J ...

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It borders the states of Virginia to its south, West Virginia to its west, Pennsylvania to its north, and Delaware to its east ...

and adjunct scientist of International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh (ICDDR,B). He is also a member of the National Committee for Immunization Policies of the Government of Bangladesh.

Honors and awards

Saha has been recognized by numerous awards including: * In 2017,

American Society for Microbiology The American Society for Microbiology (ASM), originally the Society of American Bacteriologists, is a professional organization for scientists who study viruses, bacteria, fungi, algae, and protozoa as well as other aspects of microbiology. It wa ...

(ASM) Award for Research in

. * In 2017,

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO ) is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) with the aim of promoting world peace and International secur ...

Carlos J. Finlay Prize in Microbiology. * in 2021,Received

Ekushey Padak Ekushey Padak () is the second highest civilian award in Bangladesh, introduced in memory of martyrs of the Bengali language movement of 1952. The award is given to recognize contributions in a number of fields, including culture, education, and e ...

from Bangladesh government.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Saha, Samir Kumar 1955 births University of Dhaka alumni Banaras Hindu University alumni Bangladeshi microbiologists Academic staff of the University of Dhaka Living people Recipients of the Ekushey Padak Recipients of the Ekushey Padak in 2021