Anita Zaidi, SM’99, director of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation’s enteric and diarrheal diseases program, and a pediatrician who gave up her career in America to employ her expertise in infectious diseases and child survival in her native Pakistan, discusses her far reaching career in a December 6, 2016 blog post written by pediatric gastroenterologist Sana Syed.
Pakistan has the third highest infant mortality rate in the world, according to the article.
“I would say that you have to be driven by the moral need to return to society the incredible privilege and luck that has come your way in your life, and ‘paying forward’ is the only way to make the world just, reduce inequality, and create opportunity for others, especially children,” Zaidi said.
“From the perspective of being a physician, global health researcher, leader in the field, woman and a role model I thought more people should know about her and her work,” wrote Syed, who was mentored by Zaidi while in medical school.
Read the blogpost: A Conversation with Anita Zaidi — A Discussion of Global Child Health, Empowering Women and Creating Change for the Better
Learn more
Alumna Anita Zaidi awarded $1 million to save children’s lives in Pakistan village (Harvard Chan News)
Better Data Helps Defeat Diarrhea and Could Save Half a Million Kids – But We Need to Act Fast (Huffington Post blog by Zaidi)
View a video about her work: 2013 Children’s Prize Winner: Dr. Anita Zaidi (Children’s Prize Foundation video)