icddr,b Executive Director to deliver 13th Lawton Chiles International Lecture

This week, icddr,b executive director Dr. Alejandro Cravioto will be delivering the prestigious 13th Lawton Chiles International Lecture on Maternal and Child Health in the Americas. Over the course of three days, Dr. Cravioto will lecture on Food for Thought: Mainstreaming Nutrition to Improve Child Health at three of the United States’ premier public health institutions. Yesterday, on February 14, he delivered the lecture at the College of Public Health at the University of South Florida (USF); today, on 15 February, at the Chiles Center at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Atlanta; and tomorrow, on 16 February at the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NIH) in Maryland, USA.

The lectureship was established in conjunction with the Lawton Chiles International House at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland in 1998 in recognition of Florida senator Lawton Chiles’ support for the NIH during his tenure as a member of the U.S Congress (1971-1989). The lectureship serves as a way for the USF College of Public Health, the Chiles Center, CDC and the NIH to engage in research exchange and practices between the Americas, as well as to establish international leadership exposure and prominence.

The lectureship committee chose Dr. Cravioto in recognition of his international leadership and extensive scientific contributions in paediatric medicine and research. As executive director of icddr,b, one of the world’s leading public health research institutions, Dr. Cravioto is in a unique position to address the current opportunities that exist for advancing knowledge on maternal and child health issues across the globe.

Dr. Cravioto will join the ranks of illustrious colleagues who have delivered previous lectures, including former icddr,b board members Dr. Ricardo Uuay and Dr. Jose Ignacio Santos, as well as Dr. Eduardo E. Castilla of the National Research Council of Brazil, and Dr. Enrique Curt Gadow of the World Health Organization.

For more details, contact Faruq Hasan