Dr Alejandro Cravioto
Deputy Executive Director, ICDDR, B
Knowledge for Global Lifesaving Solutions, Bangladesh
Alejandro Cravioto (b. Mexico City, 1947) received his Medical Degree with honours in 1973 in the Faculty of Medicine of the National Autonomous University of Mexico. He continued his studies in Pediatrics from 1973-1976 in the National Institute of Pediatrics in Mexico City and then in the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine of the University of London, receiving a Diploma in Tropical Public Health in 1977 and a Ph.D. in 1981.
Returning to Mexico City Dr Cravioto worked from 1980-1989 in the National Institute of Health and Technology for Child Health, first as Head of the Research Department and then as Deputy Director. From 1989-1991 he collaborated as Director of the Division of Microbiology in the National Institute of Public Health in Cuernavaca, Mexico and in 1991 was invited as Professor and Chair of the Department of Public Health in the Faculty of Medicine of the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM). In 1995 the Board of Governors of UNAM appointed him Dean of the Faculty of Medicine for a four year period and renewed this appointment for a further four-year period in 1999.
In July of 2005 Dr Cravioto was appointed by the Board of Trustees of the ICDDR,B in Dhaka, Bangladesh as Deputy Executive Director and in June of 2007 as Executive Director of the Centre for a three year period. And as part of an agreement with BRAC University in Dhaka, he has also been appointed Vice-Dean of the James P. Grant School of Public Health of BRAC University in 2005.
His main interests in research during all these years have been the study of the interaction between infection and growth in young Mexican infants, as well as the pathogenic capacity of bacteria able to cause disease in humans. His laboratory and field study areas have been the training ground for over 150 persons with different academic backgrounds, including 18 Ph.D. students who are now independent researchers.
Dr Cravioto is the author of more than 50 papers published in international journals and two textbooks, one on vaccines and another on pediatric diarrhoea. He is a member of the Academy of Medicine, the Academy of Pediatrics and the Academy of Sciences of Mexico, as well as 20 other scientific societies in Mexico, Europe and the United States of America. In 1996 he received the National Award in Public Health given by the Mexican Government. His work has also been recognized with the Nestle Nutrition Award in 1990 and the Glaxo Award for Clinical Research in 1991. At present, he continues as Professor of Microbiology and Public Health in the Faculty of Medicine of the National Autonomous University of Mexico with a leave of absence and has recently finished eight years as President of the Panamerican Federation of Associations of Medical Schools.