Mahmudur Rahman, Collaborator, Bangladesh

Mahmudur served as Director of the Institute of Epidemiology, Disease Control and Research and National Influenza Center in Bangladesh for about twelve years. He devoted 33 years to epidemiologic and public health research and surveillance of communicable and non-communicable diseases, and public health policies. In 2006, he retired from government service and is currently serving as a consultant in the Programme for Emerging Infections, Infectious Disease Division, icddr,b.

Mahmudur played a key facilitator role in establishing the National Influenza Center, BSL 3, and Nipah laboratory, Nipah Surveillance and web based disease surveillance in Bangladesh. He founded FETP/Master’s in Applied Epidemiology, Frontline FETP and Improving Public Health Management for Action (IMPACT) Courses in Bangladesh with US CDC support. He served as a member of the IHR (2005), Pandemic Influenza Review Committee at WHO HQ in Geneva and Chair of the Advisory Panel on Pandemic Influenza Preparedness Framework to the Director General-WHO.

Mahmudur serves as the Chair of South East Asia Regional Certification Commission for Polio Eradication (SEARCCPE), Member Global Commission for the Certification of the Eradication of Poliomyelitis, Member of the Eastern Mediterranean Regional Certification Commission for Polio Eradication, Member of the Advisory Panel on Pandemic Influenza Preparedness Framework to the Director General-WHO, Editorial Board member of the SEARO Journal, Member of the Emergency Committee on MERS-CoV, events related to Poliomyelitis, and Ebola Viral Disease, taskforce member of the WHO’s Nipah virus research and development (R&D) roadmap process and Technical Advisory Group (TAG) member of Asia Pacific Strategy for Emerging Diseases (APSED). He is also serving as the Chair of the National Verification Committee (NVC) for Measles and Rubella/Congenital Rubella Syndrome (CRS) Elimination.

Mahmudur conducted research in the field of both Communicable and Non-Communicable Diseases for the last 33 years. He served as Principal Investigator in phase three and four clinical trials. He led Measles Case Fatality Study, Hepatitis B Vaccine Efficacy Study, HIV Sero-prevalence Studies and Tuberculosis Prevalence Survey in Bangladesh.

He is editor of “Text Book of Community Medicine and Public Health”, and authored 130 publications in international and national peer-reviewed journals. Mahmudur earned a Masters in Primary Health Care Management from Mahidol University, Thailand and his Ph.D in Epidemiology from University of Cambridge, UK.