A BIOGRAPHY OF SAMIR KUMAR SAHA
Bangladeshi microbiologist, professor, public health expert
(December 28, 1955 – Present)
When we hear about ‘microbiologists’, immediately we think of the scientists who deal with dangerous creatures like viruses, bacteria, fungus etc., right? Now just think for a minute how much hard work these scientists have to do to control these creatures’ wide spread as these creatures can multiply or reproduce rapidly and can change their DNA instantly too. Remember the Covid-19 pandemic? If the scientists all over the world had not worked day and night to control the impact of the virus, perhaps now no human would be alive on this Earth anymore.
Just as being a microbiologist is not an easy task, constantly working on it, introducing new solutions for the betterment of public health and also getting global recognition or honor are not easy jobs either. Bangladesh is lucky to have Dr Samir Kumar Saha, one of the eminent and top-notch internationally acclaimed microbiologists, who has dedicated his life with an aim to improve the health of Bangladeshis, especially of the children to reduce the child mortality rate.
Dr Samir Kumar Saha, born on 28 December 1955 in Bangladesh, is currently aged 67. After earning an MSc. degree in Microbiology from University of Dhaka, he got his PhD degree from the Institute of Medical Sciences of Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, India in 1989. Then he returned to Dhaka and since then began his career for the Bangladeshi mass people’s health.
Dr Samir is globally known for his research on child infectious diseases with a specific focus on pneumonia, meningitis, and enteric fever in Bangladesh. He has played an instrumental role in helping Bangladesh introduce vaccines for meningitis and pneumonia called Haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib) and Pneumococcal Conjugate Vaccine (PCV10). He, along with his daughter, Dr Senjuti Saha, are trying to combat potential outbreaks of meningitis and other deadly diseases in Bangladesh. Even though these vaccines were there in the developed countries, it was not there in developing countries like Bangladesh.
Besides being a researcher, Samir Saha is simultaneously is a professor, 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. Additionally, he has many other jobs to manage.
Because of his numerous good works, he has achieved many global and local awards, honors, memberships and fellowships. Even one of the Richest people on Earth, Bill Gates, has honored our very own Dr Samir Kumar Saha.
His family is a complete package of ‘microbiologists’. His wife and 2 children – all are related to the same field. Together, the 4 of them have dedicated their lives for the betterment of Bangladeshi people’s health.
Let’s dive into knowing more in details about his works, contributions, awards and personal life.
Real Name: Samir Kumar Saha
Birth Date: December 28, 1955
Age: 67
Birth Place: Noakhali, Bangladesh
Father’s Name: Chandro Kanto Saha
Mother’s Name: Dulani Proha Saha
Siblings: 3
Education:
➢ SSC, Monmohoni High School, Rajshahi
➢ HSC, Chandpur Government College, Chandpur
➢ BSc., University of Dhaka
➢ MSc., University of Dhaka, in 1983
➢ PhD, Institute of Medical Sciences of Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, India, in 1989
Professions:
➢ Microbiologist
➢ Public Health Expert
➢ Professor, Senior consultant, Head of the Department, Microbiology of Bangladesh Shishu (Children) Hospital and Institute, Dhaka, Bangladesh
➢ Founder and Executive Director, Child Health Research Foundation (CHRF), Bangladesh Institute of Child Health
➢ Member, Board of the International Society of Pneumonia and Pneumococcal Diseases (ISPPD)
➢ Member, Pneumococcal Awareness Council of Experts (PACE)
➢ Head of the committee of the Coalition Against Typhoid (CaT) of the Sabin Vaccine Institute
➢ Associate Professor, Department of International Health of Johns Hopkins University, Maryland
➢ Adjunct Scientist, International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh (ICDDR,B)
➢ Member, National Committee for Immunization Policies of the Government of Bangladesh
➢ Researcher
Known for: Research on pediatric (child) infectious diseases specializing in pneumonia, meningitis and enteric fever in Bangladesh
Married to: Dr Setarunnahar Setara
Children: 2; 1 daughter (Senjuti Saha) and 1 son (Sudipta Saha)
Religion: Hindu
Nationality: Bangladeshi
Awards and Achievements:
➢ American Society for Microbiology (ASM) Award, in 2017
➢ UNESCO Carlos J. Finlay Prize in Microbiology, in 2017
➢ The Charles C Shepard Science Award, in 2019
➢ Membership (FRCPath) from the Royal College of Pathologists, United Kingdom
➢ “Bill Gates’s Hero”, 2020
➢ Ekushey Padak, from Bangladesh government, in 2021
➢ BDI Lifetime Achievement Award, Bangladesh Development Initiative, in 2023
➢ Fellowship in the American Academy of Microbiology, in 2017
➢ An article about him on National Geographic Magazine, in November 2017 edition
Early Life:
One of the nation’s pride, the eminent professor Dr Samir was born on 28 December 1955. He is currently 67 years old. He belongs to a Hindu family. His father’s name was Chandro Kanto Saha, who was a businessman. His mother’s name was Dulani Proha Saha. Dr Samir has 2 sisters and 1 brother.
It is reported that though Samir was born in Noakhali, his father later moved to Chandpur with his family. Even though no information about his early childhood days are found, it can be said that his main education started from when he was in Chandpur, as he passed college from there
Education:
From his early life, Samir was an intelligent person. He was a meritorious student of the science department of Chandpur Government College. It is reported that he had completed his SSC examinations from Monmohoni High School, situated at Charghat Thana, Rajshahi.
Later he earned his MSc. degree in microbiology from University of Dhaka in 1983 after obtaining a BSc. degree from the same university.In 1989, he got his PhD degree from the Institute of Medical Sciences of Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, India.
After achieving expertise in the field of microbiology, he returned to Dhaka, Bangladesh, and started off his career. His lifelong dedication to improve the overall quality of public health had just begun from there.
Career:
A scientist’s main job is to do vigorous research work to find solutions to major problems in a society. As a microbiologist, Samir’s research works mainly emphasize on finding the true burden of pediatric infectious diseases like pneumonia, meningitis and enteric fever in Bangladesh. He is working restlessly to sort out the diseases’ causative organisms, drug resistance patterns and serotype distributions. 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.
Besides research works, in addition to being the chairman of the Sabin Vaccine Institute’s Coalition Against Typhoid (CaT) steering committee, Samir is a member of the Pneumococcal Awareness Council of Experts (PACE). He is an adjunct scientist at the International Centre for Diarrheal Disease Research, Bangladesh (ICDDR,B), and an associate of the Department of International Health at Johns Hopkins University in Maryland. Additionally, he is a member of the Bangladeshi government’s National Committee for Immunization Policies.
Because he has been associated with so many things, he could contribute to our country in various sectors.
Contributions:
Dr Samir is globally known for his research on child infectious diseases with a specific focus on pneumonia, meningitis, and enteric fever in Bangladesh. According to Bill Gates, Samir has played an instrumental role in helping Bangladesh introduce vaccines for meningitis and pneumonia. The vaccines are called Haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib) and Pneumococcal Conjugate Vaccine (PCV10). Samir introduced them into the National Expanded Program on Immunization (EPI) of Bangladesh. Even though those vaccines were readily available in the USA and other rich or developed countries, they were not there in the low-income countries like Bangladesh. Thanks to these vaccines, these had a direct positive impact on the health of the children in our country.
He had found out techniques to identify the virus or bacteria that already died after a child had taken antibiotics after encountering a disease. If the virus or bacteria can be correctly identified, then the proper vaccine can be given to a child accordingly.
He, along with his daughter, have set up a low-cost testing tool to help the nation rapidly combat potential outbreaks of meningitis and other deadly diseases.
Due to the tremendous work by Dr Samir and also his daughter Senjuti, along with strong support for childhood immunization and health care by the Bangladesh government, our country has continued to push down its childhood mortality rate and improve overall healthcare delivery. The vaccine coverage in Bangladesh has now reached around 98%. Furthermore, as a leading researcher in pediatrics, Samir 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 disease. Their research is not only being used in Bangladesh, but by other countries in South Asia facing similar health challenges.
In 2020, under the supervision of Dr Samir Saha and the direction of his daughter Dr Senjuti Saha, the first SARS-CoV-2 genome was sequenced in Bangladesh. They were the first to discover the genome sequence of the coronavirus in Bangladesh. Thanks to their hard work, and through this genome sequence, further research works were carried out to identify the speed, nature and type of the virus and accordingly necessary measures were taken to handle such a deadly virus in our country.
In Bangladesh, Samir Saha and his colleagues organized and established four sentinel hospital surveillance networks. This means they are constantly monitoring the rate of occurrence of specific diseases and conditions through a voluntary network of doctors, laboratories and public health departments. This shows how dedicated Samir is to keep a track of overall public and child health. He has not forgotten to keep an eye on the issue. He has not stopped working just after doing something great for the country and getting global recognition. He has a desire to build more networks in every part of the country.
As the head of the department of microbiology at the Dhaka Shishu Hospital, Dhaka, Dr Samir helped to establish the Child Health Research Foundation (CHRF). When Samir was working for the Bangladesh Institute of Child Health, initially, there was only one room with no modern equipment for research works or for working with microbiology. He then expanded everything and installed all the necessary devices. He has literally started from scratch or zero, and now hundreds of Bangladeshi people work under him. This means he has opened up the employment opportunities of many people.
A researcher’s main job and intention is to publish as many useful papers as possible to help other researchers about an issue. Dr Samir has successfully published more than 150 papers in different peer-reviewed journals. In the articles, he mostly explored the topics of childhood pneumonia and meningitis. Samir is working regularly and relentlessly with several international universities and organizations like John Hopkins University, Oxford University, Edinburgh University, World Health Organization, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Stanford University for further research purposes.
All of his tedious works did not go in vain. Throughout his lifetime, till now, he has been recognized and honored globally and locally.
Awards and Achievements:
Because of his outstanding contributions in different sectors, especially in Bangladesh, and in recognition of his groundbreaking research work in the field of clinical microbiology, Dr Samir was awarded with numerous awards both internationally and from Bangladesh. The year 2017 was an exceptional year for Dr Samir. He had achieved various things in one single year only.
He won the American Society for Microbiology (ASM) Award, in 2017, for his exceptional work in clinical microbiology, making him the first ever scientist from a developing country to do so. Before that, no one ever from outside of the USA or Canada got the award. Hence, this is a very proud moment for us Bangladeshis. After getting the award, Dr Samir himself said in an interview that “This is the biggest award of the world for microbiologists. The winners are called ‘laureates’”.
After that, in the same year, he was chosen to become a Fellow of the American Academy of Microbiology. It is a professional organization for scientists whose works are related to microbiology.
Again in the same year, he received the Carlos J Finlay Unesco Prize for Microbiology. He shared this award with a Pakistani microbiologist and researcher, Professor Shahida Hasnain. This is a scientific prize which is sponsored by the Government of Cuba and awarded by UNESCO for the people or organizations for their outstanding contributions to microbiology.
In the November 2017 edition of National Geographic Magazine, an article titled “Here’s Why Vaccines Are So Crucial”, was published. The article was about the need and impact of vaccines in society. There, it highlighted the lifelong dedication of Dr Samir’s dedication and battle to beat pneumonia and other pneumococcal infections in Bangladesh.
Following the article’s release, he received an invitation to participate in a panel discussion at the International Vaccine Access Center, which is located at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in Baltimore, the USa. This event was organized and aired by National Geographic, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. There, discussions about various aspects of pneumococcal vaccines and vaccines in general were held.
In the fall of 2019, Dr Samir and his co-authors published a research paper in the journal named ‘The Lancet’. For their exceptional contribution to public health, they were awarded with the Charles C. Shepard Science Award. These awards are presented to the best manuscripts on original research published in peer-reviewed journals.
In the same year, in November 2019, Professor Samir received a membership (FRCPath) from the Royal College of Pathologists, the United Kingdom.
The father-daughter duo Dr Samir Saha and Dr Senjuti Saha, in November 2020, were recognized as “Bill Gates’s Hero” for their work to reduce child mortality rates among children in Bangladesh and for improving overall global health equity. Bill Gates, in his personal blog ‘Gatesnote.com’, honored them by calling them the “dynamic duo of global health”. He also included the duo in ‘Bill Gates’s Heroes in the Field’ category. This is indeed a great achievement for our country, getting such a heavy compliment from a person like Bill Gates.
So many years after receiving multiple international awards, finally in 2021, for his lifelong commitment and devotion to the field of science and public health, Professor Samir was awarded with the prestigious Ekushey Padak (which is the second-highest civilian award in Bangladesh). Dr Samir Saha received the award from the Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.
Recently, it was announced by The Bangladesh Development Initiative (BDI), which is a non-partisan research and advocacy group of independent scholars based in the United States, that Dr Samir will receive the BDI Lifetime Achievement Award 2023. This award is presented to honor the outstanding individuals or organizations, who, through their scholarly or policy and civic engagements, have contributed significantly to understanding the challenges, and the ideals that have led to the development of Bangladesh and have improved the quality of life for its citizens. Certainly Dr Saha deserves such an honor.
Even after getting so many awards, Dr Samir stays humble and kind in his personal life.
Personal Life:
Such a scholarly person’s personal life should be either too boring or quite interesting. Luckily, Samir’s personal life is interesting.
The starting days of Dr Samir, after he graduated, were not solely focused on his research works. As a son of a businessman, he used to look after his father’s business. However, he would spend more time on research related work than on the family business. Finally, he decided to fully focus on his passion, that is, research. If he had not chosen his passion, Bangladesh might not be able to discover a gem like him.
Usually, just like a doctor marries another doctor, a scientist also marries another scientist. In this way, the couple can share the similar mindset and can work together for the betterment of the society. The same thing happened with Samir Saha too. Dr Samir is married to Dr Setarunnahar Setara. She is also an eminent public health researcher like her husband. She has served as a government officer at the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) and the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare before retiring from there. This shows they are a power couple who equally served the nation in the field of public health.
The couple together have 2 children, 1 daughter and 1 son. Their daughter, Dr Senjuti Saha, is a rising microbiologist. She completed her PhD degree in molecular biology from Toronto University, Canada. Now, she works with her father as the Director and Senior Scientist at the Child Health Research Foundation (CHRF). Therefore, we can see that the daughter is following the footsteps of her parents. The father-daughter duo together are considered as the changemakers in the field of science in Bangladesh. They are becoming very popular in the country as well as internationally for their contributions and research in medical science.
Dr Samir’s son, Sudipta Saha, is currently pursuing his PhD degree in the field of Population Health Sciences at Harvard University, the USA. He had also studied microbiology and global health from Toronto University, Canada.
No wonder it proves that the children have a good upbringing by their parents. Additionally, as a father, Dr Samir is making sure his children can get the best opportunity to achieve both knowledge and experience. That is why, he is proudly helping his daughter with different research projects.
When Samir’s children were little, he used to use family dinners to practice his scientific lectures or share what he was learning about Bangladesh’s health challenges. His focuses were on bacteria, viruses, and infectious diseases.This sounds a bit odd to discuss during family time, right? However, these talks actually left a sparkle on his children, because they later grew up to study and work on this field too like their father.
His family therefore can be considered as a total package of ‘Microbiologist family’.
Even though Dr. Samir is such a scholarly person, he is a very down to earth person. He treats his workplace and team mates like a family. His coworkers find him very humble and praise him for keeping the workplace i.e. the laboratory in a family-oriented manner. The coworkers claim that they never feel like they are working under Dr. Samir, rather they are all working as teammates.
Conclusion:
Thanks to the works of the father-daughter duo, Samir and Senjuti, Bangladesh is now gradually moving toward a future of fewer infectious diseases and more available hospital beds. The contributions of Samir for our country is unforgettable and undeniable. We are proud to call such an eminent, renowned scientist as our own.