Abdoulaye Djimdé receives Award of the Best Pharmacist in the Francophone World
from www.EDCTP.org:
The National Academy of Pharmacy of France has awarded Dr Abdoulaye Djimdé its "Prix de la Pharmacie Francophone". Dr Djimdé is a research scientist from the Malaria Research and Training Center (MRTC), University of Bamako, and Malian EDCTP Senior Fellow. The prize is in recognition of his outstanding contribution within the Francophone community. The Award was presented to Dr Djimdé in the context of the World Health Assembly on 17 May 2009 in Geneva.
In this instance, the academy was impressed by Dr Djimdé's research activities which started in the late 1990s with interviewing traditional healers on local remedies used to treat jaundice, botanically characterising one commonly used plant, making crude extracts and testing the toxicology on rats and its pharmacological properties on guinea pigs. Today, Dr Djimdé is known as one of the world experts in the molecular characterisation of malaria parasite resistance to antimalarials. He leads a team of 12 young Malian scientists and has co-authored 38 publications some of which are in reknown peer reviewed journals such as The New England Journal of Medicine, Nature, Nature Genetics, The Lancet, Journal of Infectious Diseases and International Journal of Parasitology.
In his acceptance speech, Dr Djimdé acknowledged the contribution of the whole team of the MRTC, the People and the Government of Mali. He also thanked several Institutions including EDCTP, the USA National Institutes of Health, TDR, MIM/TDR, Howard Hughes Medical Institution and the IAEA for their support to his research.
About the award
The National Academy of Pharmacy of France's award Candidates are nominated by members of the Academy as well as the Academy's International correspondents. Selection is based on the evaluation of the achievements of the candidate in his/her field of activity, which can be any of the disciplines of Pharmacy including Scientific Research, Industry, Clinical Biology and Retail Pharmacy.
The Award was presented to Dr Djimdé during a meeting convened by The French Pharmaceutical Companies Association (LEEM) by the Secretary General of the National Academy of Pharmacy of France, Dr Jean Paul Chiron in the presence of the National Health Director of Mali (Prof. Toumani Sidibe), the Director of Pharmacy and Medicines of Mali (Prof. Ousmane Doumbia), numerous Ministers of Health from Francophone Africa, and numerous Directors and leaders of international health organisations and funding agencies.
Dr Djimdé holds a Pharmacy Doctorate from University of Bamako, Mali and a PhD in Microbiology and Immunology from University of Maryland, Baltimore. He is an Associate Professor of Microbiology and Immunology at the Faculty of Medicine, Pharmacy and Odonto-Stomatology, University of Bamako and Head of the Molecular Epidemiology and Drug Resistance Unit of the (MRTC).
http://www.edctp.org/app/uploads/2015/01/EDCTP_Newsletter_July_2009_EN.pdf