Scientist
International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh (icddr,b), Bangladesh
Dr M Munirul Islam, a physician working currently as a Scientist at the International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh (icddr,b), Dhaka, Bangladesh for more than 27 years. He obtained his MBBS (medical degree) in 1995 from Dhaka Medical College, Dhaka, Bangladesh and PhD in Nutrition and designated emphasis in International Nutrition in 2007 from Program in International and Community Nutrition, University of California, Davis, USA as a Fogarty Fellow.
His primary area of research is infant and young child feeding, micronutrient malnutrition, management of acute malnutrition and infectious diseases. A few of his current research are RCTs on supplementation of zinc in micronutrient powders in young, Bangladeshi children, acceptability, efficacy and effectiveness of locally developed Ready to Use Therapeutic Foods for management of severe acute malnourished (SAM) children, dietary management of infants under 6 mo suffering from SAM, efficacy of maternal vitamin D supplementation and infant growth, establishing micronutrient reference values in breast milk for micronutrient contents, microbiota directed complementary foods and its effects in child nutrition and so on.
His previous research works include assessing dietary intake of young children and their mothers in rural Bangladesh, zinc status of infants and breast milk zinc intake using deuterium oxide, bioavailability of zinc from zinc biofortified rice in young children using stable isotopes, etiology, risk factors and interactions of enteric infections and malnutrition and the consequences for child health and development.
He performs clinical responsibilities at the Dhaka Hospital of icddr,b where he supervises the Clinical Fellows and Nurses and manages critically ill children and adults with malnutrition and infection, as well as the healthy children. He is also required to participate in the supervision and guidance of the medical professionals both inside and outside of his working institute
Dr Islam conducts trainings on management of diarrhoeal diseases, severe acute malnutrition and so on both in country and abroad. He served as faculty on various international health topics in Afghanistan, Lebanon, Myanmar, Uganda and Ethiopia.
He has published more than 100 scientific articles in both national and international peer-reviewed journals.