Mushtaque Chowdhury, PhD, has spent over 40 years in research, education and practice, with specializations in public health, primary education, poverty reduction and environment. Until recently, he was the Vice Chair of BRAC, the worlds largest NGO serving the poor and women in Bangladesh and eleven other countries of Africa and Asia. He is a Professor at Columbia Universitys Mailman School of Public Health. In the past, he also worked for Harvard University as MacArthur Fellow and the Rockefeller Foundation as Senior Adviser and acting Managing Director. Having published nearly 200 articles and several books, Chowdhury is a well-respected global expert. He has served on boards/committees of several national and international organizations/initiatives including the South Asia Centre at London School of Economics, Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), Scaling Up Nutrition (SUN) movement, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) and Citizens Platform for Implementation of SDGs in Bangladesh. He is the immediate past Chair of Asian Action Alliance for Human Resources for Health (AAAH). The Lancet has honoured Dr Chowdhury by publishing his profile (https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(13)62306-5/fulltext). His awards include: Medical Excellence Award (Ronald McDonald House Charities, USA) Innovator of the Year Award (Brigham Young University, USA) Oration Medal (Perinatal Society of Nepal) Humanitarian Award (Distressed Children and Infants International, Yale University, USA) Outstanding Leadership Award (Dhaka University Statistics Department Alumni Association) Medical Excellence Award (Ronald McDonald House Charities, USA) Most Impactful Book Award (University Press Limited, Dhaka). Dr Chowdhury has studied at the University of Dhaka (BA Hon’s), the London School of Economics (MSc) and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (PhD).