A nuclear medicine physician from Bangladesh was one of five women honored for research excellence at the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) annual meeting, held in Boston last week.
The women, all medical and life science researchers from Africa, Asia, the Caribbean Basin, Latin America, and the Middle East, were recipients of the 2013 Elsevier Foundation Awards for Early Career Women Scientists in the Developing World. They were honored for research that could contribute to lifesaving knowledge and therapies worldwide in medical imaging, women's health, parasite biology, catalytic antibodies, and the pharmacology of medicinal plants.
Dr. Nasima Akhter, senior medical officer of the Center for Nuclear Medicine and Ultrasound at Dhaka Medical College Hospital Campus, has been working as a nuclear medicine physician in the Bangladesh Atomic Energy Commission since 1998. She is currently conducting clinical research on nuchal translucency-based fetal screening for congenital anomalies during the first trimester of pregnancy. She is also investigating the use of inactive iodine adjunct medication with radioiodine therapy in Graves' disease.
