Winner. Scientist of the Year 2022

Sodiomon Bienvenu Sirima

Academic title, degree: M.D., Ph.D.
Fields of science: Clinical Epidemiology
Research interest: Clinical trial
Career Development: Senior
Institution: Groupe de Recherche Action en Santé (GRAS)
Position: Chief Executive Director
City: Ouagadougou
Country: Burkina Faso

Dr. Sodiomon Bienvenu Sirima was trained as a Medical Doctor at the University of Ouagadougou in 1993, and served for two years as the General Practitioner at the Health District of Pô, the bottom of the Burkina Faso health system pyramid. In 1995, his interest in malaria research led him to join the Centre National de Recherche et de Formation sur le Paludisme (CNRFP), a leading research institution within the Ministry of Health, Burkina Faso, where Dr. Sirima had been worked for 24 years.

In 1997, he completed a diploma of Bachelor of Arts in Sociology, and, in 2002, his PhD degree in Epidemiology at the University “La Sapienza”, Rome, Italy.

After serving as the Head of the Research and Training Department of CNRFP from 1995 to 2009, he became the Executive Director from 2009 to 2016 and then remained a Senior Scientist until December 2019.

Dr. Sodiomon Bienvenu Sirima is now a Senior Scientist and also the Scientific Director at the Groupe de Recherche Action en Santé (GRAS), a private health research institution established in 2008, accredited by the Ministry of Science and Technology of Burkina Faso, and actively partnering with the Ministry of Health.

During the last 25 years, Dr. Sirima has led several clinical studies and implemented research activities on infectious diseases, including malaria. These studies have generated over 170 scientific peer-reviewed publications. Thus, he became one of the key opinion leaders in the malaria field at the national and international levels. For more than 15 years, he has been sitting on the Burkina Faso National Malaria Control Programme Piloting Committee.

Honors, awards, and honorary degrees:
• Fellow of Africa Academy of Science (since June 2021);
• Knight of the National Order of Burkina Faso, awarded by the President of Burkina Faso (December 2015);
• Recognition for the significant contribution to WHO/TDR/Multilateral Initiative on Malaria during the 20th-anniversary conference (2018);
• Recognition by the Federation of African Immunological Societies for contribution to malaria candidate vaccine field testing during Dakar meeting (2007);
• Price for the best (Ph.D.) thesis in Tropical Medicine Fondazione IVO DE CARNERI award (Italy, June 2002).

Dr. Sodiomon Bienvenu Sirima is a Principal Investigator/Co-Investigator for dozens of epidemiological and community-based studies and more than two dozen ICH-GCP compliant clinical trials, including vaccine early phases trials. These studies have been funded by grants from the most important international agencies from Africa, Europe, America, and Asia, which fund studies or trials for tropical and infectious diseases. Finding from some of Dr. Sirima's studies has led to policy change.

Dr. Sodiomon Bienvenu Sirima has made great contribution to generating findings and tools for evidence of policy changes in Plasmodium malaria control strategies. Studies finding has have been used as evidence for WHO to adopt several aspects of testing in the field of the community case management strategy of malaria in children under five years, which, a let to WHO recommendation of this strategy, the policy changes in the prevention of malaria during pregnancy, the decision on the first-line drug for treating malaria case management.

He has contributed significantly to the production of knowledge in the field of malaria first-line drugs, the immune-pathogeny of malaria, and his contribution to the development of new antimalaria and malaria vaccines.

Dr. Sirima is also nominated for his exemplary leadership in setting platforms and building capacities for malaria research in limited resources settings complying with international standards.

In recognition of his competence in malaria research, Dr. Sodiomon Bienvenu Sirima has been appointed as a member of the Multilateral Initiative on Malaria Task Force, an expert of the WHO/TDR on Malaria Home Management, an expert on the WHO Initiative on Vaccine Research, a member of the Scientific Committee of the African Malaria Network Trust (AMANET), and a member and the Chair of the EDCTP partnership board. With this background and experience, Dr. Sirima is well qualified to serve as a partner to RTI International to implement Integrated Health Services in Burkina Faso.

As a global acknowledgment of his contribution to the applied research field, in 2021, Dr. Sodiomon Bienvenu Sirima has been elected as a fellow of the Africa Academic of Sciences.