A Pakistani-American doctor has won the "Scientific Achievement Award 2016" from the Nato Science and Technology Organisation (STO) for his extraordinary performance in research on medical countermeasures against biological agents.

Nato's STO, the largest Nato organisation for defence science and technology honoured Dr Chotani with the prestigious distinction as part of the Research Task Group (RTG) for state-of-the-art research on medical countermeasures against biological agents.

Dr Chotani has worked in the healthcare industry, government and academia, advanced development of vaccines, therapeutic and diagnostic countermeasures, bio-surveillance etc.

As a senior scientist, Dr Chotani has spent more than 20 years in providing bio-security and public health expertise to both public agencies and private industry. He is a recognised expert in the identification, surveillance and diagnosis of human and zoonotic infectious diseases.

His success in the academic field included establishing & directing the Global Infectious Disease Surveillance and Alert System (GIDSAS) at John Hopkins University. At the John Hopkins applied Physics Laboratories, he was part of the team that designed the first Early Detection of Bio-terrorism system that became operational as ESSENCE at DOD.

In Pakistan, Dr Chotani helped in upgrading the early warning system at the National Institute of Health (NIH), re-developed and furbished the Epidemic Investigation Cell (EIC) with basic infrastructural needs as well as housed six qualified epidemiologists to assist in disease surveillance.

He has also played a very important role as the Consultant/Advisor to the Ministry of Health (MOH) in developing Pakistan's Influenza Preparedness Plan.

The Nato Achievement Award recognises the outstanding contributions made to Nato STO's sponsored activities that continue to widen STO's technological mandate.

-NNI