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Dr. Zulfiqar Bhutta awarded 2025 Virchow Prize for global child health leadership
Summary:
Bhutta has been recognized for his leadership in advancing maternal, newborn and child health equity.
The Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids) is proud to announce that Dr. Zulfiqar Bhutta has been named the recipient of the 2025 Virchow Prize.
The Virchow Prize honours individuals and organisations for their outstanding innovations, contributions and lifetime achievements in improving global health on the path to ‘health for all’. Bhutta was recognized for his significant leadership in advancing maternal, newborn and child health equity through community-centred, evidence-based research.
“I am deeply honoured to receive the Virchow Prize,” says Bhutta, Co-Director of the SickKids Centre for Global Child Health and Senior Scientist in the Child Health Evaluative Sciences program. “This recognition affirms the essential role of evidence-based research and community partnership in policies and practices that make a tangible difference in global health.”
Over the past three decades, Bhutta has conducted transformative interdisciplinary research that has informed community-based interventions, nutrition and health systems strengthening efforts worldwide. His work includes collaborations with the World Health Organization, UNICEF, PMNCH (Partnership for Maternal, Newborn & Child Health), as well as the International Pediatric Association (IPA).
In addition to his role at Sickkids, Bhutta is the Robert Harding Chair in Global Child Health and Founding Director of the Institute for Global Health and Development at Aga Khan University. His contributions to improving health systems and promoting equity globally has earned him numerous accolades, including the Roux Prize, the John Dirks Canada Gairdner Global Health Award, IPA’s Lifetime Achievement Award, and his recent appointment as an Officer of the Order of Canada.
“Dr. Bhutta’s dedication to improving child and maternal health is felt in every corner of the world,” says Dr. Stephen Scherer, Chief of Research at SickKids. “This award is a well-deserved celebration of his global leadership, commitment to research excellence and tireless advocacy.”
Bhutta shares the 2025 honour, which includes a prize of €500,000, with Dr. Quarraisha Abdool Karim, Professor at Columbia University and Associate Scientific Director of CAPRISA (Centre for the AIDS Programme of Research in South Africa). The recipients will be formally recognized at a ceremony in Berlin, Germany on October 11.