Bangokpost : Dr.Krisna won Magsaysay Award

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Dr.Samai Jai-Indr

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Jul 11, 2009, 9:31:52 PM7/11/09

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THAI AIDS DRUG PIONEER WINS AWARD

Published: 12/07/2009 at 12:00 AM

Krisana Kraisintu, who helps poor African nations fight Aids and malaria using a herbal drug, has been named as a recipient of the Ramon Magsaysay award for public service this year.

HONOURED: Krisana Kraisintu

The winner will be officially announced on Aug 3 and the ceremony will be held on Aug 31.

Known as the inventor of the Aids drug GPO-VIR, the 57-year-old pharmacist was the first Thai to have applied her expertise in pharmaceutical sciences to make life-saving drugs and transfer manufacturing know-how to African countries.

The drug was also made available here to treat Thai Aids patients.

Dr Krisana is thought to have been delighted and grateful to win the award, Asia's equivalent of the Nobel Peace Prize. She will continue to carry on fighting to make health care services accessible to a wider population.

Born on Feb 21, 1952, Dr Krisana, from Surat Thani, earned a bachelor's degree in pharmacy from Chiang Mai University in 1975. She furthered her studies in England and received a doctorate in pharmaceutical chemistry from Bath University in 1981.

In May 1983, she started her work at the Government Pharmaceutical Organisation (GPO). In 1989, she founded the GPO's Research and Development Institute, becoming its first director before resigning in 2002.

She went to Africa to help poor countries set up herbal drug-making factories to manufacture Aids and malaria drugs.

In 2004, she was awarded the Global Scientist Award from the Letten Foundation in Norway.

Last year, she was named Person of the Year in Asia by Reader's Digest magazine.