Dr. Leopold Aminde: GBD Emerging Researcher Award winner 2021

We are pleased to present the inaugural GBD Emerging Researcher Award to Dr. Leopold Aminde for innovative use of burden of disease research. Dr. Aminde is a Cameroonian physician and postdoctoral research fellow at the School of Medicine, Griffith University, Australia. He also serves as Secretary General at Clinical Research Education, Networking & Consultancy (CRENC), Cameroon – a research organization with the mission of improving individual and community health through evidence-based interventions in low- and middle-income countries.

Dr. Aminde’s research has primarily focused on non-communicable diseases, particularly cardiovascular disease. This work includes his PhD thesis on cost-effectiveness of preventive interventions for cardiovascular disease as well as his MD thesis on the epidemiology and outcomes of patients with pulmonary hypertension in two cardiovascular centers in Cameroon. 

Dr. Aminde has used global burden of disease data and methods to estimate the impact of salt reduction on cardiovascular disease and premature mortality, as well as the cost-effectiveness of salt reduction interventions in Cameroon, publishing pioneering research for the country. He applied methods such as multi-state life table models and DisMod-MR to derive epidemiological parameters like case fatality for various diseases while maintaining consistency in other parameters like incidence, prevalence, and mortality.

In his current work, Dr. Aminde is expanding his focus beyond Cameroon and Africa to examine non-communicable diseases in Asian countries like Vietnam and Indonesia. He continues to use GBD data and methods as he works on new research in salt reduction and its impact on the burden of stroke and health care costs. He has also contributed to several GBD publications, such as Burden of non-communicable diseases in sub-Saharan Africa, 1990–2017. He regularly reviews articles for international journals, and is a member of the editorial board for BMC Cardiovascular Disorders and BMC Public Health (Chronic disease epidemiology) journals. He has also served as Guest and Academic Editor for Frontiers in Public Health and PLOS Medicine journals respectively.

He is a member of multiple international societies including the High Blood Pressure Research Council of Australia, International Society of Hypertension, and the International Society for Pharmacoeconomics and Outcomes Research. In recognition of his work in public health research and prevention, he was elected to Fellowship through Distinction at the Faculty of Public Health, United Kingdom.

Congratulations to Dr. Aminde for your ongoing applications of GBD research and extraordinary contributions to public health!

Do you know an early-career professional who has contributed to innovative burden of disease research? Nominate them for the 2022 GBD Emerging Researcher Award!