Director of CVD-Mali, Professor Sow is a medical doctor and epidemiologist. He has spent his career working to improve the lives of Malians and in the course of that work has received numerous honours, including the French Legion of Honor and the National Order of Merit in 2017 for his work on the Ebola epidemic. He also received the 2000 Paul Laviron Prize in Tropical Medicine from the University of Marseille (France) and was the Commemorative Fund Lecturer of the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene in 2006.

Professor Sow was Minister of Health and Public Hygiene for Mali between April 2017 and May 2019 and instituted a series of visionary health sector reforms, to provide free antenatal and maternal healthcare as well as free care for children under five years old. In 2020, he was appointed WHO Special Envoy for Covid-19 in West Africa.