Ciro A. de Quadros, MD, MPH

Dr. Ciro A. de Quadros is the Director for International Programs at the Sabin Vaccine Institute (SVI) in Washington, D.C., a post he has held since 2003. He formerly served as Director of the Division of Vaccines and Immunization at the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) where he was responsible for advising PAHO Member Countries on the implementation of programs and activities related to vaccines and immunization, according to the policies and strategies outlined by the PAHO directing bodies. He is recognized among the group who pioneered surveillance and containment strategies that led to smallpox eradication. In addition to directing the successful efforts of polio eradication from the Western Hemisphere, he also directed the efforts to eradicate measles from the region.

Dr. de Quadros joined the World Health Organization (WHO) in 1970 where he held the position of chief epidemiologist, Smallpox Eradication Program, Inter-Regional Project, based in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. He was responsible for the technical and administrative supervision of the Smallpox Eradication Program in Ethiopia. In January 1977, he was transferred to PAHO to serve as advisor to the Communicable Diseases Department on the elaboration of the technical background for implementation of the Expanded Program on Immunization in the Region of the Americas.

In 1994 he was appointed Special Adviser to the Director General on matters related to the implementation of the Global Program for Vaccines (GPV), representing WHO in the Children's Vaccine Initiative (CVI) Governing Bodies. This assignment was taken in conjunction with the position of Director of Special Programs for Vaccines and Immunization held at the Pan American Health Organization, where he advised member governments in all matters related to vaccines and immunization, including issues related to vaccine research and development, production, quality control, vaccine licensing and introduction into national immunization programs. It also included the planning and implementation of programs aimed at the control and/or eradication of vaccine preventable diseases, including the organization of surveillance systems and laboratory support for diagnostics.

He is also a Member of the Board of Directors of the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative (IAVI), Member of the Board of Trustees of the Albert B. Sabin Vaccine Institute, Chairperson of the Monitoring Team of the Independent Review Committee (IRC) of the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization (GAVI) and chairperson of the Technical Advisory Group (TAG) on Vaccines and Immunizations of the Pan American Health Organization.

Dr. de Quadros is also an associate adjunct professor at the Johns Hopkins School of Hygiene and Public Health, and an adjunct professor in the Department of Tropical Medicine of the School of Medicine of George Washington University in Washington, D.C. He has published more than 100 papers, chapters, and articles, and has participated in and presented lectures in more than 100 conferences throughout the world. He is a member of the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies of the United States and is the recipient of prestigious international awards, including the 1993 Prince Mahidol Award of Thailand; the 1999 Order of Rio Branco, the highest civil award given by the Government of Brazil; the the 2000 Albert B. Sabin Gold Medal; the 2004 “Orden Civil de la Sanidad” from the Government of Spain; the 2005 University of California at Berkeley School of Public Health International Hero Award; and the Bernardo O’Higgins Order, the highest award given by the Government of Chile.

He completed his medical studies in Brazil in 1966 and received a master of public health degree from the National School of Public Health in Rio de Janeiro in 1968.