Public Health Heroes Awards Ceremony

Ciro de Quadros for his work to rid the world of infectious diseases.

Ciro de Quadros, M.D., M.P.H., has dedicated his career to freeing the world of infectious diseases, especially those that disproportionately affect the health and social development of the world’s poorer countries. A pioneer in developing effective strategies for surveillance and containment, de Quadros served as the World Health Organization’s chief epidemiologist for smallpox eradication in Ethiopia in the 1970s. Following the global eradication of smallpox, he became director of the Division of Vaccines and Immunization for the Pan American Health Organization, for whom he successfully directed efforts to eradicate poliomyelitis and measles from the Western Hemisphere.

Since 2003, de Quadros has led Albert B. Sabin Vaccine Institute’s international immunization advocacy programs, with a special emphasis on rotavirus and rubella in Latin America and the Caribbean. He is on faculty at Johns Hopkins School of Hygiene and Public Health and the schools of medicine at Case Western Reserve University and George Washington University. He publishes and presents at conferences throughout the world and has received several international awards, including the 1993 Prince Mahidol Award of Thailand, the 2000 Albert B. Sabin Gold Medal, the Order of Rio Branco from his native Brazil, and most recently, election into the national Institute of Medicine.

AWARD PRESENTER David Brandling-Bennett, M.D.

David Brandling-Bennett, M.D., is senior program officer in the Infectious Diseases Division of the Global Health Program at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. He has lived and worked in Central America, Thailand, and Kenya, where he studied the epidemiology, prevention, and control of tropical diseases, including malaria, and helped to establish and conduct training programs in epidemiology. He has worked with vaccine-preventable diseases for the Centers for Disease Control and the Pan American Health Organization/World Health Organization’s regional office for the Americas, for which he served as head of epidemiology and director of communicable diseases until 1995, when he became the organization’s deputy director. He has been with the Gates Foundation since August 2003.

THE CHALLENGE Protecting the World from Infectious Disease

The world’s last endemic case of smallpox was reported in Somalia in 1977; the Western Hemisphere’s last case of poliomyelitis was in 1977; and the Pan American Health Organization anticipates eradicating rubella in the Americas by 2010.

Through its master’s and doctoral programs in infectious disease, the School has a long history of training public health professionals dedicated to meeting the challenges of the world’s emerging and reemerging infectious threats.

The School’s experienced faculty have been in the laboratory and in the field, teasing out the secrets of infectious disease pathogenesis and transmission and providing a basis of understanding necessary for development of therapeutics and vaccines. Faculty have established novel approaches to monitoring viral vectors; discovered the mechanism for replication of dengue fever; sequenced the genomes for chlamydia trachomatis; genetically engineered listeria bacteria in pursuit of a cancer vaccine; documented the rise of antibiotic-resistant strains of tuberculosis; and developed a low-cost method of replicating the polymerase chain reaction procedure that amplifies DNA.

Valued for their expertise, faculty advise globally on such issues as epidemiological patterns of HIV/AIDS; opportunistic pairing of infectious diseases; and the use of technology to monitor and control the transmission of water-borne disease.

Several research centers based at the School focus on practical matters in managing disease outbreaks. The Centers for Disease Control-funded Center for Infectious Disease Preparedness educates and trains frontline public health staff to detect, investigate, and respond to microbial threats. The International Training and Research In Emerging Infectious Diseases program, one of six National Institute of Health Fogarty International Centers for Advanced Study in the Health Sciences housed at the School, has been working with physicians, public health professionals, microbiologists, and epidemiologists in Latin America to develop a training and research infrastructure in the region.

THE SCHOOL OF PUBLIC HEALTH RESPONDS

Through its master's and doctoral programs in infectious disease, the School has a long history of training public health professionals dedicated to meeting the challenges of the world’s emerging and reemerging infectious threats.

The School's experienced faculty have been in the laboratory and in the field, teasing out the secrets of infectious disease pathogenesis and transmission and providing a basis of understanding necessary for development of therapeutics and vaccines. Faculty have established novel approaches to monitoring viral vectors; discovered the mechanism for replication of dengue fever; sequenced the genomes for chlamydia trachomatis; genetically engineered listeria bacteria in pursuit of a cancer vaccine; documented the rise of antibiotic-resistant strains of tuberculosis; and developed a low-cost method of replicating the polymerase chain reaction procedure that amplifies DNA.

Valued for their expertise, faculty advise globally on such issues as epidemiological patterns of HIV/AIDS; opportunistic pairing of infectious diseases; and the use of technology to monitor and control the transmission of water-borne disease.

Several research centers based at the School focus on practical matters in managing disease outbreaks. The Centers for Disease Control-funded Center for Infectious Disease Preparedness educates and trains frontline public health staff to detect, investigate, and respond to microbial threats. The International Training and Research In Emerging Infectious Diseases program, one of six National Institute of Health Fogarty International Centers for Advanced Study in the Health Sciences housed at the School, has been working with physicians, public health professionals, microbiologists, and epidemiologists in Latin America to develop a training and research infrastructure in the region.


2005 International Hero - Ciro de Quadros, M.D., M.P.H.		Related Links Sabin Vaccine Institute Pan American Health Organization
Ciro de Quadros for his work to rid the world of infectious diseases. Ciro de Quadros, M.D., M.P.H., has dedicated his career to freeing the world of infectious diseases, especially those that disproportionately affect the health and social development of the world’s poorer countries. A pioneer in developing effective strategies for surveillance and containment, de Quadros served as the World Health Organization’s chief epidemiologist for smallpox eradication in Ethiopia in the 1970s. Following the global eradication of smallpox, he became director of the Division of Vaccines and Immunization for the Pan American Health Organization, for whom he successfully directed efforts to eradicate poliomyelitis and measles from the Western Hemisphere. Since 2003, de Quadros has led Albert B. Sabin Vaccine Institute’s international immunization advocacy programs, with a special emphasis on rotavirus and rubella in Latin America and the Caribbean. He is on faculty at Johns Hopkins School of Hygiene and Public Health and the schools of medicine at Case Western Reserve University and George Washington University. He publishes and presents at conferences throughout the world and has received several international awards, including the 1993 Prince Mahidol Award of Thailand, the 2000 Albert B. Sabin Gold Medal, the Order of Rio Branco from his native Brazil, and most recently, election into the national Institute of Medicine. AWARD PRESENTER David Brandling-Bennett, M.D. David Brandling-Bennett, M.D., is senior program officer in the Infectious Diseases Division of the Global Health Program at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. He has lived and worked in Central America, Thailand, and Kenya, where he studied the epidemiology, prevention, and control of tropical diseases, including malaria, and helped to establish and conduct training programs in epidemiology. He has worked with vaccine-preventable diseases for the Centers for Disease Control and the Pan American Health Organization/World Health Organization’s regional office for the Americas, for which he served as head of epidemiology and director of communicable diseases until 1995, when he became the organization’s deputy director. He has been with the Gates Foundation since August 2003. THE CHALLENGE Protecting the World from Infectious Disease The world’s last endemic case of smallpox was reported in Somalia in 1977; the Western Hemisphere’s last case of poliomyelitis was in 1977; and the Pan American Health Organization anticipates eradicating rubella in the Americas by 2010. Through its master’s and doctoral programs in infectious disease, the School has a long history of training public health professionals dedicated to meeting the challenges of the world’s emerging and reemerging infectious threats. The School’s experienced faculty have been in the laboratory and in the field, teasing out the secrets of infectious disease pathogenesis and transmission and providing a basis of understanding necessary for development of therapeutics and vaccines. Faculty have established novel approaches to monitoring viral vectors; discovered the mechanism for replication of dengue fever; sequenced the genomes for chlamydia trachomatis; genetically engineered listeria bacteria in pursuit of a cancer vaccine; documented the rise of antibiotic-resistant strains of tuberculosis; and developed a low-cost method of replicating the polymerase chain reaction procedure that amplifies DNA. Valued for their expertise, faculty advise globally on such issues as epidemiological patterns of HIV/AIDS; opportunistic pairing of infectious diseases; and the use of technology to monitor and control the transmission of water-borne disease. Several research centers based at the School focus on practical matters in managing disease outbreaks. The Centers for Disease Control-funded Center for Infectious Disease Preparedness educates and trains frontline public health staff to detect, investigate, and respond to microbial threats. The International Training and Research In Emerging Infectious Diseases program, one of six National Institute of Health Fogarty International Centers for Advanced Study in the Health Sciences housed at the School, has been working with physicians, public health professionals, microbiologists, and epidemiologists in Latin America to develop a training and research infrastructure in the region. THE SCHOOL OF PUBLIC HEALTH RESPONDS Through its master's and doctoral programs in infectious disease, the School has a long history of training public health professionals dedicated to meeting the challenges of the world’s emerging and reemerging infectious threats. The School's experienced faculty have been in the laboratory and in the field, teasing out the secrets of infectious disease pathogenesis and transmission and providing a basis of understanding necessary for development of therapeutics and vaccines. Faculty have established novel approaches to monitoring viral vectors; discovered the mechanism for replication of dengue fever; sequenced the genomes for chlamydia trachomatis; genetically engineered listeria bacteria in pursuit of a cancer vaccine; documented the rise of antibiotic-resistant strains of tuberculosis; and developed a low-cost method of replicating the polymerase chain reaction procedure that amplifies DNA. Valued for their expertise, faculty advise globally on such issues as epidemiological patterns of HIV/AIDS; opportunistic pairing of infectious diseases; and the use of technology to monitor and control the transmission of water-borne disease. Several research centers based at the School focus on practical matters in managing disease outbreaks. The Centers for Disease Control-funded Center for Infectious Disease Preparedness educates and trains frontline public health staff to detect, investigate, and respond to microbial threats. The International Training and Research In Emerging Infectious Diseases program, one of six National Institute of Health Fogarty International Centers for Advanced Study in the Health Sciences housed at the School, has been working with physicians, public health professionals, microbiologists, and epidemiologists in Latin America to develop a training and research infrastructure in the region.