Ciro de Quadros

Ciro A. de Quadros ( born 1940 in Rio Pardo ) is a Brazilian physician (epidemiology ), which contributed to the eradication of polio in the developing countries to substantially campaigns WHO and the Pan American Health Organization ( PAHO ).

De Quadros studied medicine at the Catholic School of Medicine ( UFCSPA ) in Porto Alegre with MD degree in 1968 and received a Master's degree (MPH ) in Public Health (Public Health) at the National School of Public Health in Rio de Janeiro. First, he was stationed for the Brazilian health authorities in a small village in the Amazon, where he organized systematic vaccination campaigns. From 1970, he led a campaign to eradicate smallpox in Ethiopia on behalf of WHO. From 1977 he was at the PAHO in Washington DC responsible for vaccination campaigns in America ( Director, Division of Vaccines and Immunization ), particularly against polio in South America, which was very successful there, even though he initially came on strong skepticism. But he could point to successes such as the national Immunization Days (NID ) in Brazil in 1980, in which around 20 million children under 5 years were on a weekend an oral polio vaccine. As a result, the monthly rate of new cases in Brazil of approximately 100 to 200 to below 20, 1989 decreased polio was eradicated entirely in Brazil. Similar success was achieved in Cuba and in 1985 a program to eradicate polio in South America was launched by PAHO that de Quadros also organized in politically unstable countries such as Peru. 1994 polio was officially declared eradicated for South America.

Since 2003 he has been at the Sabin Vaccine Institute ( SVI ) in Washington, DC, where he is Director of International Programs and Executive Vice President (2010). He is also Associate Adjunct Professor at Johns Hopkins University, School of Hygiene and Public Health, Adjunct Professor at Case Western Reserve University and George Washington University ( Department of Tropical Medicine ).

In 1993 he received the Prince Mahidol Award and the 2000 Albert B. Sabin Gold Medal. In 1999 he received the highest civilian Brazilian Order of the Rio Branco Order. In 2010 he received the Premio Carlos IV of the Royal Spanish Academy of Medicine for his pioneering role in the monitoring of anti- smallpox campaigns and his role in the eradication of polio and measles in the Americas.