Speakers

Dr. Ko is the Raj and Indra Nooyi Professor of Public Health at the Yale School of Public Health and Collaborating Researcher at the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation, Brazilian Ministry of Health. He served as Chair of the Department of Epidemiology of Microbial Diseases at Yale (2010-2021) after being stationed with the Brazilian Ministry of Health in Brazil for 15 years. His research centers on the health problems that have emerged due to rapid urbanization and social inequity. Dr. Ko coordinates an urban health program, which focuses on delineating the role of marginalization, urban ecology, and climate on infectious diseases in urban informal settlements and implementing community-driven interventions. He and his team have mobilized public health and research responses to multiple epidemics, which include meningitis, leptospirosis, dengue and Zika virus infection and associated birth defects. He is a member of the WHO R&D Blueprint Working Group and Taskforce for Zika Virus and the NASEM Forum of Microbial Threats. During the pandemic, he was the co-chair of Reopen Connecticut Advisory Group which developed the state’s COVID-19 response plan and served as advisor to Governor Lamont, in addition to providing support to the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation for its pandemic response in Brazil.