Cristina Possas

Cristina Possas de Albuquerque is a public health scientist working with infectious diseases from an eco-social perspective and have a long experience working as a policymaker in close cooperation with the scientific community and civil society organizations in the areas of public health and environment, approached from the perspectives of human rights and social justice.

She has worked for more than five decades in several national and international positions with the scientific community and civil society organizations, and with the Ford Foundation in Brazil, in developing and implementing public policy, designing and conducting scientific and technological assessment in health and environment, and developing and managing international cooperation and building capacity within the international scientific community and civil society organizations in Brazil and globally.

For ten years, she has been National Director of the Research and Technological Development Unit at the Brazilian AIDS Programin the Brazilian Ministry of Health, which has been recognized globally as an outstanding public health initiative with innovative approaches to the pandemics, always centering on free and universal access to prevention and treatment. She was invited by the Director of the National AIDS Program to conceive and create a new and innovative Research and Technological Development Unit in the Program’s structure.

Recent Experience

• Full professor, Fiocruz (Oswaldo Cruz Foundation), 1985-present

Coordinated Master’s, Doctoral and Post-Doctoral Programs in Public Health and Clinical Research on Infectious Diseases.

• Director Research and Technological Development Unit, National AIDS Program, Ministry of Health, Brazil, 2002-2011
• National Executive Secretary, National Technical Biosafety Commission (CTNBio), Ministry of Science and Technology, Brazil, 2001-2002
• Takemi Fellow in International Health, Harvard School of Public Health, 1990-1994
• Fulbright Fellow, Harvard University, 1990-1994
• Visiting Scientist, New Diseases Group, Harvard School of Public Health, 1994 - 2002

Education

• 1991 Post-doctoral, International Health, Harvard School of Public Health
• 1988 PhD in Public Health, National School of Public Health, FIOCRUZ
• 1980 Master’s Degree in Social Sciences, UNICAMP
• 1972 Doctor in Psychology, PUC-RIO

Major publications

• Articles: Nature Biotechnology, JAIDS, AIDS, Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, Journal of Virus Eradication, Trends in Microbiology, Vaccine
• Book chapters: National French Agency for AIDS and Viral Hepatitis Research, ANRS (ed.); US National Academy Press,
• Book: two best-sellers books adopted by Public Health and Medical Schools in Brazil - Epidemiology and Society: Structural Heterogeneity and Health, 1990 and Health and Labor: the Crisis of Social Welfare 1980, both edited by HUCITEC, SP
• Report: the World Bank

Awards and Honors

• French government medal in recognition for coordinating ANRS research site in Brazil; Honors, Best book on Social Welfare, Brazilian Society of Welfare Law; Harvard Takemi and Fulbright Fellowships; Research funds from CAPES, CNPq and FINEP in Brazil

Languages

• Fluencies in English, French, and Portuguese (native language).
• Proficiencies in Spanish and Italian