Ciro de Quadros, MD, MPH, a global health leader whose vaccine work contributed to the elimination of polio in the Americas in the early 1990s, passed away on May 28, 2014, at his home in Washington, D.C. He was 74 years old.
Dr. de Quadros joined the faculty of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in 1991 as an adjunct professor of international health. He also served as co-chair of the Rotavirus Organization of Technical Allies (ROTA) Council, a project of the School’s International Vaccine Access Center.
Throughout his distinguished career, Dr. de Quadros held numerous senior level positions. At the time of his death, he was the Sabin Vaccine Institute’s executive vice president and director of vaccine advocacy and education. From 1970 – 1976, Dr. de Quadros served as the World Health Organization’s chief epidemiologist for the smallpox eradication program in Ethiopia. Under his leadership as director of the Expanded Program on Immunization for the Pan American Health Organization, vaccine coverage was extended to 95 percent of the population, which resulted in the elimination of polio from the Americas in 1991. Dr. de Quadros was also at the time of his death on the faculty of the George Washington University School of Medicine.
His career intersected with the School’s before he joined the faculty. As a young Epidemic Intelligence Service officer with the Centers for Disease Control, Dr. de Quadros served alongside Dean Emeritus D. A. Henderson, MD, MPH ’60, as part of WHO’s smallpox eradication campaign, first in his native Brazil and then as director of field operations in Ethiopia. The School awarded him the Dean’s Medal in 1988 for hisleadership and achievements to better the health of children in the Americas.
Dr. de Quadros was preparing to teach at the upcoming Graduate Summer Institute of Epidemiology and Biostatistics.
Further announcements concerning Dr. de Quadros can be found on the websites of the JHSPH International Vaccine Access Center and the Rotavirus Organization of Technical Allies Council. The Sabin Vaccine Institute has set up an In Memoriam page.
# # #
Media contacts for Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health: Susan Sperry at 410-955-6919 or ssperry1@jhu.edu or Barbara Benham at 410-614-6029 or bbenham1@jhu.edu.
