Cristina Possas de Albuquerque (Cristina Possas), PhD (5 June 1948 –), is a Brazilian public health scientist working with infectious diseases and emerging infectious diseases from an eco-social perspective. However, her approach to social ecosystem complexity is quite different from the four-fold eco-social approach of Harvard's Nancy Krieger in that she has proposed in a 2001 English-language article in the Brazilian Journal of Public Health Reports the concept of "social ecosystem health" where ecosystems are increasingly changed by social human activity, favoring the emergence of diseases, so the term "social" should precede the prefix "eco". Thus, she is known for (a) developing her new conceptual approach to social epidemiology, incorporating the economic concept of structural heterogeneity into an epidemiological model to identify the epidemiological profiles of heterogeneous populations in different social and economic strata and the conditions for emergence of diseases; (b) contributions of health policy and health reform in Brazil; and research on health transition, ecological change, complex systems, and emergence of new diseases.
She is a Takemi Fellow at Harvard University in Boston, where for 10 years she has been a Visiting Scientist and a Fulbright Fellow, and a professor at FIOCRUZ in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
As a Brazilian Brazilian public health scientist working with infectious diseases from an eco-social perspective, Cristina Possas de Albuquerque (Cristina Possas) has as a policymaker long worked closely with public health and environmental scientists and with human rights and social justice civil organizations.
She also is a full professor at FIOCRUZ in Brazil, where in 1998 she had earned a PhD in public health, and where she now does research on infectious diseases and teaches a course named "Scientific Methodology" in the Masters and Doctoral Programs.
She has been also a Professor of Health Policy at the National School of Public Health at the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation, Brazil. She was nominated in 1987 by the Brazilian Ministry of Health/Fiocruz to be the National Technical Coordinator of seven Groups supporting the Health Reform in Brazil, whose contributions were later incorporated into the new Brazilian 1988 Constitution.
For a decade, she also has been a Takemi Fellow at Harvard University, a Visiting Scientist and Fulbright Fellow, and a member of the Harvard New Diseases Group, coordinated by the late Richard Levins and by Tamara Awerbuch-Friedlander, collaborating with them and other outstanding members of the group in the organizing committee of the Woods Hole Conference on New Diseases, with articles with the group later published in a special supplement of the Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences on this conference and in other journals. She had held for 10 years a national position as the Head of the Research and Development Unit of the Brazilian National AIDS Program.
She has worked for more than five decades in several national and international positions with the scientific community and civil society organizations. For ten years, she had been National Director of the Research and Technological Development Unit at the Brazilian AIDS Program in 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.
She has given interviews on AIDS, dengue, and zika.
Full professor, FIOCRUZ (Oswaldo Cruz Foundation/Instituto Oswaldo Cruz), Brazil, 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
Visiting Scientist, New Diseases Group, Harvard School of Public Health, 1994–2002
Takemi Fellow in International Health, Harvard School of Public Health, 1990–1994
Fulbright Fellow, Harvard University, 1990-1994
FIOCRUZ
1985–present - Full professor and researcher at FIOCRUZ (Master, Doctoral and Post-Doctoral Programs in Clinical Research on Infectious Diseases). Scientific Advisor for the President of the Policy and Strategy Council of Bio-Manguinhos.
Positions:
2011 - 2015 - Director of Graduate Programs in Clinical Research on Infectious Diseases at INI FIOCRUZ (Master, Doctoral and Post-Doctoral Programs).
1999 - 2000 - Advisor and research coordinator, Vice-President Technological Development, FIOCRUZ.
1994 - 1996 - Director of Graduate Programs in Public Health
1987 - 1989 - Director, Nucleus of Special Studies for FIOCRUZ’s President
1985 - 1987 - Scientific advisor of FIOCRUZ; President and Coordinator of the National Technical Groups of Health Reform
1982 - 1983 - Visiting professor, ENSP-FIOCRUZ
NATIONAL TECHNICAL BIOSAFETY COMMISSION - CTNBio
2001 - 2002 - National Executive Secretary, National Technical Biosafety Commission – CTNBio, Ministry of Science and Technology.
NATIONAL AIDS PROGRAM
2002 - 2011 – Director, Research and Technological Development Unit National AIDS Program, Ministry of Health.
HARVARD UNIVERSITY
1990 - 1994 - Takemi Fellow in International Health, Harvard School of Public Health, Fulbright Fellow
1994 - 2002 - Visiting Scientist (annual appointments with Fulbright, Capes, CNPq and Harvard Fellowships).
STATE OF SÃO PAULO, BRAZIL
1982 - 1983 - Scientific advisor on Health Policy to the Direction of the Health Institute, and to the State Health Secretary of São Paulo
PUC OF CAMPINAS, SP.
1980 - 1984 - Professor and researcher, Catholic University of Campinas, Medical School, Undergraduate Program in Social Medicine
CITY OF CAMPINAS, SP
1976 - 1978 - Scientific advisor on Health Policy and Community Mobilization to the Health Secretary and to the Mayor of Campinas
UNICAMP, SP
1974 - 1976 - Professor and researcher, Medical School, Undergraduate Program in Social Medicine. Psychologist Pediatric Service, FCM- UNICAMP Health School Center in the District of Paulínia, Campinas, SP
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
Fluencies in Portuguese (native language), English, and French:
Portuguese: native language
English: fluent - Certificate of Proficiency University of Cambridge 3rd grade, England, 1968. Certificate of the Brazil-United States Institute, 1967 (six years course)
French: fluent - Université de Nancy, France. Diplôme Supérieur de Langue et Littérature françaises, 3e. degré, 1971. Alliance Française du Brésil, Diplôme d’Études Françaises, 5e. degré, littéraire, 1965 (9 years course)
Proficiencies in Spanish and Italian
Spanish: proficient
Italian: proficient
Dr. Possas's writings are in six broad areas:
Access to pharmaceuticals: intellectual property and human rights
Biotechnology, biosafety, and bioethics
Building AIDS research capacity and HIV cure
Dealing with vulnerable populations
Ecological change and emerging infectious diseases
Inequity, public policy, and social welfare
These numerous writings include:
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
Possas C. Larouze B. (eds.) 2013. Propriété intellectuelle et politiques publiques pour l’accès aux antirétroviraux dans les pays du Sud, ANRS, Collection Sciences Sociales et SIDA [Intellectual property and public policies for the access to antirretroviral drugs in the South countries], ANRS, Collection Social Sciences and AIDS].
Castro, A.C., Possas, C., Godinho, M.M (orgs.) 2011. Intellectual property in Portuguese-speaking countries: themes and perspectives, E-papers.
Homma, A., Possas, C. (eds.) 2000. Estado da arte e prioridades para pesquisa e desenvolvimento em leptospirose [State of the Art and Priorities for Research and Development in Leptospirosis]. FIOCRUZ.
Possas, C. 1989. Epidemiologia e Sociedade: Heterogeneidade Estrutural e Saúde no Brasil [Epidemiology and Society: Structural Heterogeneity and Health in Brazil. Hucitec, São Paulo.
Possas, C. 1980. Saúde e Trabalho: a Crise da Previdência Social [Health and Labour: the crisis of Social Welfare in Brazil], [2nd edition in 1989]. Hucitec. [Winner award of honors from the Brazilian Society of Social Welfare Rights in 1981 for the best book on Social Welfare].
Levins, R., Possas, C. et al. Preparing for New Infectious Diseases, Harvard Working Group on New and Resurgent Diseases, Department of Population and International Health. Harvard School of Public Health. Working Paper n.8, Boston, June 1993
Possas, C. Fiscal Crisis and Health Policy Strategies: Challenges to Health Reform in Brazil. Takemi Program in International Health, Department of Population and International Health, Harvard School of Public Health. Research Paper n. 75, Boston, 1992.
Possas, C. Sociological approach to epidemiological analysis: a tool for future health scenarios in developing countries. Takemi Program in International Health, Department of Population and International Health. Harvard School of Public Health. Research Paper n. 71, Boston, 1992
Possas, C. Health Problems of Poor Women Working in the Informal Sector, Literature Review: Brazil. In Khan, A., Qureshi, A.F., Pick, W., Mboi, N., Smith, K., Possas, C., Amazigo, U., Mere, A. and Odujinrin, O. Literature Reviews by the Takemi Fellows Network on Health Problems of Poor Women Working in the Informal Sector, Takemi Program in International Health, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, 1993.
Awards and honors
2015. Honour Award, Bio-Manguinhos/Fiocruz, III Annual Seminar
2015. Fellowship from LAPCLIN/AIDS, INI, FIOCRUZ
2013. Named by Nobel Prize Françoise Barré-Sinoussi member of two working groups at the International AIDS Society’s Initiative Towards an HIV Cure
2012. Named by FIOCRUZ/BioManguinhos coordinator of national research on vaccine patents
2011. Medal from National French Agency (French government medal) for AIDS and Viral Hepatitis Research (ANRS) for coordination of ANRS Brazilian research site in Brazil
2011. Recognition plaque from ENSP-FIOCRUZ for coordination of Graduate Programs
2011. Named member INCT-PPED (National Institute for Science and Technology in Public Policies, Strategies and Development) board, Institute of Economics, UFRJ
2011. Director funded Research Fellowship, INI, FIOCRUZ
2011. Named by Global HIV Vaccine Enterprise and WHO AIDS Vaccine Program member of organizing committee for the Octave Workshop in Brazil on HIV vaccine trial design and analysis
2009. Named by IAVI’s President member of IAVI’s Policy Advisory Committee
2002. Named by Diretor of AIDS Program Director for the World Bank national research funding to the Brazilian Ministry of Health, AIDS III Program
2001. Named by Minister of Science and Technology Coordinator of the National Code of Bioethics in Genetic Manipulations, with ministerial funding
2001. Named by Minister of Science and Technology Brazilian representative in the Intergovernmental Meeting of the Biosafety Protocol of Cartagena (ICCP-3), Convention on Biological Diversity the Hague, Netherlands
1993. CNPq Scientific Productivity Fellowship
1993. Visiting Scientist appointment, funded by Harvard University.
1993. Member, The New York Academy of Sciences
1992. Takemi Fellow, Harvard University.
1991. Fulbright Fellowship, Harvard University.
1991. Capes Fellowship, Harvard University
1990. Named member CNPq scientific board, elected by scientific community in public health
1989. FINEP (Financiadora de Estudos e Projetos) grant, Coordinator National Multicentric Project Evaluation Health Systems, FIOCRUZ, RJ
1987. Lessa Bastos Award for best presentation on Intoxication and Poisoning in Brazil, Brazilian Society of Toxicology.
1986. Named by Minister of Health member of the Advisory Committee for the 8th National Health Conference
1984. Fellowship from Italian government for specialization in occupational epidemiology, Clinica del Lavoro. Università degli Studi di Milano
1983. Capes Fellowship, Visiting professor ENSP-FIOCRUZ
1983. FINEP research grant on Health System Evaluation, coordinating 7 subprojects, Medical School, PUC-Campinas, SP
1981. Prize, Brazilian Society of Social Welfare Law, Honors, Best Book on Social Welfare
1974. Fellowship from Kellogg Foundation's fund to the Laboratory of Medical Education (LEMC), Medical School, UNICAMP.
