Cesar Victora

International Epidemiological Association

Cesar G. Victora is Emeritus Professor of Epidemiology at the Federal University of Pelotas in Brazil, where he works since 1977. He also has honorary appointments at Johns Hopkins University, the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, and Oxford University.  He has conducted extensive research in maternal and child health and nutrition, birth cohort studies, inequalities in health, and on the evaluation of the impact of major global health programs. Some of the studies he has contributed to include case-control studies on breastfeeding and infant mortality, the three Pelotas Birth Cohort Studies (1982, 1993 and 2004), the Multicenter Growth Reference Study which led to the WHO Child Growth Standards, several large-scale evaluation studies including the Multi-Country Evaluation of IMCI (Integrated Management of Childhood Illness),  and the COHORTS collaboration including the five longest-running birth cohort studies in developing countries. In 2003 he was one of the coordinators of the Lancet/Bellagio Child Survival Series, and in 2008 and 2013 of the two Lancet Series on Maternal and Child Nutrition. He is one of the founding members and current scientific coordinator of the “Countdown to 2015: Maternal, Newborn and Child Health” initiative aimed at monitoring the Millennium Development Goals for mothers and children. At the Federal University of Pelotas, he coordinates the International Center for Equity in Health. He has over 500 peer-reviewed publications and is a member of the editorial boards of several journals, including The Lancet. He is the President of the International Epidemiological Association (2011-14).