Professor Pedro Alonso, new member of the US National Academy of Medicine
Pedro Alonso, professor of the Department of Medicine of the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences of the University of Barcelona, and director of the WHO Global Malaria Programme, has been appointed new member of the US National Academy of Medicine. This recognition is considered as one of the highest honours in the field of health and medicine, and it honours those people who made important contributions to the advance of medical sciences, healthcare and public health, with a strong service commitment as professionals in the field of health.
Pedro Alonso, professor of the Department of Medicine of the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences of the University of Barcelona, and director of the WHO Global Malaria Programme, has been appointed new member of the US National Academy of Medicine. This recognition is considered as one of the highest honours in the field of health and medicine, and it honours those people who made important contributions to the advance of medical sciences, healthcare and public health, with a strong service commitment as professionals in the field of health.
The US National Academy of Medicine, which has just published the designation of 100 new members, highlights Pedro Alonsoʼs role as a visionary leader in the field of global health, “as director of the WHO Global Malaria Programme, he leads the development and implementation of policies, such as the recommendation for the use of the first vaccine against malaria. To establish key research centres in Mozambique and Barcelona, and to conduct innovative research on malaria prevention”.
As stated by Victor J. Dzau, president of the National Academy of Medicine, “this extraordinary group of new members is formed by exceptional academics and leaders who have been the first ones to respond to important challenges in public health, fight social inequalities and achieve innovative discoveries. Their experience will be vital to boosting the future of health and medicine for the benefit of all”.
Pedro Alonso: the fight against malaria
Pedro Alonso is an epidemiologist, expert on community medicine and public healthcare, and holds a doctorate in Medicine from the University of Barcelona. He expertised on diseases that affect the poorest populations worldwide. He started his major in the eighties in Gambia, where he assessed the efficiency of mosquito nets with insecticide as a preventive tool for malaria. He continued his research in Africa, specifically in Tanzania and Mozambique, contributing to the clinical development and the evaluation of the impact of a vaccine against malaria.
In 1996, with the support from the Spanish Agency for International Development (AECID), Alonso set up the Manhiça Health Research Centre (CISM) in Mozambique, one of the major success stories of Spanish cooperation in health in sub-Saharan Africa. CISM contributions to health research in poor countries have had a global impact, like it was the case of the malaria vaccine.
Founder of the Barcelona Centre for International Health Research (CRESIB) and the Barcelona Institute for Global Health (ISGlobal), Alonso was the head of service of International Health and Tropical Medicine at Hospital Clínic de Barcelona. His work aims to break the poverty-disease vicious cycle, with special interest in contributing to the development of research capacities in Africa. In October 2014 he was appointed director of the WHO Global Malaria Programme, to coordinate the efforts of this organism to control and eliminate malaria worldwide and establish rules, technical guidelines and support policies for those countries affected by the disease.