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Albert Ko, MD

Raj and Indra Nooyi Professor of Public Health and Professor of Epidemiology (Microbial Diseases) and of Medicine (Infectious Diseases)
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Additional Titles

Affiliated Faculty, Yale Institute for Global Health

Contact Info

Epidemiology of Microbial Diseases

P.O. Box 208034

New Haven, CT 06520-8034

United States

About

Titles

Raj and Indra Nooyi Professor of Public Health and Professor of Epidemiology (Microbial Diseases) and of Medicine (Infectious Diseases)

Affiliated Faculty, Yale Institute for Global Health

Biography

Dr. Albert Icksang Ko is the Raj and Indra Nooyi Professor of Public Health at the Yale School of Public Health and a Collaborating Researcher at the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation, Brazilian Ministry of Health. His research centers on the health problems that have emerged as a consequence of rapid urbanization and social inequity. Dr. Ko coordinates a research program in Brazil, which focuses on delineating the role of social marginalization, urban ecology and climate in the emergence of infectious disease threats in slum communities and informal settlements. He and his team have mobilized research capacity to develop and implement community-based interventions to epidemics of meningitis, leptospirosis, dengue, Zika virus infection and associated birth defects, and the current COVID-19 pandemic. Dr. Ko is also Program Director of the Fogarty/NIH Global Health Equity Scholars Program which provides research training opportunities for US and LMIC post and pre-doctoral fellows at collaborating international sites. He is a member of the WHO R&D Taskforce for Zika Virus and R&D Blueprint Working Group. During the pandemic, he served with Indra Nooyi as co-chair of Governor Lamont’s Reopen Connecticut Advisory Group. Dr. Ko continues to advise the Governor and the State on its pandemic prevention and control plan, in addition to supporting the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation in its COVID-19 response in Brazil.

Appointments

Education & Training

Infectious Disease Fellow
Massachusetts General Hospital (1997)
Postdoctoral Fellow
Weill Medical College of Cornell University (1997)
Resident
Brigham and Women's Hospital (1994)
MD
Harvard Medical School (1991)
BS
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (1981)

Research

Overview

  • Disease determinants for urban leptospirosis
  • Rapid serodiagnostic test for leptospirosis
  • Natural history of urban leptospirosis
  • Transmission of drug-resistant Streptococcus pneumoniae in Brazil
  • Genome-level protein microarray serodiagnostic antigen discovery in leptospirosis
  • Transmission dynamics of arboviral diseases including Zika, dengue and chikungunya
  • Natural history of congenital Zika syndrome
  • Randomized controlled trials to evaluate the effectiveness of vector control interventions on arboviral diseases
  • Fogarty International Clinical Research Fellows Program

Medical Subject Headings (MeSH)

Dengue; Epidemiology; Global Health; Infectious Disease Medicine; Leptospirosis; Meningitis, Bacterial; Urban Health

Research at a Glance

Yale Co-Authors

Frequent collaborators of Albert Ko's published research.

Publications

2024

Academic Achievements & Community Involvement

  • activity

    Urban Health Council of the Resident Associations of Pau da Lima

  • activity

    PLoS Neglected Tropical Disease

  • activity

    Global Virus Network

  • activity

    American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene

  • activity

    R&D Roadmap for Zika Virus

Clinical Care

Overview

Albert Ko, MD, is an infectious diseases specialist and epidemiologist whose research focuses on infectious rapid diseases that have emerged in urban slum populations as a consequence of rapid urbanization and social inequity. These diseases include Zika, dengue, bacterial meningitis, leptospirosis, and COVID-19.

During the pandemic, he served as co-chair of Governor Lamont’s Reopen Connecticut Advisory Group and he continues to advise state officials on disease prevention and control plans. Dr. Ko is also a collaborating researcher at the Brazilian Ministry of Health’s Oswaldo Cruz Foundation. He has worked in Brazil for more than 30 years; his projects are understanding the role that social marginalization, urban ecology, and climate play in the emergence of infectious diseases in urban slum communities and implementing community-based solutions.

Dr. Ko is the program director of the Fogarty/NIH Global Health Equity Scholars Program, which provides mentored global health research training fellowship in 24 sites in low- and middle-income countries. He is also a member of the World Health Organization’s research and development task force for Zika and the R&D Blueprint Working Group.

He is the Raj and Indra Nooyi Professor of Public Health and professor of epidemiology (microbial diseases) and medicine (infectious diseases) at Yale School of Medicine.

Clinical Specialties

Infectious Diseases

Board Certifications

  • Internal Medicine

    Certification Organization
    AB of Internal Medicine
    Original Certification Date
    1994

Yale Medicine News

Get In Touch

Contacts

Academic Office Number
Mailing Address

Epidemiology of Microbial Diseases

P.O. Box 208034

New Haven, CT 06520-8034

United States

Administrative Support

Locations