Albert Ko, MD
Raj and Indra Nooyi Professor of Public Health and Professor of Epidemiology (Microbial Diseases) and of Medicine (Infectious Diseases)Cards
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
Epidemiology of Microbial Diseases
ProfessorPrimaryInfectious Diseases
ProfessorSecondary
Other Departments & Organizations
- Center for Infection and Immunity
- Climate Change and Health
- CPIRT - Center for Pulmonary Injury, Inflammation, Repair and Therapeutics
- Epidemiology of Microbial Diseases
- Global Health Studies
- Infectious Diseases
- Internal Medicine
- Microbiology
- Yale Combined Program in the Biological and Biomedical Sciences (BBS)
- Yale Institute for Global Health
- Yale Medicine
- Yale School of Public Health
- Yale Ventures
- YSPH Global Health Concentration
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 Research Interests
Public Health Interests
Academic Achievements & Community Involvement
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
Board Certifications
Internal Medicine
- Certification Organization
- AB of Internal Medicine
- Original Certification Date
- 1994
Yale Medicine News
News & Links
Media
- Leptospira adhering to mammalian host cells
- Resident clearing out open sewer.
- Resident showing level of flooding
News
- November 19, 2024Source: Yale Daily News
Yale experts explain Lassa fever
- October 29, 2024Source: ABC News
What to know about Lassa fever after Iowa resident dies of the rare disease
- October 14, 2024Source: Yale Daily News
What is XEC, the new COVID-19 variant?
- September 18, 2024Source: TODAY
New XEC COVID Variant Is on the Rise. What Are Its Symptoms, and Will It Cause a Surge?