Cesar Victora

Cesar G. Victora (born 1952) is a Brazilian-born epidemiologist, academic and specialist in child health and nutrition. He is an Emeritus Professor of Epidemiology at the Federal University of Pelotas and holds or has held honorary appointments at the Universities of Harvard, Oxford, and Johns Hopkins, and at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.

Victora's research has driven global policies on breastfeeding and early nutrition. His research includes Multi-Country Evaluation of IMCI and the COHORTS collaboration. Moreover, he was the joint principal investigator of the three Pelotas Birth Cohort Studies conducted in 1982, 1993 and 2004.

Victora has served on various international committees for the World Health Organization and UNICEF in the areas of child health and nutrition. In 2024, he was elected to the Royal Society as a foreign member.

Education and training Victora was born in São Gabriel, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil on 28 March 1952. He graduated in medicine at the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul in 1976, when he began a one-year-long residency in community health at the Murialdo Health Centre, Secretaria da Saúde do Rio Grande do Sul. The next year he began teaching at Federal University of Pelotas. His Ph.D. thesis was entitled The epidemiology of child health in Southern Brazil. The relationships between mortality, nutrition, health care and agricultural development. He completed his Ph.D. in 1983.

In 1980's, Victora conducted the first study showing the importance of exclusive breastfeeding for preventing infant mortality. His findings contributed to global policy recommendations by UNICEF and the World Health Organization for mothers to breastfeed their infants exclusively for the first six months of life. Victora's research during this time helped understand how the first 1000 days influence the lifelong outcomes such as chronic illnesses and human capital. In 1996, he became the head of the WHO Collaborating Centre for Nutrition in the area of Maternal and Child Nutrition at the Federal University of Pelotas. The same year he was also given the title of Honorary Professor at Department of Epidemiology, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. He coordinated the Lancet/Bellagio Child Survival Series in 2003 and later became one of the founding members of Countdown to 2015: Maternal, Newborn and Child Health initiative.

Victora began teaching at Bloomberg School of Public Health, Johns Hopkins University in 2007. In 2008, he stepped down from his position of the Head of the WHO Collaborating Centre at the Federal University of Pelotas. Victora became professor emeritus at the Federal University of Pelotas in 2009 and in 2012, Oxford University made him an Honorary Fellow.

At the Federal University of Pelotas, Victora coordinates the International Center for Equity in Health. He has over 680 peer-reviewed publications and is a member of the editorial boards of several journals, including The Lancet. More recently, his long-term birth cohorts documented the benefits of breastfeeding for adult intelligence, education and income. Victora also made important contributions on how to evaluate the impact of health programs on child mortality, and on the study of social inequalities in child health. As of 2017, he currently leads the International Center for Equity in Health.

Personal life Victora's work is based in Pelotas where he lives with his wife Mariangela Silveira, an obstetrician. His son, Gabriel Victora is a professor at Rockefeller University and a 2017 MacArthur Fellow.

Honors and awards 1992 - Sendas National Health Prize, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil 1996 - State Medical Prize (1st Edition), State Health Council and State Secretariat of Health, Rio Grande do Sul State, Brazil 2001 - Renowned Researcher Prize (Health Sector), Rio Grande do Sul State Research Foundation 2005 - Awarded the honorary title of "Citizen of Pelotas", by the City Mayor, Bernardo de Souza 2005 - Conrado Wessel Prize in Medicine 2006 - Elected as full member of the Brazilian Academy of Sciences 2008 - National Order of Scientific Merit Medal, having been awarded the degree of “Comendador” of the Brazilian Republic 2008 - Carso Institute Award for Personal Trajectory in Health Research 2008 - Pan American Health and Education Foundation's Abraham Horwitz Award for Leadership in Inter-American Health 2010 - National Order of Medical Merit Medal, having been awarded the degree of “Comendador” of the Brazilian Republic 2010 - Global Pediatric Research Award by Hospital for Sick Children 2016 - Prize of the 54th Legislature, State Assembly of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. 2017 - John Dirks Canada Gairdner Global Health Award 2017 - Patricia Martens Annual Award for Excellence in Breastfeeding Research by Journal of Human Lactation, International Lactation Consultants Association 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021 - Highly-Cited Scientist, Clarivate/Web of Science (among the top 1% of the world's scientists in his field) 2020 - Science and Technology Prize, CBMM (Companhia Brasileira de Metalurgia e Mineração). 2021 - Richard Doll Prize, International Epidemiological Association 2023 - National Order of Scientific Merit Medal, having been awarded the degree of Great Cross of the Brazilian Republic 2023 - Almirante Alvaro Alberto Medal, Brazil Navy/National Council for Scientific and Technological Development 2024 - Elected as Foreign Member of the Royal Society, United Kingdom