Cristiana Toscano

Dr Toscano is a Medical Epidemiologist and currently a Professor of Epidemiology and Public Health at the Federal University of Goiás/Brazil, where she heads the department of Public Health. She received her medical degree (MD) and Master of Sciences (MSc) from the University of São Paulo in Brazil, where she also received training as a resident and fellow in Infectious Diseases. After completing the field epidemiologist training program as an Epidemic Intelligence Service (EIS) fellow at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), she returned to Brazil where she worked at the Brazilian Ministry of Health on Public Health Program Evaluation and Health Technology Assessment. Dr Toscano then pursued a Ph.D. in Epidemiology and post-doctoral training in Health Technology Assessment at the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul in Brazil. In addition, she holds a Post graduate certificate in Health Economics from the University of York, in the UK.

Dr Toscano has over 2 decades of work in global immunization, having rejoined the CDC with the Global Immunization Program, when she was detailed to the Pan-American Health Organization (PAHO) supporting immunization program implementation, measles elimination activities, and vaccine-preventable disease surveillance strengthening in many countries in Latin America. She later joined the World Health Organization (WHO) being responsible for structuring the global surveillance network of vaccine-preventable diseases targeted by new vaccines. Since 2010 Dr Toscano moved back to Brazil and pursued an academic career path. Her main areas of research are epidemiology of vaccine-preventable diseases and evaluation of public health interventions. She has led numerous research projects on the impact, costs and cost-effectiveness evaluation of vaccines, and vaccine-preventable disease surveillance. She has also structured and coordinated training programs for public health professionals in the areas of health economics, immunization, and program evaluation, having trained hundreds of professionals in various Lusophone countries. 

She has extensive experience in health policy formulation and implementation, having served as an expert and member of numerous advisory committees in the area of pandemic preparedness and immunization policy, including the Brazilian National Committee for Influenza Pandemic Preparedness, the Brazilian National Immunization Advisory Group (NITAG), the Pan-American Organization (PAHO) Regional Technical Advisory Committee for Immunization (RITAG), and the World Health Organization (WHO) Strategic Advisory Group of Experts working groups on COVID and pneumococcal vaccines. Most recently, during the Covid-19 pandemic, Dr Toscano has joined Emergency Operation Centers at the Municipal, State and National level in Brazil, as well as the Fiocruz Interinstitutional Technical-Scientific Advisory Board for Anti-Covid-19 vaccines.

She has received numerous national and international scientific awards, has authored more than 100 peer-reviewed publications and numerous book chapters, and is fluent in Portuguese, English, Spanish and French.