César Gomes Victora - 2011 recipient

Dr. César Gomes Victora, Emeritus Professor of Epidemiology, Department of Social Medicine, Faculty of Medicine,Universidade Federal de Pelotas, Brazil.

Dr. Victora, one of the world’s leading epidemiologists in child health, was named the 2011 award recipient based on the body of his work, his leadership and his decades-long commitment to equity in health care and to understanding the social determinants of health. Dr. Victora's work has greatly impacted the health of children throughout the world, most especially the poorest.In 1987 Dr. Victora made a major impact on global child health when he published the first definitive study on the protective effect of breast feeding in resource poor settings. This led to many studies and a publication supporting what is now known to be the essential role of breast feeding as a support to child survival.

Dr. Victora was a central figure in developing the 2003 Lancet Series on Child Survival . That series was a tremendous source of education about the global crisis of child mortality. In fact, Dr. Victora has been a central figure in many collaborative partnerships focused on child survival, for example:The Bellagio initiative; several Lancet series; the tracking progress in maternal, newborn and child survival; and Partnership for Maternal, Newborn and Child Health .

The award was presented to Dr. Victora at the PGPR symposium on implementation of global maternal-child health programs held May 2, 2011 within the joint meeting of the Pediatric Academic Societies and the Asian Society for Pediatric Research in Denver.