Dr. Albert Icksang Ko is the Raj and Indra Nooyi Professor of Public Health at the Yale School of Public Health and Collaborating Researcher at the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation, Brazilian Ministry of Health. He served as Chair of the Department of Epidemiology of Microbial Diseases at Yale (2010-2021) after being stationed with the Brazilian Ministry of Health in Salvador, Brazil for 15 years. His research centers on the health problems that have emerged as a consequence of rapid urbanization and social inequity. Dr. Ko coordinates an urban health program in Brazil, which focuses on delineating the role of social marginalization, urban ecology, and climate on infectious disease threats to informal settlements and implementing community-driven interventions in these settings. He and his team have mobilized the research and public health response to multiple epidemics, which include meningitis, leptospirosis, dengue, Zika virus infection and associated birth defects, and the COVID-19 pandemic. He is a member of the WHO R&D Blueprint Working Group and Taskforce for Zika Virus and the NASEM Forum of Microbial Threats. During the pandemic, he was the co-chair of Reopen Connecticut Advisory Group which developed the state’s COVID-19 response plan and served as advisor to Governor Lamont.