Dr. José Ignacio Santos

Head of the Infectious Diseases Unit

Department of Experimental Medicine

School of Medicine, National Autonomous University of Mexico

Prior to his academic appointment in the Department of Experimental Medicine at the National Autonomous University of Mexico, Dr. José Ignacio Santos served as the general director of Hospital Infantil de México Federico Gómez, the oldest and one of the foremost pediatric academic institutions in the Region of the Americas and one of Mexico’s National Institutes of Health. From 1997-2004, Dr. Santos was Director of Mexico’s National Infant and Adolescent Health Program and Technical
Secretary of Mexico´s Immunization Program. During this time he also served as Mexico’s liaison member of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

From 2005-2008, he served as a member of SAGE, the principal advisory group to the World Health Organization (WHO) for vaccines and immunization. He is currently a member of PAHO´s Technical Advisory Group on vaccines and immunization and has recently been named to WHO´s Initiative for Vaccine Research and to the Technical Advisory Group of the Dengue Vaccine Initiative. Dr. Santos also serves other international health agencies including the board of trustees of the International Center for Diarrheal Research (ICDDRB); the Measles Working Group of SAGE, as well as on the Data and
Safety Monitoring Board for WHO´s Measles Aerosol Project.

Dr. Santos received his medical and pediatric training at Stanford University in California and his clinical immunology and infectious diseases training at the University of Utah. He is the former president of the Mexican and Pan-American Infectious Diseases Societies and is a fellow of the Infectious Disease Society of America (IDSA). He is a member of the advisory group of PGRP (Pediatric Global Research Priorities) of the American Academy of Pediatrics.

He has trained over 60 fellows in Pediatric Infectious Diseases from Mexico and 13 Latin American countries. His research and public health interests have focused on pediatric infectious diseases and on the evaluation and introduction of new vaccines. He is the author or co-author of 270 peer-reviewed publications.