Professor José Rodrigues Coura (M.D. 1957, Ph.D. 1965), currently, holds the title of Emeritus Researcher at the Fundação Oswaldo Cruz (Fiocruz) and is the Head and Chairman of the Laboratory of Parasitic Diseases at the Instituto Oswaldo Cruz (IOC), Fiocruz, Ministry of Health in Brazil. Additionally, he is Emeritus Professor at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ) and Honoris Causa Professor at the Federal Universities of Paraíba, Ceará and Piauí, in the Northeastern Brazil, and at the Medical School of Campos in the State of Rio de Janeiro, as a consequence of his sound contributions in education and in scientific development.

He was the Vice-President for Research of Fiocruz, from 1979 to 1985 and acted as the Director of the IOC for 10 years, in two separate terms - from 1979 to 1985 and from 1997 to 2001. He has been a Professor of Infectious and Parasitic Diseases programs at the UFRJ and the Head and the Chairman of the Department of Preventive Medicine of both the UFRJ and the Federal University of the State of Rio de Janeiro.

He has organized two postgraduate courses (Master Degree and PhD) on Infectious and Parasitic Diseases, at the UFRJ in 1970 and in the IOC in 1980, and these were deemed, by the CAPES, as the best programs in the area in Brazil. Professor Coura has acted as a thesis advisor for several Master and PhD students and has disciples throughout Brazil, Latin America, and other countries.

He was the Editor of scientific journals such as the Revista da Sociedade Brasileira de Medicina Tropical and the Memórias do Instituto Oswaldo Cruz, for 12 and 10 years, respectively, and acted, himself, as an referee for several articles of these journals and the Revista do Instituto de Medicina Tropical de São Paulo, as a member of the Editorial Board, as well as for the Acta Tropica, the Transactions of the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, and many others.

He was elected for several chairs, among them, the Presidency of the Brazilian Society of Tropical Medicine (1973-1975), as a Permanent Member of the Academy of Medicine (1978), and at the Brazilian Academy of Science (2000) and has received the award of the National Order of Scientific Merit from the Presidency of Brazil, as Commendatary in 2000, having been promoted to Gran Cruz in 2008.He organized the XVI International Congress on Tropical Medicine and Malaria in Marseille (France) in 2004.

Professor Coura has published over 250 scientific papers on infections and parasitic diseases in national and international medical journals, since 1961, and hundreds of abstracts in annals of national and international congresses. He has organized and chaired several national and international congresses, meetings, or round-tables along his scientific life.

Instituto Oswaldo Cruz, Fiocruz
Laboratory of Parasitic Disease
Av. Brasil, 4365 - Pavilhão A. Neiva - Manguinhos
CEP 21040-900 - Rio de Janeiro - RJ/Brazil
Phone/Fax: (5521) 2280-3740
e-mail: coura@ioc.fiocruz.br