Christopher (“Chris”) da Costa (The Gambia), MD, PhD, is U.S.-licensed board-certified physician, infectious disease immunologist, and vaccine and immunotherapeutics development subject matter expert. As CEPI’s Disease Program Leader for development of broadly protective coronavirus (‘pan-coronavirus”) vaccines, he has worked in close collaboration with partnering organizations that include the World Health Organization (WHO), Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Wellcome Trust, Center for Infectious Diseases Research and Policy (CIDRAP), and the National Institutes of Health/ National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIH/NIAID), and has served on the CEPI-NIH/NIAID Joint Steering Committee for Pan-coronavirus Vaccine Development. He is an active member of the Goerge W. Counts Interest Group of the Infectious Disease Society of America (IDSA).
His research interests include the sustainable manufacturing of vaccines and other pharmaceutical countermeasures within low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) to combat endemic and pre-emergent infectious diseases, including those with pandemic potential. He is also interested in innovative preclinical and clinical vaccine and immunotherapeutic drug development research, health economics and outcomes research, research into health disparities affecting marginalized communities, and novel approaches to managing chronic wounds in vulnerable populations. His Takemi project focuses on the manufacturing capabilities for vaccines on the African continent.