Dr. Jarbas Barbosa da Silva Jr., a national of Brazil, was elected Director of the Pan American Health Organization by Member States during the 30th Pan American Sanitary Conference on September 28 2022. Dr. Barbosa began his five-year term on February 1, 2023
From July 2017 until he was appointed Director, he served as PAHO Assistant Director, leading five technical departments and PAHO’s Revolving Fund – a special program to increase equitable access to vaccines in the Region. In this position, Dr. Barbosa da Silva Jr. led the Organization’s efforts to support Member States in responding to the COVID-19 pandemic and reducing the impact on priority public health programs. He also served as a key PAHO spokesperson during the pandemic.
Dr. Barbosa da Silva Jr. obtained his medical degree from the Federal University of Pernambuco (UFPE) in Recife, Brazil. He specializes in public health and epidemiology at the National School of Public Health, Oswaldo Cruz Foundation (FIOCRUZ) in Rio de Janeiro. He holds a master’s degree in medical sciences and a PhD in public health from the University of Campinas-UNICAMP in São Paulo, Brazil.
He began his professional career in 1982, working for the State Department of Health in Pernambuco, where he was later appointed Program Coordinator for Sexually Transmitted Diseases and HIV/AIDS. From 1993 to 1995, Dr. Barbosa da Silva Jr. served as Secretary of Health of the Municipality of Olinda in Pernambuco, Brazil. From 1995 to 1996, he was the Secretary of Health of Pernambuco State.
In 1997, he was appointed Director of the National Center for Epidemiology (CENEPI) in Brasilia within the Ministry of Health, a position he held until 2003. This year, he was appointed Vice-Minister for Health Surveillance and, in 2006, became Deputy Minister of Health. He modernized and strengthened the National Surveillance System in these positions, enhancing the detection and response capacity to outbreaks and public health emergencies. Dr. Barbosa da Silva Jr. also introduced innovations such as the surveillance of Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs) risk factors and environmental risks for health.
Dr. Barbosa da Silva Jr. joined PAHO in 2007 as the Area Manager for Health Surveillance and Disease Management. He was responsible for coordinating regional activities related to surveillance, prevention, and control of communicable and non-communicable diseases, veterinary public health, and health analysis and statistics. He served in this capacity until his return to Brazil in April 2010.
In 2011, Dr. Barbosa was appointed for the second time as Vice-Minister for Health Surveillance, and in 2015, he served as Secretary of Science, Technology, and Strategic Supplies for the Brazilian Ministry of Health. From July 2015 to July 2018, Dr. Barbosa served as President of the Brazilian Health Regulatory Agency (ANVISA), where he modernized the regulation of medicines and health products and strengthened cooperation and integration with other regional and global regulatory mechanisms. Under his leadership, ANVISA became the first agency in Latin America to be accepted as a member of the International Council for Harmonization of Technical Requirements for Pharmaceuticals for Human Use (ICH).
Dr. Barbosa da Silva Jr. participated as a member of the Brazilian delegation in meetings of the PAHO and WHO Governing Bodies. He was President of PAHO’s Executive Committee from 2013 to 2014 and Vice-Chair of WHO`s Executive Board from 2014 to 2015. Dr. Barbosa was also a senior member of several international committees and working groups, such as the United Nations Interagency Coordination Group on Antimicrobial Resistance (IACG UN) and the Pandemic Influenza Preparedness Framework Advisory Group (PIP Framework AD), where he served as a member and chair in 2016.
Dr. Barbosa da Silva Jr. has received numerous awards and recognitions and is a Doctor Honoris Causa from the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation (FIOCRUZ) and the UFPE. He is an honorary member of the Brazilian National Academy of Medicine and an International Member of the American National Academy of Medicine. He has published numerous articles on global health, health systems management, disease surveillance, and digital transformation and has spoken in over 250 lectures, conferences, and seminars.