When Dr. Alexandre Macedo de Oliveira completed his residency at Unicamp in Campinas, Brazil in 1998, HIV/AIDS antiviral treatments were just beginning to transform what had been one of medicine’s most feared diagnoses into a manageable disease. For a young doctor drawn to infectious disease, specifically infectious disease prevention, it was an electrifying moment to enter the field.
The caliber of my teachers and mentors that I had in the program and the opportunity to work on something that was still so devastating and [therefore] so important—it was those things that motivated me to work in the specialty of infectious disease.
But Dr. Macedo de Oliveira wanted to reach more people than he could through clinical practice. Clinical practice provided him with the opportunity to serve one patient at a time. He wanted to do more.
That drive would eventually carry him from a hospital in Brazil to the plains of Nebraska, and ultimately into a 22-year career with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) that included work in malaria control, global HIV programs and the nation's immunization efforts. His career has been built on a simple, enduring belief: that every community deserves the chance to be healthier.
Choosing People Over Formulas
Dr. Macedo de Oliveira was good at math and physics—the kind of student who could have easily become an engineer. Instead, he chose medicine, because he wanted the interpersonal connection that engineering probably couldn't offer. He was drawn to infectious disease research and by the time antiviral therapies for HIV/AIDS emerged, he knew this was his path. Though Dr. Macedo de Oliveira enjoyed the intellectual pull of research during his residency, it was the work at the community level—helping shape hospital guidelines and treating patients directly—that led him to ask the question that would define the rest of his career: how can I do more?
Alex boarding plane from São Paulo, Brazil to Atlanta to start EIS, June 2002.
Alex at a Nebraska’s Husker game, Lincoln, 2004.
Alex at a testing clinic during a Histoplasmosis Investigation, Nebraska, 2003.
The Long Road to EIS
The answer came from an unexpected source: a fellow infectious disease resident who happened to be an alumna of CDC's Epidemic Intelligence Service (EIS), the elite program that trains disease detectives to investigate outbreaks. Meeting her, Dr. Macedo de Oliveira knew immediately this was where he was meant to be.
It would take persistence to get there. In 1999, Dr. Macedo de Oliveira applied for the EIS class of 2000 and wasn't accepted. He applied again and again fell short. He tried a third time for the EIS class of 2002, and in December 2021, he received a letter placing him on a waiting list. In February 2002, the call finally came—he was in.
CDC placed him in Nebraska. Dr. Macedo de Oliveira, a doctor from Brazil, looked up the state's winter temperatures—five degrees Fahrenheit—and wondered, half-joking, whether such conditions were even "compatible with life." He went anyway. At his first EIS conference, he became known, affectionately, as "the Brazilian who was going to Nebraska."
It turned out to be exactly the right place. His supervisor, state epidemiologist Dr. Tom Safranek, was himself an EIS alumnus, and under his mentorship, Dr. Macedo de Oliveira learned the practical, on-the-ground skills of applied epidemiology. In Nebraska, Dr. Macedo de Oliveira learned what it meant to understand a state's specific public health needs and how to earn the community's trust.
Alex during training of responders during a Marburg Outbreak, Angola, 2005.
Alex at basement of a Hospital during SARS Outbreak, Taiwan, 2003.
Alex and Brazilian investigators of a malaria study, Cruzeiro do Sul, Brazil, 2014.
Earning Trust, Saving Lives
Ask Dr. Macedo de Oliveira about his proudest moments, and he doesn't talk about statistics—he talks about people.
Just five weeks into his time in Nebraska, he got a call about a possible hepatitis C outbreak. Dr. Macedo de Oliveira asked himself, “Was it real? What was the risk? Should they launch a full investigation?”
It was real, and what followed was months of painstaking work: an investigation launched in October 2002, community testing and countless conversations with those affected so that Dr. Macedo de Oliveira and his team could understand how the disease was spreading. One member of the community called with an unusual, deeply personal question: how do I convince my family it's safe to gather for Thanksgiving?
Dr. Macedo de Oliveira and his colleagues responded by hosting a community forum on hepatitis C safety, using a how-to for hosting a holiday dinner as an opportunity to share public health guidance. He later joined a local support group for hepatitis C survivors, not because the epidemiology required it because he wanted to see the people. Had he stayed at his desk, he wouldn't have met Dr. Evelyn McKnight, who had been infected with hepatitis C during treatment for breast cancer. An inspiration for many, including Dr. Macedo de Oliveira, Dr. McKnight has dedicated her life to saving lives through by promoting safe injection practices and patient safety.
During the two decades since his year in Nebraska, Dr. Macedo de Oliveira has worked domestically and internationally, supporting malaria programs and working in CDC's global HIV division. He currently works in the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases. He’s had twenty-two years and counting of public health leadership, each chapter adding to a career built on the same goal he'd had as a young doctor in Brazil: reach more people, do more good.
Alex and colleagues hosting a forum on Hepatitis C, Nebraska, 2003.
Alex visiting friends and colleagues, including the McKnights, Nebraska, 2007.
Alex serving as a model for blood drawing training at a malaria study, Cruzeiro do Sul, Brazil 2016.
Why He Gives Back
For Dr. Macedo de Oliveira, public health's importance isn't theoretical—it's a fact, proven again and again throughout history. He sees endless opportunities to improve health, whether through better food systems, clean water and sanitation or through treatment and infection control in hospitals. In a world where a person can travel across the globe in 24 hours, and diseases can travel with them, he believes public health must keep evolving to stay effective.
That belief is exactly why Dr. Macedo de Oliveira supports the CDC Foundation. The CDC Foundation upholds CDC's core principles and maximizes its impact by supporting public health across CDC and partner agencies. For donors who sometimes feel disconnected from the work of large institutions, Dr. Macedo de Oliveira offers a different perspective: the CDC Foundation lets you pull back the curtain. You can see, concretely, where your support goes and what it makes possible.
His message to anyone considering a gift is simple: if public health matters to you, supporting the CDC Foundation is how you can protect more people. Dr. Macedo de Oliveira has spent his career proving what that kind of urgency, applied with care, can achieve. Now, he's inviting others to help write the next chapter.
If you have questions about making a gift to the CDC Foundation or would like to explore ways to give, please contact Elizabeth Patrick, senior director of major gifts and individual support, at epatrick@cdcfoundation.org or 404.523.1873.
