Alex Costa

Dr Alex Costa is an HIV/AIDS Specialist at UNICEF global HIV/AIDS programmes in NY where he manages projects aimed at accelerating access to HIV testing for infants in sub-Saharan Africa using innovative, multi-disease point-of-care diagnostic technologies. He is also the technical lead on UNICEF’s global Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) initiative. Alex has a broad experience in the life sciences and expertise in developing comprehensive public health laboratory systems in Africa and Southeast Asia for detection of AMR as well as diagnosis, preparedness, surveillance, and response to emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases. Prior to joining UNICEF in 2017, he served as a technical officer at the World Health Organization in the Asia-Pacific region, where he was the focal point for laboratory diagnostics and AMR in Cambodia and Vietnam. He previously served as the director of the laboratory program for the Clinton Health Access Initiative (CHAI) in Liberia where he supported the establishment of a national laboratory diagnostics program. He holds a PhD in Molecular Biology from Princeton University followed by post-doctoral studies on infectious diseases at Stanford University.