Prof. Rubens Belfort Jr. is the President of the National Academy of Medicine in Brazil. He is a Physician with specialization in Ophthalmology and Doctor in Medicine (Ophthalmology) and a PhD in Immunology. He holds also a MBA and is the Head Professor of the Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences at the Federal University of Sao Paulo (UNIFESP) and President of the Vision Institute as well as The Brazilian Academy of Ophthalmology.

He was the Chairman of the Department and also the Coordinator of the Post Graduation Program in Vision Sciences and Ophthalmology of UNIFESP and President of the SPDM, the largest philanthropic Health Organization in Brazil. He was also a fellow at the University of California in San Francisco and Visiting Scientist at the National Eye Institute NIH.

Rubens Belfort Jr is a member of the Brazilian Academy of Sciences, National Academy of Medicine, National Academy of Pharmacy the Brazilian Academy of Ophthalmology in Brazil and the Academia Ophthalmologica Internationalis.

He received the Order of the Scientific Merit from the Federative Republic of Brazil and has been a CNPq 1A investigator for over 15 years.

He was President of the World Ophthalmology Congress, Pan American Association of Ophthalmology, Chairman Pan American Foundation of Ophthalmology.

He is a officer of the International Council of Ophthalmology Foundation. He received the Chico Mendes, Jabuti, Scopus-Elsevier CAPES, Conrado Wessel and the American Academy of Ophthalmology Life Achievement Awards and the Duke Elder Award given by the World Ophthalmology Council and the Royal College of Ophthalmology.

He has given more than12 International named Lectures including the Jackson Memorial, The American Journal of Ophthalmology and the Duke Elder and has concluded the tutorship of more than 80 postgraduate students.

He has more than 700 published papers which received 17182 citations resulting in a Google H index of 65.

His research activities are held in different parts of Brazil with emphasis in the Amazon, including the fields of infectious (such as Toxoplasmosis, AIDS, Zyka) and geriatric ocular diseases with clinical and epidemiological approaches trying also to increase medical access through new medical and social technologies.

Terms of Appointment: Dec 2019 – Nov 2021