Christopher da Costa, MD

Dr. Chris da Costa was born in England, and spent his early years there, completing his primary education in London before moving briefly to his maternal country, The Gambia, for high school. Awarded a full Scholarship, he obtained a Bachelor’s degree in Human Biology, awarded with distinction, from the University of Zambia, where he later obtained his Medical degree. He then underwent residency training in Internal Medicine in the US at the University Medical Center, Las Vegas, NV where he was Chief Resident, followed by training in critical (intensive) care. He trained in medical microbiology and infectious diseases at the University of Wales College of Medicine (Cardiff University) in Wales, and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM), where he was awarded the prestigious Beit Memorial Medical Research Fellowship, obtaining a Master’s degree in Clinical Tropical Medicine and a PhD degree in Infectious Diseases Immunology. He held academic appointments at Cardiff University and The University of London (LSHTM) as a Clinical Lecturer. He was awarded a National Institutes of health (NIH) Visiting Fellowship (Fogarty Fellowship) for immunology. While working as a physician in clinical practice in the US, he has also held appointments with several major pharmaceutical companies in drug and vaccine development, including Merck, GSK, Janssen, and Pfizer. He also trained in Wound Management and Hyperbaric Medicine and was previously Physician Leader and Medical Director of a hospital-based Wound Healing and Hyperbaric Medicine Center in suburban Philadelphia. He obtained a Physicians’ Executive MBA degree from Auburn University. He is a member of both the Society of Critical Care Medicine and the Infectious Diseases Society of America and a Fellow of the American College of Physicians. Dr. da Costa is currently Vice President of Clinical Development with Synthetic Biologics, a clinical stage biotechnology company listed on the NYSE (SYN) developing therapeutics to protect the gut microbiome while targeting pathogen-specific diseases.