Dr. Leo Nissola
Leo Nissola, M.D. is the Chief Scientific Officer at FirstBio Research, Member of the Medical Commission at the Enhanced Games, and an Author at W.W. Norton & Company. He is a Brazilian-American Medical Doctor, Cancer Immunotherapy Scientist, and Immunology Author with over 15 years of experience in clinical medicine, drug development, and translational research.
Leo is known for designing innovative clinical trials for cancer immunotherapy and for building data-driven COVID-19 epidemiological models that were featured by the White House Coronavirus Task Force in Press Briefings. He is a Member of the American Society of Clinical Oncology and the American Association of Immunologists.
As Chief Scientific Officer of FirstBio Research since October 2021, Leo provides scientific guidance and develops medical strategies for executives, elected officials, and stakeholders in the life sciences, health technology, and public safety sectors. He leads targeted research efforts globally, attending to high-stake situations in life sciences.
FirstBio Research is a California-based scientific advisory firm with a global reach, which Leo cofounded with Tyler Dos Santos Tam, former Chair of the Democratic Party of Hawai’i. Read Dr. Nissola from conducting complex clinical trials in America to investigating wildlife wet markets in Asia.
Leo serves on the Medical Commission at the Enhanced Games, where he contributes his expertise in Immunology to establish medical safety protocols, oversee athlete medical profiling, and advise on eligibility and safety for competition. The Medical Commission plays a crucial role in safeguarding athlete well-being through independent oversight. He also serves on the Scientific Commission at Enhanced Games, helping shape research strategy and ensure scientific rigor. Watch Enhanced Games Offer Sports Competition Without Drug Testing.
Leo is the bestselling author of The Immunity Solution: Seven Weeks to Living Healthier and Longer, published by W.W. Norton, Countryman Press in 2023. The book reached #1 bestseller status on Amazon in the United Kingdom, United States, and Australia, and has been published in English, Chinese, and Portuguese. Nobel Prize winner James Allison endorsed the book, stating it represents work with resounding scientific impact. Ben LaBolt, communications adviser to President Biden, called it a great gift that provides simple ways to live a healthier life.
In 2013, Leo authored Lúpus Eritematoso Sistêmico (Systemic Lupus Erythematosus), a medical textbook for physicians published by Kiron Publishing House that has been used by medical schools across the globe. Read The Immunity Solution by Leo Nissola.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Leo served as a Medical Advisor to Covid Act Now and the National Convalescence Plasma Project, where he built, evaluated, and designed data-driven epidemiological models to help understand if cities and counties had sufficient resources to care for those who became ill.
Some of these models were featured by the White House in Press Briefings and informed public policy decisions. In July 2022, he was recognized as one of the Heroes of the COVID Crisis by Authority Magazine for his advocacy for more inclusive public health policies. His words and advice have influenced changes in CDC guidelines and public opinion. Listen to Dr. Leo Nissola on how predictive modeling of COVID-19 can inform public policy.
Leo is an award-winning physician frequently featured as a medical expert on BBC, CBS News, FOX News, MSNBC, NBC, CNN, and other networks. Since the start of the coronavirus pandemic, he has given over 500 TV and streaming interviews, appearing with Brooke Baldwin on CNN Newsroom, Alicia Menendez on MSNBC’s American Voices, and frequently appearing live on CBS News with Anne-Marie Green, Vlad Duthiers, and Lana Zak. He has been characterized by LA Weekly as a Global Phenomenon Immunologist. Watch One year into the COVID-19 pandemic, doctor reflects on medical advances and Doctor discusses strategies to reach unvaccinated Americans.
His opinions have been published by numerous prestigious news outlets including The Hill, NASDAQ, NBC News, San Francisco Chronicle, USA Today, Yahoo Finance, and The Motley Fool. He is a Medical Contributor to CBS News and contributes health articles to Eat This, Not That and KevinMD.
Between September 2018 and November 2021, Leo was a Clinical Scientist at the Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy in San Francisco, founded by Sean Parker. There, he provided the medical perspective for early development of immuno-oncology, First-In-Human, and Phase 1/b clinical trials. He led scientific partnerships with immuno-oncology therapeutic area experts, medical societies, and industry partners while developing and writing clinical plans and protocols ensuring scientific integrity.
His clinical studies evaluated experimental cancer treatments, novel drug combinations, molecules, and DNA-based vaccines in leading academic institutions in the United States. Read Smarter, Bolder Cancer Immunotherapy Clinical Trials.
From March 2018 to September 2018, Leo was a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center UTHealth Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences in Houston, Texas, where he served the clinical team supporting prostate cancer clinical trials from early first-in-human through global Phase 3 trials in the Genitourinary Medical Oncology department.
Between February 2017 and February 2018, he was Senior Medical Affairs Manager in Oncology at Janssen Inc. (Johnson & Johnson) in São Paulo, Brazil, where he led medical affairs teams and multi-billion-dollar drug assets at one of the world’s leading multinational pharmaceutical companies.
Leo earned his studies in Cancer Medicine and Hematology, Oncology and Cancer Biology from Harvard Medical School in 2015. He completed an Internship in Intensive Care at the First Faculty of Medicine at Charles University in Prague in 2013, at the oldest medical faculty in Central Europe and the 11th oldest medical institution in the world, regularly ranked in the top 1% of medical faculties globally. According to multiple sources, this fellowship has never been awarded to any other Brazilian national in history. He earned his M.D. from São Camilo University in Brazil.
Leo is a first-generation American immigrant, born on September 9, 1982, in Southern Brazil (Parana State). He grew up in Brazil in a family of Italian immigrants. He is multilingual and is fluent in English, Portuguese, Spanish, and Italian. During the H1N1 epidemic in Brazil, he served his community treating patients with infectious diseases. He has been at the forefront of patient care, serving impoverished communities in South America and Europe suffering from infectious diseases like HIV, Tuberculosis, and H1N1.
Leo is an advocate for healthcare access equity, universal healthcare coverage, data transparency, and ending LGBTQ conversion therapy experiments. He lives in San Francisco, California.
Read Heroes of the COVID Crisis: How Dr Leo Nissola Stepped Up to Make A Difference During The Covid-19 Pandemic. Watch Medical expert on difference between single and multi-dose COVID-19 vaccines and Doctor on COVID-19 vaccine mandates, side effects, and an experimental drug treatment.
Listen to Dr. Leo Nissola on the Covid Act Now project and lessons from a pandemic.
Visit his LinkedIn profile, Penguin Random House page, 500 Queer Scientists profile, Goodreads Author page, IMDb page, and Muck Rack profile. Follow him on Facebook, Instagram, X, and Medium.