Richard Klausner Steps Down as Executive Director of Gates Foundation’s Global Health Program
Richard Klausner on Monday announced he will step down as executive director of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation's Global Health program at the end of this year, the Wall Street Journal reports (Wall Street Journal, 9/13). Klausner and Gates Foundation President Patty Stonesifer had been discussing a change in leadership for some time, and they both decided "the program was at a point where it could benefit from new vision," Joe Cerrell, director of Global Health Advocacy for the foundation, said (Mundy/King, Seattle Times, 9/13). Klausner has served in the position for three and a half years, administering programs in HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria (Wall Street Journal, 9/13). He also helped launch the Global HIV/AIDS Vaccine Enterprise and the Gates Grand Challenges in Global Health, a grant program that helps scientists around the world conduct research aimed at solving neglected public health issues in developing countries. Klausner previously served as director of the NIH National Cancer Institute and reportedly has been under investigation for alleged conflict-of-interest violations during that time, according to the Seattle Post-Intelligencer. Cerrell said Klausner's resignation "has absolutely nothing to do with that," adding that Klausner plans to launch a new, unnamed venture in Seattle separate from the foundation (Paulson, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, 9/13).
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