Former US NIH Director Joins the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation

He could stand to be very progressively helping with grants being very familiar with the processes and able to focus the foundation quickly to those areas needing help, but unable to get funding through the NIH. BD

SEATTLE -- The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation today announced that Elias Zerhouni, M.D., has joined the foundation’s Global Health Program as a senior fellow. A world-renowned leader in radiology research and an experienced scientific leader he is a powerful voice for scientific innovation. Zerhouni most recently served as the director of the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH).

“Dr. Zerhouni has an extraordinary record of championing breakthrough science that leads to tangible health benefits for people in need,” said Dr. Tachi Yamada, president of the foundation’s Global Health Program. “We are delighted that he will bring that innovative spirit and transformative thinking to the foundation’s global health work.”

As senior fellow, Zerhouni will advise the foundation on a range of topics, particularly the Grand Challenges in Global Health initiative, which works to identify and help solve the most critical scientific challenges in global health.

Prior to being appointed to lead the NIH, he had a distinguished tenure at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine where he served as chair of the department of radiology, vice dean for research and executive vice dean between 1995 and 2002.