NIH Hosts Annual Global Health Workshop with Gates Foundation
Leaders of NIH and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation gathered Jan. 29 at the Porter Neuroscience Research Center for the 10th annual NIH-Gates Foundation Leadership Workshop on Global Health. The all-day agenda included a welcome session with Bill Gates and NIH Director Dr. Monica Bertagnolli, who gave a presentation, “Accelerating Innovative Clinical Trials,” during the opening scientific session.
In his remarks, Gates underscored the importance of developing and supporting infrastructure for public health programs in international settings. Bertagnolli discussed the critical need to expand evidence to guide clinical care—connecting new knowledge to clinical practice and everyday life so that all people live healthier lives.
NIH and the Gates Foundation began working in partnership in 2003, when the foundation created its Grand Challenges in Global Health Initiative. The initiative invited scientists to collaborate on 14 specific goals that could lead to breakthrough advances in medicine.
In addition to Bertagnolli and Gates, other leaders in the biomedical research community who attended this year included NIH Principal Deputy Director Dr. Lawrence Tabak; John Burklow, NIH chief of staff; Dr. Jeanne Marrazzo, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases; Dr. Gary Gibbons, director of the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute; Dr. Diana Bianchi, director of the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development; former NIH Director Dr. Francis Collins; Dr. Robert Califf, commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration; Dr. Julie Gerberding, CEO of the Foundation for NIH; and from the Gates Foundation, Dr. Trevor Mundel, president of global health; Dr. Chris Karp, director of discovery and translational sciences; and Dr. Anita Zaidi, president of the gender equality division.