The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has a permanent seat on the GAVI Alliance Board
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, which has a permanent seat on the GAVI Board, is also represented in the Programme & Policy Committee and other bodies guiding the activities of the Alliance.
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is represented on the GAVI Alliance Board by:
Christopher J. Elias (Representative and Vice Chair)
President of the Global Development Program
As of February 2012, he is President of the Global Development Program at the Gates Foundation. In this capacity, he oversees the foundation’s efforts to ensure that critical tools and technologies in health, agriculture and financial services reach vulnerable populations around the globe. He comes to the Gates Foundation having served as president and CEO of PATH, an international nonprofit organization dedicated to improving the health of people around the world. Since joining PATH in 2000, Dr. Elias led the organization through unprecedented growth, expanding its international presence to more than 70 countries and increasing its project portfolio to span health technologies, maternal and child health, reproductive health, vaccines and immunization, and emerging and epidemic diseases.
Dr. Elias received his MD from Creighton University, completed postgraduate training in internal medicine at the University of California, San Francisco, and received an MPH from the University of Washington, where he was a fellow in the Robert Wood Johnson Clinical Scholars Program. He now serves as a clinical professor in the UW School of Public Health. He holds an honorary Doctor of Science degree from Creighton.
Steve Landry (Alternate)
Deputy Director, Vaccine Delivery
Serving as Deputy Director, Vaccine Delivery, for the Gates Foundation, Dr. Landry is responsible for the foundation’s new vaccine efforts, including its investments in GAVI and related activities. Before joining the foundation in 2004, Dr. Landry was the Senior Director of Program Financing for the GAVI Vaccine Fund. Prior to working with the Vaccine Fund, Dr. Landry worked with USAID, the last 3 years as a Senior Policy Advisor. He served as bilateral representative on the original GAVI working group and the Co-chair of the GAVI Financing Task Force.
Dr. Landry has a long history of supporting the introduction of new vaccines and technologies into the developing world. For over 10 years, at USAID he was responsible for accelerating the introduction of Haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib) and Pneumococcal conjugate vaccines into developing countries. Dr. Landry has also worked in vaccine development leading USAID’s Children’s Vaccine Program and the Malaria Vaccine Development Program.
Dr. Landry began his career in international development in the Peace Corps, where he served as a science teacher in a rural high school in Liberia. He holds a Ph.D. in medical entomology and vector borne disease modeling from the University of Wisconsin, Madison.
