Harvard professor takes on the mantle of Gavi CEO

After a year-long search, Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance has announced its newest CEO.

Muhammad Ali Pate will take over on Aug. 3 of this year. He currently works as the Julio Frenk Professor of Public Health Leadership at Harvard Chan School of Public Health.

According to a statement, Pate will “continue to support countries to scale up critical routine immunization programs, reach more zero-dose children, expand access to new vaccines, transform primary health care systems, and help fight outbreaks and future pandemics.”

Seth Berkley

Pate is taking over for Seth Berkley, who has led the alliance for 12 years.

The Alliance is a public-private organization that has partnered with the WHO, UNICEF, The World Bank, The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and others to vaccinate children in developing countries. That includes routine immunizations as well as responses to outbreaks, such as Covid-19.

Pate is a medical doctor trained in both internal medicine and infectious diseases. He has served in a variety of roles throughout his career — including Nigeria’s Minister of State for Health, and global director for health, nutrition and population and director of the global financing facility at the World Bank.

During Berkley’s tenure, which began in 2011, he oversaw the shipment of nearly 1.9 billion Covid-19 vaccine doses to 146 countries, immunized more than 600 million children and added additional vaccines to Gavi’s portfolio, like HPV, polio, cholera and malaria.

During the pandemic, Gavi has worked with manufacturers to get vaccines in as many arms as possible. The Alliance also coordinates COVAX, a global collaboration “with the aim of providing innovative and equitable access to COVID-19 diagnostics, treatments and vaccines,” according to its website.

The Alliance has also raised billions in funding with pledges from governments and banks and created partnerships with vaccine manufacturers from Moderna to Novavax.

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