Tadataka Yamada, M.D.
President, Global Health Program

As president of the Global Health Program, Dr. Tadataka (Tachi) Yamada leads the foundation’s efforts to help develop and deliver low-cost, life-saving health tools for the developing world. He oversees our global health grant portfolio and Global Health Advocacy.

Before joining the foundation, Yamada served as Chairman of Research and Development and was a member of the Board of Directors at GlaxoSmithKline. Prior to that, he was chairman of the Department of Internal Medicine at the University of Michigan Medical School and Physician-in-Chief at the University of Michigan Medical Center. Yamada is a past president of the American Gastroenterological Association and the Association of American Physicians, a master of the American College of Physicians, and a member of the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Science in the United States and the Academy of Medical Sciences in the United Kingdom.

Ashok Alexander
Director, Avahan India AIDS Initiative

Ashok Alexander is director of Avahan, the foundation's HIV prevention initiative in India. He leads strategy development for the initiative, identifies effective programs, and oversees grantmaking. Alexander works closely with India's central and state governments, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in the field, and corporate partners.

Alexander joined the foundation in 2003, with 24 years of experience in the private sector, working in Hong Kong, the United States, and India. He was a senior partner and head of McKinsey and Company's New Delhi office. Alexander joined McKinsey in 1986 in New York and moved to India in 1992 to help establish its highly successful India practice. He has worked across a broad spectrum of industries and business issues as a senior management consultant.

Alexander has extensive experience working with NGOs in India. He was part of the leadership team that created the American India Foundation (AIF), and serves on AIF's India board of advisors. He has worked closely with the Ashoka Foundation and is personally involved with several local NGOs.

Alexander holds graduate degrees in economics and management from Delhi University and the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad.

Joe Cerrell
Director, Global Health Policy & Advocacy

Joe Cerrell is director of Global Health Policy & Advocacy for the foundation. He oversees the foundation's global health communications, public policy, and international finance. In this capacity, Cerrell manages a policy and advocacy grantmaking portfolio and oversees relations with governments, NGOs, the private sector, multilateral organizations, and other foundations.

Prior to joining the foundation, Cerrell served as assistant press secretary to former U.S. Vice President Al Gore. He was a senior member of a team responsible for advising the vice president on energy and environmental issues and was a White House liaison to elected officials; industry, environmental, religious, and labor leaders; and the media. Cerrell also acted as U.S. spokesperson for numerous vice-presidential international state visits.

Cerrell provided communications support and served as an advisor for three U.S. presidential campaigns. He was vice president of the philanthropy practice at APCO Worldwide, overseeing the agency's nonprofit and foundation clients. He currently serves on the board of directors of DATA (Debt AIDS Trade Africa), an organization based in Washington, D.C. that was founded by Bono, the ONE Campaign, and the Seattle Biomedical Research Institute. He is also an advisory board member of the Clinton Global Initiative.

Cerrell received a bachelor's degree from the University of Southern California.

Carol A. Dahl, Ph.D.

Director, Global Health Discovery

Dr. Carol Dahl directs the Global Health Discovery program, which targets fundamental scientific and technological advances in global health that could lead to new ways to prevent, treat, and diagnose disease.

Prior to joining the foundation in 2003, Dahl served as vice president for Strategic Partnerships at Biospect Inc., a company developing technology to inform the clinical management of patient health. From 1990 to 2001, Dahl worked in several capacities at the U.S. National Institutes of Health, including as founding director of the Office of Technology and Industrial Relations at the National Cancer Institute (NCI).

Previously, Dahl served as program director at the National Center for Human Genome Research and supported the development of the biotechnology portfolio of the Advanced Technology Program of the National Institutes of Standards and Technology. Throughout her tenure in government, Dahl received numerous awards for her work stimulating innovative technologies, including DNA sequencing technology, bioengineering, bioimaging, and nanotechnology, as well as contributing to the launch of critical genomics resources such as the Tumor Gene Index.

Dahl received a bachelor's degree from the University of Iowa and master’s and doctoral degrees from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She received postdoctoral training at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm and the Immunobiology Research Center at the University of Minnesota and served on the faculty of the Pittsburgh Cancer Institute.

William Foege, M.D., M.P.H
Senior Fellow

Dr. William Foege advises the foundation on strategies that could be usefully pursued in global health. He has served in a variety of executive positions at the Carter Center, and is senior investigator on child development at the Task Force for Child Survival and Development as well as Presidential Distinguished Professor of International Health at the Rollins School of Public Health.

By writing and lecturing extensively, Foege continues to broaden public awareness of the issues of child survival and development, population, preventive medicine and public health leadership. In 1997 he was named Fellow of the London School of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene. Foege helped form the Task Force for Child Survival in 1984 to accelerate childhood immunization. In the 1970s he worked in the successful campaign to eradicate smallpox and served at director of the U.S. Center for Disease Control.

He attended Pacific Lutheran University, received his medical degree from the University of Washington and his Master's in Public Health from Harvard University.

Julio Frenk, M.D., M.P.H., Ph.D.
Senior Fellow, Global Health Program

As senior fellow, Julio Frenk counsels the foundation on global health issues and strategies. Prior to his work with the foundation he served as the minister of health of Mexico, where he led an ambitious reform to provide universal health insurance. This program expanded access to quality care and financial protection for 50 million Mexicans who were uninsured.

Frenk’s career has also included executive positions at the World Health Organization and the Mexican Health Foundation. He was the founding director-general of the National Institute of Public Health of Mexico, was a visiting professor at Harvard University, and was awarded the position of national researcher in his country. Among the 29 books he has authored are two best selling novels for youth explaining the functions of the human body.

Frenk holds a medical degree from the National University of Mexico and three advanced degrees from the University of Michigan.

Candy S. Marshall
Director of Operations, Global Health Program

Candy Marshall is director of operations in the foundation's Global Health Program. She leads efforts to ensure the right organizational structure, processes, and systems are in place to support the program's mission to reverse health inequities around the world.

Prior to joining the Global Health Program, Marshall was chief human resources officer for the foundation. She came to the foundation from Seattle-based WRQ Inc. (now Attachmate), where she was general counsel and executive vice president of human resources. Marshall also was a founder and principal of the law firm Sebris, Busto & Marshall in Bellevue, Wash.

Marshall received a bachelor's degree in public administration from the University of Nebraska and a law degree from the University of Nebraska College of Law. She serves as vice chair of the board of directors of the YMCA of Greater Seattle.

N. Regina Rabinovich, M.D., M.P.H.
Director, Infectious Diseases Development

Dr. Regina Rabinovich directs the foundation's Infectious Diseases initiative. Her portfolio includes more than $1 billion in grants for prevention, treatment, and research of malaria and other infectious diseases.

Prior to joining the foundation, Rabinovich served in various positions at the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), focusing on the development and evaluation of vaccines. She participated in the Children's Vaccine Initiative, a global effort to prevent infectious diseases in children in the developing world, and served as liaison to the National Vaccine Program Office, focusing on vaccine safety and vaccine research. As chief of the Clinical and Regulatory Affairs Branch of the Division of Microbiology and Infectious Diseases, she managed the evaluation of candidate vaccines through a network of U.S. clinical research units. During her tenure as branch chief, the units completed large multi-center trials of pertussis and influenza vaccines, as well as a number of phase I trials of platform technologies such as an edible vaccine, and vaccines for malaria and rotavirus.

In 1999, Rabinovich became director of the PATH Malaria Vaccine Initiative, a project funded by the foundation to advance efforts to develop promising malaria vaccine candidates.

Rabinovich received her medical degree from Southern Illinois University in 1982 and her Master of Public Health degree from the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill. She joined NIAID's Epidemiology Training Program as a fellow in 1988.

Jaime Sepulveda, M.D., M.P.H., Dr. Sc., M.Sc.
Director, Integrated Health Solutions Development

Dr. Jaime Sepulveda directs the foundation’s Integrated Health Solutions Development program. He oversees grants to develop new tools and strategies for maternal, newborn, child, and reproductive health; vaccine-preventable diseases; and nutrition.

Sepulveda served for more than 20 years in a variety of senior health posts in the Mexican government. From 2003 to 2006, he served as director of the National Institutes of Health of Mexico. He also served as director-general of Mexico’s National Institute of Public Health and dean of the National School of Public Health.

In addition to his research credentials, Sepulveda is an experienced implementer of effective health programs. As Mexico’s director-general of epidemiology and later vice minister of health, Sepulveda designed Mexico’s Universal Vaccination Program, which eliminated polio, measles, and diphtheria by more than doubling childhood immunization coverage in two years. He also designed a national health surveillance system and founded Mexico’s National AIDS Council.

Sepulveda holds a medical degree from National Autonomous University of Mexico and three advanced degrees from the Harvard School of Public Health. He is a member of the Board of Overseers of Harvard University and a member of the Institute of Medicine of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences.

Rajeev Venkayya, M.D.
Director, Global Health Delivery

Dr. Rajeev Venkayya directs the Global Health Delivery team. He oversees late-stage development of health technologies and interventions as well as efforts to expand access to health solutions in the developing world.

Previously, Venkayya served as special assistant to the U.S. president and senior director for biodefense at the White House. One of his key responsibilities was development and implementation of the U.S. strategy for pandemic influenza. He served as an advisor to the director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and was one of 13 non-partisan White House Fellows appointed by President Bush in 2002.

Venkayya is a pulmonary and critical care physician and assistant professor of medicine at the University of California, San Francisco. Previously, he directed the high-risk asthma clinic and co-directed the Medical Intensive Care Unit at San Francisco General Hospital. He holds a medical degree from Northeastern Ohio Universities College of Medicine.