The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has a new boss for its multi-billion dollar global health division. Trevor Mundel, the former global head of development for Novartis, the Switzerland-based pharmaceutical giant, will start at the Seattle-based foundation on December 1, according to a statement.
Mundel will oversee the foundation’s $14.7 billion global health grant portfolio that seeks to have an impact against a variety of scourges like HIV, tuberculosis, and malaria. Mundel replaces another Big Pharma veteran, Tachi Yamada, a former head of R&D at GlaxoSmithKline who spent five years overseeing the foundation’s global health work until he stepped down in June.
“We are very pleased that Dr. Mundel has agreed to lead our global health program,” said Bill Gates, co-chair of the foundation, in a statement. “He brings tremendous scientific and medical credentials, in the lab and in the clinic. We look forward to working with him to help improve the health of people in the world’s poorest countries.”
At Novartis, Mundel oversaw some 140 clinical projects, a budget of $3 billion, and more than 7,500 employees. He is also on the boards of the Genomic Institute of the Novartis Research Foundation, and the Novartis Venture Fund, the Gates Foundation said in its statement.
