SAN FRANCISCO, May 12, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- The University of California, San Francisco has appointed (http://www.ucsf.edu/news/2011/05/9868/ucsf-taps-sepulveda-lead-global-health-efforts) Jaime Sepulveda, MD, MPH, DrSc, a world-renowned public health leader, as executive director of UCSF Global Health Sciences.

With broad international leadership experience in public health, Sepulveda currently is director of special initiatives for the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, where he has played a central role in shaping global health strategy.

At UCSF, he will oversee a chancellor-level program that integrates the University's international partnerships, education and research focused on the world's top health issues.

"Dr. Sepulveda brings the international vision, stature and hands-on knowledge in the world of global health that will help make both UCSF and the Bay Area a world center in the field," said UCSF Chancellor Susan Desmond-Hellmann, MD, MPH. "His deep understanding of health issues and policy in both limited and high-resource nations will make him an invaluable part of that effort."

During a 2007 sabbatical, Sepulveda was a visiting professor at UCSF, where he convened a coalition of international leaders in global health policy and education around training health care workers to meet 21st century needs. Sepulveda said he hopes to build on that effort in his upcoming position, which begins Sept. 1.

"UCSF is one of the world's leading academic biomedical centers with a very strong reputation worldwide in all of its schools," Sepulveda said. "This is a tremendous opportunity to use that strength to make a global impact."

From 2003 to 2006, Sepulveda directed Mexico's National Institutes of Health, where he was responsible for managing the country's NIH institutes, overseeing 35,000 employees and a budget of nearly $1 billion.

He was twice elected director general of Mexico's National Institute of Public Health, and served as dean of the National School of Public Health. As director general of epidemiology (1985-1991) and vice-minister of health (1991-1994), he designed Mexico's Universal Vaccination Program, which doubled the nation's preschool vaccinations to 94 percent and eliminated polio, measles and diphtheria.

Sepulveda holds a medical degree from National Autonomous University of Mexico and a doctorate and two master's degrees from Harvard University.

UCSF is a leading university dedicated to promoting health worldwide through advanced biomedical research, graduate-level education in the life sciences and health professions, and excellence in patient care.

http://www.ucsf.edu

SOURCE University of California, San Francisco