Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, has appointed Nigeria’s former Minister of Health, Dr. Muhammad Pate, as its new Chief Executive Officer. Dr. Pate will succeed Dr. Seth Berkley on August 3, 2023. His selection follows a year‑long recruitment process personally overseen by Gavi Board Chair Prof. José Barroso. According to a press statement provided to our correspondent on Monday, 344 candidates from diverse gender and geographical backgrounds applied, and Dr. Pate was chosen for his proven global‑health leadership at both national and international levels.
During his tenure as Global Director for Health, Nutrition, and Population at the World Bank and Director of the Global Financing Facility (2019‑2021), Dr. Pate led the Bank’s $18 billion COVID‑19 health response and represented the institution on several boards, including Gavi, the Global Fund, CEPI, and UNAIDS. He currently holds the Julio Frenk Professorship of Public Health Leadership at Harvard Chan School of Public Health and has served on numerous health‑focused boards and expert panels across the public, private, and non‑profit sectors.
Commenting on the appointment, Prof. Barroso said, “Dr. Muhammad Ali Pate stood out in a field of world‑class candidates. With his knowledge and experience of both national immunisation programming and international emergency response and global finance, I am confident that Gavi will continue to build on its vision and mission, as well as navigate the many challenges and opportunities we will face.” Dr. Pate expressed his enthusiasm, stating, “I’m deeply honoured to be joining Gavi as its incoming CEO. Gavi is one of the most impactful organisations in global health, a testament to the great work of the Alliance partners and Secretariat staff. It will be my privilege to lead it, building on the work of Dr. Seth Berkley, and continue to support countries to scale up critical routine immunisation programmes, reach more zero‑dose children, expand access to new vaccines, transform primary health‑care systems, and help fight outbreaks and future pandemics.”
Dr. Berkley, who has led Gavi for more than half of its existence, praised his successor: “Leading Gavi and helping the Alliance continually surpass itself in saving lives, protecting children, and supporting countries during global health emergencies has been the greatest honour of my career. I am proud and humbled to have been part of what the Alliance has achieved, and I am confident in its future under Muhammad’s leadership. Having worked with him during his time as Minister and at the World Bank, I know he understands intimately the landscape we work in and will be uncompromising in his drive for public‑health equity.” Under Dr. Berkley’s leadership since 2011, Gavi has averted 11.8 million future deaths (up from 4.5 million in the previous decade) and immunised more than 676 million children—more than double the 305 million reached between 2000 and 2010. The Alliance added new vaccines to its portfolio, including HPV, polio, cholera, and malaria, and its current strategy focuses on reaching zero‑dose children in marginalised communities. Gavi also expanded its role in emergency response, creating vaccine stockpiles for diseases such as cholera and pioneering financing mechanisms for Ebola and COVID‑19 vaccines. These efforts have unlocked over $160 billion in economic benefits, compared with $24 billion in its first ten years.
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