Gates Foundation, BIO Global Health Forum Features International Health Experts

WASHINGTON, D.C. (November 5, 2002) – The Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO) today announced that Anthony S. Fauci, M.D., director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), and David L. Heymann, MD, executive director of communicable diseases for the World Health Organization (WHO), will address BIO’s Partnering for Global Health Forum 2002. Hosted in conjunction with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the Dec. 3-5 forum will bring together biotech industry leaders, potential funders and international health experts to explore how biotechnology can improve health in the developing world.

As director of NIAID, a division of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), Fauci oversees basic and applied research to prevent, diagnose and treat infectious and immune-mediated illnesses, including HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria and autoimmune disorders. Fauci has made numerous scientific contributions to understanding how immunosuppressive agents, such as HIV, modulate the human immune response.

Heymann is responsible for the surveillance and control of communicable diseases, such as tuberculosis, leprosy, hepatitis, malaria, AIDS/HIV, and meningitis at WHO. Prior to joining WHO, Heymann spent 13 years in sub-Saharan Africa on assignment from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) with a special emphasis on the surveillance and control of African haemorrhagic fevers, pox viruses, malaria and Ebola. Heymann also spent two years in India as a medical officer in the WHO Smallpox Eradication Programme.

For more information on BIO’s Partnering for Global Health Forum, please visit www.bio.org. Press registration is now available and is complimentary for credentialed members of the news media. Press releases, conference updates and registration information are posted in the “Media” section of the conference Web site.

BIO represents more than 1,000 biotechnology companies, academic institutions, state biotechnology centers and related organizations in all 50 U.S. states and 33 other nations. BIO members are involved in the research and development of health-care, agricultural, industrial and environmental biotechnology products.

# # #