-- Widely Recognized as Leader in Global Health, Experienced Administrator

GENEVA, Nov. 15, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- The Board of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria today appointed as its new Executive Director Ambassador Mark R. Dybul, a former United States Global AIDS Coordinator.

Dr. Dybul is widely recognized as a visionary leader on global health for his role in helping create and then lead the President's Emergency Program for AIDS Relief, known as PEPFAR, which has been highly effective in helping limit and reverse the growth of HIV infection worldwide. Trained as a medical doctor with a specialty in immunology, he became an expert on AIDS as a clinician, a scientist and as a strategically minded administrator.

"Mark Dybul is a true leader, who can take the Global Fund to the next level," said Simon Bland, Board Chair of the Global Fund. "He has a really impressive vision of how to achieve global health goals. He is passionate, energetic and focused."

Dr. Dybul currently co-directs the Global Health Law Program at the O'Neill Institute for National and Global Health Law at Georgetown University, where he is also a Distinguished Scholar.  

"Mark Dybul is a dynamic and effective leader," said Mphu Ramatlapeng, former Health Minister of Lesotho and Board Vice-Chair of the Global Fund. "He brings real knowledge, strategic vision and a commitment to working with partners."  

Dr. Dybul may be best known for playing a key role in creating, and later leading, PEPFAR - the largest global health initiative ever undertaken to address a single disease, which is widely credited with helping reverse the trend of AIDS, reducing new infection in many countries.

He was serving as a staff clinician at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases in Washington D.C. when he joined a task force that eventually led to the creation of PEPFAR. In 2004, he moved to PEPFAR full-time as Deputy Chief Medical Officer. He was soon promoted to Assistant, then Deputy and then Acting U.S. Global AIDS Coordinator. In 2006, he was appointed to head the organization as U.S. Global AIDS Coordinator, equivalent to the level of an Assistant Secretary of State in the U.S. State Department. He served until 2009.

Dr. Dybul also has deep knowledge of implementation of programs to treat and prevent AIDS, TB and malaria in developing countries, and has experience working with health administrators at many levels, especially in Africa.

In addition, he currently serves as a director on numerous executive and advisory boards of health organizations, including Malaria No More, the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation, the Children's Investment Fund Foundation and the Global Business Coalition for Health.

In addition to the medical degree he earned from Georgetown University School of Medicine, he has received honorary doctorates from Georgetown and from the University of San Francisco.