ROY WIDDUS, Ph.D.
roy.widdus@ippph.org

Roy Widdus presently serves as Project Manager of the Initiative on Public-Private Partnership for Health at the Global Forum for Health Research, an independent, international foundation in Geneva, Switzerland. The Initiative monitors, analyses and supports partnerships for development and delivery of drugs, vaccines and other products for alleviating neglected diseases and health conditions in developing countries.

From 1995 to January 2000 he was Co-ordinator of the Secretariat to the Children's Vaccine Initiative (co-sponsored by UNICEF, UNDP, WHO, the World Bank, and the Rockefeller Foundation). The CVI provided a forum for international organizations, national agencies and programmes, and industry to discuss and initiate new activities on vaccines and immunization. He has experience in a variety of work settings including: academic research; teaching; the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries; and policy development for science and health in government and international agencies. Previously, he served as Interim Director of the National Vaccine Program Office, in the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Health, U.S.A. (1993-1995); as Executive Director of the U.S. National Commission on AIDS (1991-1993); with the Global Programme on AIDS, and the Tuberculosis Programme of the World Health Organization (1988-1991); and in various roles, including Director of the Division of International Health, at the Institute of Medicine of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences (1978-1987), where he managed a number of major studies on vaccine development priorities, national vaccine policy, and HIV/AIDS.

His academic training is in microbial biochemistry and epidemiology. Work experience in industry includes industrial microbiology (for Distillers Company, U.K.) and drug design (for Wellcome Corporate Research Laboratories, U.K.). His primary interest is in the use of epidemiology, and the biomedical and social sciences for improvement of health.