September 24, 2024
Friends Welcomes Dr. Raj Panjabi to Its Board of Directors
Friends is thrilled to announce that Dr. Raj Panjabi has joined its Board of Directors.
Dr. Panjabi is currently Senior Partner at Flagship Pioneering and on the faculty at Harvard Medical School and Brigham and Women’s Hospital. Among his many other roles, he previously led the U.S. President’s Malaria Initiative. In that position, he helped launch the world’s first malaria vaccine, created a strategy to prevent 1 billion malaria cases and managed a $800 million program protecting 700 million people across 30 countries.
“We are honored that Dr. Panjabi has joined the Friends board,” said Friends president and CEO Chris Collins. “He brings an incredible breadth of experience and expertise in global health and policy that will be indispensable for our work.”
Dr. Panjabi served in the Biden-Harris Administration from 2021-2023. As White House Senior Director and Special Assistant to President Biden, Dr. Panjabi served as the top pandemic and health official at the National Security Council. He played a pivotal role in the largest vaccination campaign in history, to fight COVID-19, and in responses to public health crises, including Mpox, Influenza and Ebola.
Dr. Panjabi oversaw implementation of the 2022 U.S. Global Health Security Act, authorizing $5 billion and expanding health investments across 50 countries. He co-developed the President’s COVID-19 and health security initiatives with the G7, G20 and regional bodies, including efforts to organize Presidential Summits, launch the Pandemic Fund at the World Bank, negotiate the WHO Pandemic Accord and uphold the UN Biological Weapons Convention.
Dr. Panjabi is co-founder and for 14 years was CEO of Last Mile Health, an enterprise leveraging digital technology to train thousands of healthcare providers serving millions of people.
Dr. Panjabi has served on numerous boards, councils and commissions. One of TIME’s 100 Most Influential People in the World and TIME’s 50 Most Influential People in Healthcare, he was twice named to the FORTUNE World’s 50 Greatest Leaders list.
“Friends is privileged to be able to learn from Dr. Panjabi’s expertise, enthusiasm and knowledge,” said Dr. Jeffrey L. Sturchio, Friends’ Board chair and past chairman and CEO of Rabin Martin, a global health impact consultancy. “We look forward to beginning our work together.”
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ABOUT FRIENDS OF THE GLOBAL FIGHT AGAINST AIDS, TUBERCULOSIS AND MALARIA:
Friends of the Global Fight Against AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria advocates for U.S. support of the Global Fund, and the goal to end the epidemics of AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria. For more information about Friends of the Global Fight, visit www.theglobalfight.org.
ABOUT THE GLOBAL FUND:
The Global Fund is a worldwide partnership to defeat HIV, TB and malaria and ensure a healthier, safer, more equitable future for all. The partnership has saved 65 million lives since its founding in 2002. It raises and invests more than US$5 billion a year to fight the deadliest infectious diseases, challenges the injustice that fuels them, and strengthens health systems and pandemic preparedness in more than 100 of the hardest hit countries. The Global Fund unites world leaders, communities, civil society, health workers and the private sector to find solutions that have the most impact, and it takes them to scale worldwide. Learn more.
MEDIA CONTACT:
Rachel Irwin
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