From: Biniam Tekle (biniamt@dehai.org)
Date: Wed Jul 14 2010 - 09:44:08 EDT
http://sanfrancisco.bizjournals.com/sanfrancisco/stories/2010/07/12/daily18.html
Tuesday, July 13, 2010, 12:01pm PDT | Modified: Tuesday, July 13, 2010,
5:49pm
UCSF's Haile Debas to step down as head of global health sciences
San Francisco Business Times - by Chris Rauber
Read more: UCSF's Haile Debas to step down as head of global health sciences
- San Francisco Business Times
Haile Debas, M.D., UC San Francisco’s chancellor emeritus and dean emeritus
of the UCSF School of Medicine, plans to step down as executive director of
the university’s Global Health Sciences program, which he founded in 2003,
UCSF said on its website Tuesday.
A key lieutenant will take over temporarily on Sept. 1, while an
international search for a replacement takes place, officials said.
Debas, 73, will step down Aug. 31. He plans to focus his energies on
“important strategic programs and activities,” according to UCSF, including
leading and "nurturing" the University of California's Global Health
Institute, being a senior adviser at UCSF on global health, and working on
Global Health Sciences development efforts in Africa.
UCSF Chancellor Sue Desmond-Hellmann, M.D, praised Debas’s “extraordinary
leadership” of the program and earlier the San Francisco biomedical
university in a recent email message to the campus community.
“Under Dr. Debas’ stewardship, over the past seven years and in over 28
countries, (the global health program) has developed an impressive array of
programs spanning education, research, capacity building, training and
action,” Desmond-Hellmann said in the email. “(The program) has also become
widely recognized for its leadership here in California and the U.S. through
the creation of the UC-wide Global Health Institute and the North American
Consortium of Universities in Global Health. We are extremely proud of these
and other impressive achievements that have positioned UCSF as a strong
leader and contributor to the field of global health.”
Sir Richard Feachem, a key lieutenant in the global health initiative, has
accepted an interim appointment as executive director effective Sept. 1, for
a period of up to 18 months.
“I am delighted that Sir Richard has agreed to serve in this interim
capacity,” Desmond-Hellmann said.
During the transition period, UCSF will conduct an international search to
identify a leading figure in global health to take the program forward
during the next decade, officials said. Feachem has said he will not be a
candidate, but will continue to serve as director of the Global Health Group
within the program while holding the interim appointment.
Feachem is former dean of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical
Medicine, former director for health nutrition and population at the World
Bank, founding executive director of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and
Malaria, and former Under Secretary General of the United Nations.
Debas has been a longtime leader of UCSF, serving as chair of the Department
of Surgery, chancellor and dean of the School of Medicine.
UCSF said Debas is internationally recognized for his contributions to
academic medicine and is widely consulted on issues associated with global
health. A native of Eritrea, he received his medical degree from McGill
University and completed his surgical training at the University of British
Columbia.
Chris Rauber covers health care, insurance and the wine industry for the San
Francisco Business Times.
Contact him at crauber@bizjournals.com or (415) 288-4946.
Read his blog postings at Bay Area BizTalk.
Read more: UCSF’s Haile Debas to step down as head of global health
sciences - San Francisco Business Times
----[This List to be used for Eritrea Related News Only]----