CDC Deputy Director David Fleming to Join Gates Foundation

SEATTLE -- The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation announced today that David Fleming, M.D., has been named director of the foundation’s Global Health Strategies program. Fleming currently serves as Deputy Director for Public Health Science at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). He will officially join the foundation in August.

“This is great news for the foundation, and great news for the cause of global health,” said Richard D. Klausner, M.D., former director of the foundation’s Global Health program. “David is a leading scientific expert and a dedicated health advocate, and we look forward to having him at the foundation.”

In his new position, Fleming will be responsible for a broad range of projects to develop and deliver tools and technologies to improve health in the developing world. His portfolio is not specific to any disease or health problem, but will address “cross-cutting” issues such as global immunizations, maternal and child health, nutrition, health technology delivery systems, training and leadership, and novel implementation and financing mechanisms for global health.

As Deputy Director for Public Health Science at CDC, Fleming has led efforts to develop CDC’s scientific capabilities, and has served as the principal source of scientific expertise and advice to the CDC Director. He has provided oversight to CDC’s offices of Global Health, Minority Health, Women’s Health, and the Associate Director for Science. He has recently worked on issues such as global HIV/AIDS prevention, smallpox vaccination policy, the West Nile epidemic, anthrax terrorism, condom effectiveness, funding of international immunizations, and public health genomics.
 
Prior to joining CDC in 2000, Fleming worked at the Oregon Health Division for 15 years, where he served as Deputy State Epidemiologist from 1986-92 and State Epidemiologist from 1992-2000. He received his B.S. degree in biology from the State University of New York at Albany and his M.D. from the State University of New York Upstate Medical Center in Syracuse.