Equity and Progress in Global Health - The Science of Global Health: What’s Next?

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Jaime Sepulveda, Executive Director Global Health Sciences
Dr. Jaime Sepulveda is the Executive Director of UCSF Global Health Sciences, and Professor of Epidemiology, at the University of California, San Francisco. A member of the Chancellor's Executive Cabinet, he leads a team of over 260 faculty and staff engaged in translating UCSF's scientific leadership into programs that positively impact health and reduce inequities globally. Sepulveda oversees several education and training programs, including the Masters of Science in Global Health Sciences degree program, the first such program in the nation.

Sepulveda's areas of research expertise include HIV/AIDS, vaccines, health surveillance and metrics, neglected infectious diseases, maternal & neonatal health, health policy, and global health initiatives.

Sepulveda is the Principal Investigator for the FIRST (Fighting Infections through Research, Science & Technology) program, which tackles neglected infectious diseases in Mesoamerica. He is the co-director of the new UCSF Preterm Birth initiative, and has recently served as a guest editor for global health supplements in Health Affairs and Science.

From 2007 to 2011, Dr. Sepulveda was a member of the Foundation Leadership Team at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. He served at the BMGF in various roles: as Director of Integrated Health Solutions, Director of Special Initiatives and Senior Fellow in the Global Health Program. He also played a central role in shaping the foundation's overall global health strategy as part of its executive team. Dr. Sepulveda worked closely with key foundation partners—including the GAVI Alliance, where he chaired the Executive Committee—to increase access to vaccines and other effective health solutions in developing countries. As Vice-Chair of the GAVI Board, he contributed to improve the governance and management of the organization.

Sepulveda worked for more than 20 years in a variety of senior health posts in the Mexican government. After graduating from Harvard University where he obtained his Doctorate, he became Mexico's Director-General of Epidemiology. At age 36, he was appointed Vice-Minister of Health. From 2003 to 2006, he served as Director of the National Institutes of Health of Mexico. He was for almost a decade Director-General of Mexico's National Institute of Public Health and Dean of the National School of Public Health.

In addition to his research credentials, Sepulveda is an experienced implementer of effective health programs. Sepulveda designed Mexico's Universal Vaccination Program, which eliminated polio, measles, and diphtheria by achieving universal childhood immunization coverage. He also modernized the national health surveillance system, created the National Health Surveys System and founded Mexico's National AIDS Council.

Sepulveda holds a medical degree from National Autonomous University of Mexico and two Masters and a Doctorate degree from Harvard University. In 1997, he was awarded the Harvard's Alumni Award of Merit. Dr. Sepulveda was elected to and served in the Harvard Board of Overseers (2002-2008). He is a member of the Institute of Medicine of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences.


Sam Hawgood Named as Next Chancellor of UC San Francisco
University of California President Janet Napolitano announced July 9 that her choice for the 10th chancellor of UC San Francisco is Sam Hawgood, MBBS, the UCSF School of Medicine dean who emerged from a national search as the top candidate after leading the campus in an interim role.

Hawgood, 61, a highly accomplished scientist, educator and physician with a strong record of leadership, succeeded Susan Desmond-Hellmann, MD, MPH, as interim chancellor on April 1, 2014. Since then, he has overseen the $4 billion UCSF enterprise, which, in addition to the renowned medical school, includes nationally top-ranked schools of dentistry, nursing and pharmacy, as well as a graduate division and affiliated hospitals.

The UC Board of Regents will vote on Napolitano’s selection and the terms of the appointment on July 17 in a special session at the conclusion of the regents’ regular bi-monthly meeting.

“Sam Hawgood has served UC San Francisco exceedingly well for three decades — as a researcher, physician and leader, ” Napolitano said. “As interim chancellor, he has advanced initiatives in both basic and clinical science, as well as precision medicine.

(Hawgood) possesses the mix of vision, curiosity and empathy essential to the dynamic leadership required to move this already stellar UC institution to even greater heights."

UC President Janet Napolitano
“He has demonstrated, ” she said, “that he possesses the mix of vision, curiosity and empathy essential to the dynamic leadership required to move this already stellar UC institution to even greater heights. When a rigorous, far-reaching search lands on a candidate from within, it demonstrates the fundamental strength of the institution.”

As dean of the School of Medicine, Hawgood has led an organization with an operating budget of more than $1.7 billion, nearly 8, 000 faculty and staff, and about 3, 655 medical and graduate students, residents, fellows and postdoctoral scholars.

Under his leadership, the school became the top medical school in the nation in research funding from the National Institutes of Health ($439.6 million in 2013), with many of its departments also leading the nation in their fields. In that time, the school also became the only medical school in the nation to rank in the top five in both research and primary-care education, in the U.S. News & World Report’s annual assessment of graduate schools.

The school’s clinical faculty is known widely for world-class medical care through its practice in the top-ranked UCSF Medical Center, UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital (newly merged with Children’s Hospital Oakland), Langley Porter Psychiatric Institute, San Francisco General Hospital & Trauma Center, and the San Francisco Veterans’ Administration Medical Center.

Hawgood has served as dean of the UCSF School of Medicine and as vice chancellor for medical affairs since September 2009, after assuming the role of interim dean in December 2007. He previously had chaired the Department of Pediatrics, having first served in an interim role. He also served as associate director of the Cardiovascular Research Institute.

Sam Hawgood, MBBS
Numerous organizations and publications have recognized Hawgood’s scientific contributions. He is a member of the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American Association of Physicians, and in 2010 was elected to the Institute of Medicine (IOM), which provides authoritative advice to Congress, other decision makers and the public as part of the National Academy of Sciences. Membership in the IOM is one of the highest honors for individuals at the top of their fields.

“I am honored, excited and humbled, ” Hawgood said, “by the opportunity to lead UC San Francisco to new horizons in basic and clinical research, teaching and patient care, building on a shared vision of this world-class institution’s excellence, history and legacy.

“I look forward to working with all members of the UCSF community — students, faculty and staff, our philanthropic partners and the larger community — as we focus on strengthening every aspect of this great institution, ” he said.

Hawgood has been active for decades in clinical medicine. He served as division chief of the Division of Neonatology, then as chair of Pediatrics and physician-in-chief of the UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital before becoming dean. He is the president of the UCSF Medical Group, the faculty association that represents more than 1, 800 UCSF physicians.

“Dr. Hawgood knows how to engage in shared governance with all segments of the faculty, and he understands every aspect of our central mission that relates to research, education and public service, ” said Farid F. Chehab, PhD, a professor in the Department of Laboratory Medicine and chair of the UCSF Academic Senate. “He has done a terrific job as dean of the School of Medicine, and always looks at the larger picture without overlooking any of the details. I think his leadership as chancellor will take UCSF to new heights and positively impact on faculty, staff and students.”

Hawgood joined UCSF as a research fellow in 1982, working with distinguished scientists John A. Clements, M.D., and William H. Tooley, M.D., both pioneers in the discovery and therapeutic uses of pulmonary surfactant, the key lipoprotein that lines healthy lungs and enables them to expand with each breath. He has maintained his own laboratory since 1984. His research has gained him an international reputation in neonatology research.

“The search to fill the chancellorship was national in scope, and the field of candidates was impressive, ” UC Board of Regents Chairman Bruce D. Varner said. “No candidate was more impressive, however, than Dr. Hawgood, who made clear to members of the search committee that his passion for UCSF was matched only by his preparedness to lead it forward. I look forward to taking up Sam’s nomination when the Board of Regents meets.”

A native of Australia, Hawgood entered medical school at the age of 17, and was graduated with First Class Honors from the University of Queensland in Brisbane with a degree in medicine and surgery (MBBS).

Hawgood and his wife, Jane, a social worker who recently retired after focusing on palliative care for adults, met at the University of Queensland. They have two grown sons.

“With his incredible credentials, experience and intimate knowledge of every aspect of the campus, Sam Hawgood is the logical and ideal choice to be the next chancellor of UC San Francisco, ” said William E. Oberndorf, chair of the UC San Francisco Foundation Board of Directors.

Sam Hawgood brings integrity, intellect and vision to UC San Francisco. He is one of the best leaders I ever worked with. The university will be in great hands with Sam leading the way.”



Harvey V. Fineberg Named UCSF Presidential Chair
Departing Institute of Medicine Chief Will Focus on Global Health During Yearlong Appointment.

Harvey V. Fineberg, MD, PhD, MPP, the president of the Institute of Medicine (IOM), will come to UC San Francisco for a yearlong appointment as a Presidential Chair beginning in September.

Fineberg is a public health expert with a particular interest in health policy and medical decision making. He has been head of the IOM, which is the health arm of the National Academy of Sciences, for two full terms, and will step down at the end of June. Before that, Fineberg spent many years at Harvard University; first as a college and medical student, and later as a faculty member, dean of the School of Public Health and provost of the University.

At UCSF, Fineberg will write and lecture about global health policy and analysis. He will be the keynote speaker at the UCSF Science of Global Health symposium on October 2, which coincides with GHS’s 10-year anniversary and the opening of Mission Hall, the new building at UCSF Mission Bay where global health, clinical and other faculty will have offices.

“UCSF is an extraordinary place, and I am very pleased to come and join its global health faculty, ” Fineberg said. “It is one of the nation’s premier biomedical centers, and it has become a first-class center for global health as well.”

Fineberg was invited to UCSF by Jaime Sepulveda, executive director of UCSF Global Health Sciences (GHS), as well as Sam Hawgood, MBBS, Dean of the School of Medicine and Interim Chancellor, and David Vlahov, RN, PhD, Dean of the School of Nursing. Sepulveda and Fineberg have known each other since the 1980s, when Sepulveda was a graduate student at the Harvard School of Public Health. They later edited a book together about HIV prevention.

“Harvey is one of the most respected and influential leaders in academic medicine, and we at UCSF are extremely fortunate to have him as a visiting professor, ” Sepulveda said. “I owe him a lot. He has been my mentor for decades, and he’s also a mentor to many others.”

Fineberg has played an influential role in American health policy, particularly in the areas of vaccine use, AIDS prevention, clinical decision making and the uses of medical technology. He wrote an important book on the controversial 1976 immunization program on swine flu, called “The Epidemic that Never Was” and later chaired a committee that examined the World Health Organization’s handling of the 2009 epidemic of H1N1 swine flu. He has argued that investing in global health enables industrialized countries to help those in desperate need, while protecting their own citizens from disease and strengthening international relationships.

Fineberg joins other global health luminaries at UCSF, including Sir Richard Feachem, PhD, DSC the former head of the Global Fund to Fight Aids, Tuberculosis and Malaria who now heads the Global Health Group at GHS; and Eric Goosby, MD, who was President Barack Obama’s Global AIDS Coordinator and head of PEPFAR, the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief. At UCSF, Goosby is starting a new Center for Global Health Delivery and Diplomacy that will engage in international health diplomacy, advocacy and integrated health system delivery.

Through interdisciplinary education, service and research programs, GHS harnesses UCSF’s scientific strengths to train global health leaders of tomorrow and develop solutions to today’s most pressing health challenges. GHS faculty, staff and students are on the cutting edge of research, treatment, public health practice and policy development for HIV/AIDS, malaria, tuberculosis, neglected tropical diseases, immunizations, women’s reproductive and children’s health, and other conditions that have a devastating impact both globally and locally. They work in more than 50 countries and partner with academic centers, international organizations, ministries of health and private industries to improve the health of vulnerable populations.

UCSF, now celebrating the 150th anniversary of its founding, is a leading university dedicated to promoting health worldwide through advanced biomedical research, graduate-level education in the life sciences and health professions, and excellence in patient care. It includes top-ranked graduate schools of dentistry, medicine, nursing and pharmacy, a graduate division with nationally renowned programs in basic, biomedical, translational and population sciences, as well as a preeminent biomedical research enterprise and two top-ranked hospitals, UCSF Medical Center and UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital San Francisco.