FIND appoints Christian Bréchot, Noel Tata and Sheila Tlou to Board of Directors

Geneva, Switzerland – 17 April 2015 – FIND has announced the addition of three new members to its Board of Directors: Professor Christian Bréchot, the President of the Institut Pasteur, France; Mr Noel Tata, the Managing Director of Tata International Limited and Chairman of Trent Limited; and Professor Sheila Tlou, Director of the UNAIDS Regional Support Team for Eastern and Southern Africa, and a former Minister of Health for Botswana. They join a Board of nine global health and diagnostics industry specialists chaired by Mr Mark Kessel.

Professor Christian Bréchot joined the Institut Pasteur as its President on October 1, 2013. Until then he served as Vice President of Medical and Scientific Affairs for Institut Mérieux, where he helped oversee diverse research projects ranging from infectious disease to cancer. Professor Bréchot has also served as General Director of Inserm, the French National Agency for biomedical research, and head of the clinical department of liver diseases at the Necker-Enfants Malades Hospital. He obtained his PhD in biochemistry from the University of Paris VII and an MD from Broussais Hôtel Dieu School of Medicine, Paris. Professor Bréchot’s research focuses on viral hepatitis, hepatitis B (HBV) and C (HCV), particularly with regard to their role in liver cancer. The author of over 350 articles, Dr. Bréchot’s research has led to 13 patents and contributed to the creation of two biotech companies. Professor Bréchot also serves on the Board of DNDi (Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative).

Mr Noel Naval Tata is currently the Managing Director of Tata International Limited and Chairman of Trent Limited. He took over as Managing Director of Tata International Limited in August 2010. Tata international is a global trading and distribution company with a presence in five key verticals – Leather and Leather products, Metals Trading, Minerals Trading, Distribution, and Agri Trading. The company registered revenues in the region of USD 2 billion in FY 2013-14 and employs more than 10,000 personnel spanning 39 countries in Africa, Europe, Middle East, Americas and Asia. Mr. Tata was appointed Chairman of Tata Investment Corporation Limited in June 2010 and Chairman of Tata Africa Holdings Ltd in September 2014. In addition, Noel is also a Director of various other Tata Companies including Voltas Limited and Titan Industries Ltd. He is currently the Chairman of the Africa Committee of the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII). He obtained his Bachelor of Arts in Economics from the University of Sussex and completed the International Executive Programme (IEP) at INSEAD, France.

Professor Sheila Dinotshe Tlou is a former Member of Parliament and served as Botswana’s Minister of Health from 2004 to 2009. She has also served as Chair of the Southern African Development Community and the African Union Ministers of Health, and represented Eastern and Southern Africa on the Board of the Global Fund for AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. Professor Tlou holds a PhD in Nursing Sciences and post-graduate certificates in women’s health and gender studies from the University of Illinois in Chicago. Professor Tlou currently serves as the United Nations Eminent Person for Women, Girls, and HIV/AIDS in Southern Africa.

“With the addition of these new members elected yesterday and Marcel Tanner, elected in January, we continue to enhance the depth and experience of FIND’s Board to lead the organization in the implementation of its new strategy for 2015-2020,” said Mark Kessel, the Chair of the Board.

About FIND
Founded in 2003, FIND is an international non-profit organization that enables the development and delivery of diagnostic tests for diseases of poverty, including tuberculosis, malaria, HIV/AIDS, sleeping sickness, hepatitis C, leishmaniasis, Chagas disease and Buruli ulcer. Over the last decade, FIND has partnered in the delivery of 11 new diagnostic tools and created an enabling environment for countless more through specimen banks, reagent development and better market visibility. FIND has also supported the scale-up of diagnostics through implementation, quality assurance and lab strengthening work. FIND has over 100 partners, including research institutes and laboratories, health ministries, commercial partners, bilateral and multilateral organizations (especially WHO), and clinical trial sites. Read more at old.finddx.org

For more information, contact:
Julie Archer, Senior Communications Officer, FIND
Email:Julie.Archer@finddx.org
Desk +41 22 749 29 33
Mobile +41 79 830 63 64