George F Gao and Shobana Kamineni join FIND Board of Directors

• Professor George F Gao joins the FIND Board of Directors with immediate effect
• Ms Shobana Kamineni will join from 1 April 2018

Geneva, Switzerland – 31 January 2018 – FIND announced today the appointment of two new Directors to the Board, strengthening representation from Asia.

Professor George F. Gao is Director General of the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention. He is also a Professor and Director in the Key Laboratory of Pathogenic Microbiology and Immunology at the Institute of Microbiology of Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS); Vice-President of the Beijing Institutes of Life Science, CAS; Vice-President of the Chinese Society of Biotechnology; and President of the Asian Federation of Biotechnology. He was also the elected member/fellow of the CAS, the Third World Academy of Sciences, American Academy of Microbiology, European Molecular Biology Organization, American Association for the Advancement of Science, Royal Society of Edinburgh and African Academy of Sciences.

Professor Gao obtained his PhD (DPhil) degree from Oxford University, UK and completed his post-doctoral work at both Oxford University and Harvard University. His research interests include enveloped virus entry and release, molecular immunology, public health policy and global health strategy. Using interdisciplinary methods, including virology, immunology and structural biology, Gao’s research revealed the origin and interspecies transmission mechanism of avian influenza virus including the virus entry mechanism and T-cell molecular recognition. As a leading figure for the control of infectious diseases in China and a world advocate voice of global public health strategy, He had been leading the China mobile laboratory Testing Team in the fight against Ebola Outbreak in Sierra Leone for three months in 2014.

Professor Gao has published more than 490 peer-reviewed scientific papers, 10 books or book chapters, and has applied for and obtained 25 UK, US and Chinese patents. He was awarded the TWAS Prize in Medical Science in 2012 and the Nikkei Asia Prize in 2014, and with numerous awards and prizes from Chinese government.

Ms Shobana Kamineni is Executive Vice Chairperson of Apollo Hospitals Enterprises Ltd (AHEL). She helms the Apollo Global Projects Consultancy, which steers the planning, design and execution of new projects at AHEL. She also heads the Apollo Pharmacy business, India’s largest pharmacy chain. Dr Kamineni is a Whole Time Director on the Board of Apollo Munich Health Insurance; Vice-Chairperson of the KEI Group; an independent director of Blue Star Limited; and Vice-Chairperson of the KEI Group, a diversified logistics, leisure and infrastructure company. She serves as an advisor to CISCO India’s External Board.

Ms Kamineni is also the current President of the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), a non-governmental trade association, having previously held the positions of Chairperson of CII (Southern Region) and Chairperson CII-AP. In the past, she has chaired the CII National Committees on Entrepreneurship and Public Health. Dr Kamineni is the Governing Council Member of the Overseas Indian Facilitation Centre (OIFC).

Ms Kamineni championed the establishment of ‘Billion Hearts Beating’ – an NGO dedicated to educating Indians about preventing heart disease and staying heart-healthy. She holds a BA in Economics from Stella Maris College, Chennai, and an accelerated Diploma in Hospital Administration from Columbia University, New York. She has also been a recipient of prestigious national awards for Entrepreneurship and Leadership. Her term will commence when she steps down as President of CII in April.

“We are delighted to welcome to the Board of FIND Professor Gao and Dr Kamineni, both highly regarded healthcare experts,” said Mark Kessel, Chairman of the Board. “The expertise and experience of Professor Gao and Ms Kamineni will be instrumental to helping FIND to expand its activities and provide significant benefits to patients through diagnostic innovation across Asia.”

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About FIND
FIND was established in 2003 as a global non-profit dedicated to accelerating the development, evaluation and delivery of high-quality, affordable diagnostic tests for poverty-related diseases, including tuberculosis, malaria, HIV/AIDS, Ebola, sleeping sickness, hepatitis C, leishmaniasis, Chagas disease and Buruli ulcer, and for fighting antimicrobial resistance and supporting outbreak preparedness. Over the last decade, FIND has partnered in the delivery of 20 new diagnostic tools and created an enabling environment for numerous others through the provision of specimen banks, reagent development and better market visibility. FIND also supports better access to new diagnostics through price negotiations, implementation, quality assurance and lab strengthening work. FIND has over 100 partners globally, including research institutes and laboratories, health ministries and national disease control programmes, commercial partners, bilateral and multilateral organizations, especially WHO, and clinical trial sites.

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