Jaime Sepulveda
Jaime Sepulveda directs the Bill & Melinda Gate’s Foundation’s Health Solutions Development Program. He oversees our development programs relating to reproductive health; maternal, newborn, and child health; vaccine preventable diseases; nutrition; and tobacco.
Jaime brings a wealth of experience in health to the foundation. He has just spent a sabbatical year as Visiting Professor at UCSF, having received the 2007 Presidential Chair award at UCSF. From 2003 to 2006, Jaime was Director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) of Mexico. As Director, he was responsible for setting policy and for planning, managing, and coordinating the programs and activities of all the NIH institutes, as well as overseeing an intra-mural operational budget of close to one billion dollars per year.
Prior to this appointment, Jaime served two terms as Director General of the National Institute of Public Health (INSP). During this time, he also served as the Dean of the National School of Public Health (NSPH), where he led the oldest and one of the most renowned academic institutions in Latin America dedicated to research and education in public health. Jaime is also a member of the Board of Overseers for Harvard University.
Jaime's broad leadership experience ranges from managing public health institutions and programs in Mexico to working with international academic institutions and organizations. Some of his key achievements as Director General of Epidemiology (1985-1991) and as Vice-Minister of Health (1991-1994) include strengthening the country’s epidemiologic surveillance system by establishing with the US Centers for Disease Control (CDC) the Epidemiology Intelligence Service, which has trained hundreds of field epidemiologist along with the development of a network of state laboratories. All this has been complemented with a National Health Survey System, which has so far produced over a dozen large national surveys that have guided national health policy. He also designed the Universal Vaccination Program, which successfully eliminated polio, measles and diphtheria from Mexico by increasing coverage for preschool vaccination from 45 to 94% in just two years.
Jaime obtained his Medical Degree at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) in 1978, followed by a Masters in Public Health in 1980, a Masters of Science in Tropical Medicine in 1981, and a Doctorate in Population Science in 1985, all from the Harvard University School of Public Health. He has published over 20 books, 30 book chapters and more than 180 national and international scientific articles in peer-reviewed journals.
