The race for the Executive Director for the Global Fund finally ended after several months of uncertainty. The Board of the institution met Thursday in Geneva to review the second round of applications for the position at an emergency meeting that was called for last October after failing to select a candidate. Dr. Michel Kazatchkine, one of the two frontrunners from the first round, was selected.

In October, the Board reached a dead-lock after neither of the two front-runners, Dr. Kazatchkine and Dr. Michel Sidibe of UNAIDS, were unable to achieve the two-thirds majority required of the donor and recipients blocks on the Board. In the second round, Dr. Sidibe chose not to reapply and the two contenders, in addition to Dr. Kazatchkine, were Dr. Alex Coutinho, CEO of the AIDS Service of Organization of Uganda (TASO) and Dr. David Nabarro, currently heading the UN's influenza response.

Last week, Dr. Kazatchkine was able to achieve the required two-thirds majority of the recipient and donor blocks securing him as the leader of the organization. Dr. Kazatchkine is well known in the global AIDS community, having treated people with the disease for over 20 years. He currently serves as France's Ambassador for HIV/AIDS and Communicable Diseases. He also has a long history with the Global Fund; he served as Vice-Chair of the Global Fund's Board of Directors and was the first Chair of the Fund's Technical Review Panel, which is responsible for reviewing the quality grant proposals. As a world-renowned scientist and clinician who has treated people with AIDS worldwide, he brings over two decades of experience to his new position. He has demonstrated strong commitment to fighting for the needs of people living with AIDS and is known for advocating for science over politics when it comes to HIV prevention, particularly with intravenous drug users and needle exchange.

Dr. Kazatchkine will take the reigns to lead the Global Fund after the current executive director, Sir Richard Feachem, steps down after his five-year term on March 31, 2007. With 450 programs in 136 countries, Professor Kazatchkine will lead the largest international financier of TB and malaria programs and one of the three largest funders of HIV/AIDS programs in the world.