Stanford Report, May 13, 2009

CARE leader to speak at June 13 commencement

Helene Gayle

Helene Gayle, MD, MPH, the president and CEO of the international poverty-fighting organization CARE USA, will be the featured speaker at the School of Medicine's graduation ceremonies June 13.

A pediatrician, Gayle worked for more than 20 years for the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, where she rose through the ranks to become director for the National Center for HIV, STD and TB Prevention.

While at the CDC, Gayle worked on issues related to child malnutrition domestically and abroad and child survival programs in Africa, as well as HIV/AIDS research and policy.

Gayle served as the chief of the HIV/AIDS Division for the U.S. Agency for International Development and a senior executive at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, where she directed HIV, TB and reproductive health programs.

Gayle has been at CARE since 2005. There she oversees the nonprofit organization's programs to improve basic education, to prevent the spread of HIV, to increase access to clean water and sanitation, to expand economic opportunity, to protect natural resources and to deliver emergency aid to survivors of war and natural disasters.