Seth Berkley

A medical doctor and infectious disease epidemiologist, Dr. Berkley joined Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance as its CEO in August 2011. During his tenure, Gavi has increased coverage of routine immunization in lower-income countries: even before the COVID-19 pandemic, Gavi was helping protect nearly half the world’s children, vaccinating more than 820 million people in its first 20 years, reducing vaccine-preventable child deaths by 70% and preventing more than 14 million deaths. In 2020, Dr. Berkley co-created COVAX, the only multilateral global solution aimed at ending the acute phase of the pandemic by providing equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines for people in all countries, regardless of their ability to pay. 

Prior to Gavi, in 1996, Dr. Berkley founded the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative (IAVI), where he served as president and CEO for 15 years. Previously, Dr. Berkley worked for The Rockefeller Foundation, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; the Massachusetts Department of Public Health; and the Carter Center, where he was assigned as an epidemiologist at the Ministry of Health in Uganda.