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Friday, October 22, 2010

No Pressure

Today is my last day as a contract employee at the Foundation. As of Monday I will be a fulltime employee. I have joined the Global Health – HIV –Vaccine Team and could not feel more honored.



This week I sat in a meeting that discussed the inequalities is Mesoamerican and bring millions of dollars in financial aid to the poorest of the poor in the region. I listened to the president of our division share his recent opportunity to discuss with world leaders the relationship between government/regulatory agencies, pharmaceutical companies inconsistencies and thus global impact access to life saving technologies and drugs. One of our team members this week was recognized as one of the top 20 Nigerians living in the US making a difference. Over my short time here I’ve met leaders, diplomats, world-renowned scientists and advocates for improving global health. They are the real deal.

What energizes me the most about this job is the level of impact on a global scale that we are attempting make. It’s real people doing real work. The work my team is doing has the potential to impact real people around the world. This is high stakes and so very exciting to be a part of.


Last week, MG was asked if her and BG could give all their money to one area of focus she said this:

"If B and I could only work on one thing with the foundation’s money it would be an AIDS vaccine....Today, there are 33 million people living with HIV/AIDS. Five million are on treatment. Will the world pay for all the people who need treatment? It’s just not going to happen. That’s why you’ve got to work on a vaccine. If you can get a vaccine for this disease, then you can talk about elimination. And it may not look like it, but every time we do a trial on the vaccine, we learn something new. We’re making progress."


This is my team….no pressure.


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