Prof. Michel Kazatchkine has spent the last 30 years fighting AIDS as a leading physician, researcher, administrator, advocate, policymaker, and diplomat. He attended medical school at Necker-Enfants-Malades in Paris, studied immunology at the Pasteur Institute and completed postdoctoral fellowships at St Mary’s Hospital in London and Harvard Medical School.

Prof. Kazatchkine has played key roles in various organizations, including serving as Director of the National Agency for Research on AIDS (ANRS) in France (1998-2005) and Chair of the WHO’s Strategic and Technical Committee on HIV/AIDS (2004-2007). From 2005 to 2007, Professor Kazatchkine served as French Ambassador for the fight against HIV/AIDS and Communicable Diseases. In 2007, he was elected Executive Director of the Global Fund, a position in which he served until March 2012.

In July 2012, Prof. Kazatchkine was appointed as the UN Secretary-General’s Special Envoy on HIV/AIDS in Eastern Europe and Central Asia.