IPM Announces New Chair and Three New Board Members

Incoming Chair Alex Coutinho and members Eunice Brookman-Amissah, Eveline Herfkens and Anita Sandström offer expertise in international health, global development and women’s rights

SILVER SPRING, Md. (November 20, 2008) – The International Partnership for Microbicides (IPM) today announced the appointment of Dr. Alex Coutinho as chair of its Board of Directors as well as new Board members Dr. Eunice Brookman-Amissah, Ambassador Eveline Herfkens and Dr. Anita Sandström. Together they offer tremendous expertise in global health policy, international diplomacy, epidemiology and reproductive rights.

“I am honored to have such accomplished and dynamic individuals on IPM’s Board of Directors,” said IPM CEO Dr. Zeda Rosenberg. “Our new chair and members will offer invaluable perspectives from their work in international development and global cooperation. Working with current Board members, these new leaders will help bring IPM closer to its goal of developing a microbicide for women in the developing world.”

Incoming Chair Dr. Alex Coutinho is executive director of the Infectious Disease Institute at Makerere University in Kampala, Uganda, where he leads HIV/AIDS prevention efforts and directs the delivery of sustainable, high-quality care for Africans living with the disease. From 2001 to 2007, he was executive director of the AIDS Support Organization of Uganda — the largest organization of its kind in sub-Saharan Africa. Dr. Coutinho, the former vice-chair of IPM’s Board of Directors, replaces outgoing chair Dr. Els Borst-Eilers, former minister of Health, Welfare and Sport, and deputy prime minister of the Netherlands. Dr. Borst-Eilers will continue to serve on IPM’s Board.

"I am honored to follow Dr. Els Borst-Eilers as Board chair," said Dr. Coutinho. "I look forward to harnessing the collective talent of our Board members to help guide IPM toward our goal of developing safe, effective and affordable microbicides. Together we can put HIV protection into the hands of women."

Dr. Eunice Brookman-Amissah was Ghana’s minister of health from 1996 to 1998. She is currently vice president for Africa at Ipas, a nongovernmental organization that works to increase women’s ability to exercise their sexual and reproductive rights around the world. She also spent three years as Ghana’s ambassador to the Netherlands. During her time as minister, she introduced healthcare reform and comprehensive reproductive health services that highlighted the needs of the underprivileged. Previously, Dr. Brookmann-Amissah had a career in clinical medicine that spanned the public and private sectors in the United Kingdom and Ghana.

Ambassador Eveline Herfkens was previously Netherlands minister for Development Cooperation and has served with some of the most influential multinational organizations in the world. In 2002, UN Secretary General Kofi Anan appointed Ambassador Herfkens as the executive coordinator for the Millennium Development Goals Campaign, where she continues to lead cooperative efforts aimed at lifting developing nations out of poverty and disease. From 1996 to 1998 she served as ambassador extraordinary and plenipotentiary, and permanent representative of the Netherlands at the United Nations. Ambassador Herfkens is currently a member of the World Commission on the Social Dimension of Globalization.

Dr. Anita Sandström has dedicated her career to fostering global cooperation and leading international efforts to combat infectious diseases. An epidemiologist by training, she currently serves as the executive director of the Southern African AIDS Trust (SAT). Dr. Sandström has held a variety of teaching and research positions with Umeå University in Sweden. Before joining SAT, she was counselor of the Swedish-Norwegian HIV and AIDS Team for Africa. Dr. Sandström has led research projects in Latin America, Central America, Africa and Asia through her work with the Department for Research Cooperation of the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency.

Incumbent members of the Board of Directors include Dr. Peter Corr, general partner with Celtic Therapeutics Management LLLP; Dr. Seth L. Harrison, managing general partner of Apple Tree Partners; Dr. David Kessler, professor of pediatrics at the University of California, San Francisco School of Medicine; Totsie Memela-Khambule, managing director of Post Bank; Anjali Nayyar, PATH’s country program leader in India; Albert Profy, vice president of Preclinical Development at Indevus Pharmaceuticals; Hélène Rossert-Blavier, former director general of AIDES; Anandi Yuvaraj, Asia-Pacific regional coordinator for the International Community of Women Living with HIV/AIDS (ICW); and Dr. Zeda Rosenberg, CEO of IPM.

About IPM: IPM is a nonprofit product development partnership dedicated to developing new HIV prevention technologies and making them available to women in developing countries. IPM has offices in the United States, South Africa and Belgium.

Contacts: Larry Miller, lmiller@ipmglobal.org, +1 301 608 4267
Leonard Solai, lsolai@ipmglobal.org, +27 (84) 660 6776
Holly Seltzer, hseltzer@ipmglobal.org, +1 301 608 4277