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Update from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Organizational update Susan Desmond-Hellmann, M.D., M.P.H. started as CEO of the foundation on May 1, 2014. An oncologist by training, Desmond-Hellmann is a recognized leader on issues of higher education, public health, drug development, regulatory innovation, and health policy. Prior to joining the foundation, Dr. DesmondHellman was chancellor of University of California, San Francisco. She was appointed to that position in August 2009 -- the first woman to serve as the university's chancellor, overseeing all aspects of the university and medical center's strategy, academic programs and operations. She has extensive experience in product development, and a deep understanding of how to bridge applied research to delivery of product. Prior to her tenure at UCSF, she was President of Product Development at Genentech, where she led the development and introduction of two of the first gene-targeted therapies for cancer, Avastin and Herceptin. Program update(s) Grand Challenges in Global Health The 2014 Grand Challenges Meeting will take place from October 5-8 in Seattle. The 2014 meeting is a significant milestone, marking the 10th anniversary of the annual gathering and more than a decade of grant-making using the Grand Challenges approach. Based on a decade of lessons learned and a growing network of funders, we plan to re-launch Grand Challenges with an announcement of new opportunities to accelerate development of interventions for global health and create a more systematic approach to ensure that every child is thriving. We welcome the opportunity to engage with additional partners on these new initiatives. Cross-cutting surveillance initiative Beginning this year, the foundation will fund the development of the Sentinel Epidemiology and Etiology Data (SEED) network of 20-25 sites that will measure the burden of infectious disease associated with diarrhea, pneumonia and febrile illness among children under 5 years of age across sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia. Geospatial analysis will be used to ensure a representative cross section of sites, and laboratory and epidemiologic methods will be standardized. This will result in the collection of population-based data that can be used to gain situational awareness of specific geographies, measure trends over time, and assess the impact of global health interventions and programs. A sophisticated data transmission scheme will allow the data to be used within 3 months of collection, under a data governance structure that will ensure country ownership of the data. This network will also serve as a platform for research, allowing the global health community to maximally leverage the SEED infrastructure. Global Burden of Disease (GBD) 2.0 The foundation funded the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) at the University of Washington to support a continuously updated and expanded Global Burden of Disease platform to