PMNCH welcomes Dr Carole Presern as new Director
28 JANUARY 2011 |GENEVA - Dr Carole Presern has been named as the new Director of The Partnership for Maternal, Newborn & Child Health (PMNCH). Dr Margaret Chan, Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO) which hosts the PMNCH, made the official announcement of the appointment effective February 2011. Dr Presern takes over the Directorship from Dr Flavia Bustreo, who has been with the PMNCH since 2006 and was named to the position of Assistant-Director General of the Family and Community Cluster, WHO in October 2010.
Carole Presern is a midwife and an anthropologist who also has a doctorate in public health policy and qualifications in health systems management. A citizen of the UK, she has worked for some 30 years overseas in health and development including in Nepal, Pakistan and Zimbabwe, and Geneva.
Dr Presern comes to The Partnership from the Global Alliance for Vaccine Initiative (GAVI), where she worked most recently as Managing Director, and previously as Director of Change Management and in External Relations. While in Geneva, Dr Presern also worked as Counsellor at the UK Mission, covering specialized agencies, health and humanitarian affairs. Dr Presern also worked many years for DfID/UK as senior health/AIDS adviser for Malawi, Zambia and Mozambique. Previous posts include Director of VSO Nepal, consultancies for multilateral organisations and work as a midwife on the Thai/Cambodian border.
Dr Presern has been a member of the Boards of the Global Fund to fight AIDS, TB and Malaria, UNITAID and most recently on the Board of the International HIV Alliance.