The Non-Communicable Diseases Alliance (NCD Alliance) is pleased to announce the appointment of Dr Téa Collins as Executive Director, effective 1 January 2011.

Based in Geneva, Switzerland, Dr Collins will guide the Alliance in its mission to put non-communicable diseases on the global health agenda and improve the lives of people living with NCDs. Dr Collins’ appointment comes at an opportune time, in light of the UN Summit on NCDs to be held in September in New York.

“We are excited to have someone of Dr Collins stature to head the Alliance,” said Ann Keeling, Chair of the NCD Alliance Steering Group and CEO of the International Diabetes Federation. “She brings a wealth of experience, and she knows how to get things done. We very much look forward to working with her.” The NCD Alliance includes the International Diabetes Federation, the Union for International Cancer Control, the World Heart Federation and the International Union against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease.

Dr Collins brings to the position more than 15 years of leadership in global public health and medicine. Starting her career as a paediatrician in her native Georgia as well as in Russia, she joined the team of reformers in Georgia after the fall of the Soviet Union and worked for the Ministry of Health and the World Bank Health Reform Project managing foreign technical assistance.

Later work included serving as regional health coordinator in the Caucasus for Save the Children. Most recently, Dr Collins headed research and programmes for the Global Forum for Health Research in Geneva, helping the organization promote research for health globally to the benefit of vulnerable populations in low- and middle-income countries. She also served on the secretariat of the World Health Organization’s recent global conference on health systems research.

Besides her MD degree, Dr Collins earned a doctorate in global health from the George Washington University and Master’s degrees in public health from Boston University and in public policy and management from Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government.

She was a presidential scholar, Mason fellow and public service fellow at Harvard. A dual citizen of the United States and Georgia, she has taught graduate and undergraduate courses in global health as an adjunct assistant professor at the George Washington University and consulted on global health issues to a variety of organizations.

She has also spoken to audiences around the world on topics ranging from health systems and health policy to leadership and diplomacy in public health.

“I am very pleased to be working with such a distinguished group of organizations and leaders,” said Dr Collins, “and I expect 2011 to be a landmark year in the history of the fight to put non-communicable diseases on the world’s health agenda.”

The NCD Alliance was formed in May 2009. Geneva, Switzerland, 7 January 2011 Contact the NCD Alliance: [email protected]