Harvard School of Public Health honours Pate

Harvard T.H Chan School of Public Health, Boston, Massachusetts, United States (U.S.), has appointed Dr. Muhammad Ali Pate as Julio Frenk Professor of Public Health Leadership in the Department of Global Health and Population.

The appointment, which takes effect on July 1, 2019, will allow Pate to proceed on leave while he serves as Global Director, Health, Nutrition and Population (HNP) and Director, Global Financing Facility (GFF), with the World Bank Group in the Washington DC.

Acting Dean for Academic Affairs. Executive Dean for Administration, Senior Vice Dean for Institutional Planning and Policy, Dr. Michael J. Grusby, in a statement conveying the appointment of Professor Pate is bringing his wealth of experience and a Public Health Specialist with a decade and half years of experience.

Grusby said: “Dear Members of the Harvard Chan School Community, it is my pleasure to announce that Muhammad Ali Pate has been appointed Julio Frenk Professor of Public Health Leadership in the Department of Global Health and Population. Although Dr. Pate will begin his Harvard Chan School appointment on July 1, 2019, he will be on leave while he serves as Global Director, Health, Nutrition and Population (HNP) and Director, Global Financing Facility (GFF), with the World Bank Group in Washington, DC.”

Formerly Minister of State for Health, Federal Republic of Nigeria, Pate has dedicated his career to strengthening public health systems and building innovative partnerships to combat preventable causes of mortality.

Until recently, Pate was chief executive officer of Big Win Philanthropy, an organization that invests in children and young adults in developing countries to improve their lives and maximize demographic dividends for long-term economic growth. In his contributions to the World Economic Forum and the World Bank Group, he has worked with some of the countries most affected by Human Immuno-deficiency Virus (HIV)/Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS), tuberculosis, and malaria, and has led programs that resulted in significant changes to health care systems and disease control around the world.

A former Richard L. and Ronay Menschel Senior Leadership Fellow at the School, Pate has taught Leadership Development in Global Health: Trust and Community-based Leadership Networks in Global Health Practice. At the Duke Global Health Institute, where he held an appointment as a visiting professor, he taught comparative health systems to Master’s degree students in Global Health.

Pate received his doctor of medicine degree from Ahmadu Bello University, Nigeria, his master of science in health systems management from the London School of Hygiene and Tropic Medicine, and his master of business administration with a certificate in health sector management from Duke University.

In Nigeria, the University of Medical Sciences, Ondo City, who named her school of Public Health after the former Minister, honours Prof. Pate.

Earlier, he had championed the eradication of poliomyelitis in the country, was responsible for the Midwifery Service Scheme (MSS) and the involvement of traditional rulers in Primary Health Care while serving as Executive Director, National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA).