Ambassador Mark Dybul (COL ’85, MED ’92), co-director of and distinguished scholar at Georgetown University Law Center’s O’Neill Institute for National and Global Health Law, was appointed executive director of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria Nov. 15.

According to a Law Center press release from that day, Dybul will begin in his new role early next year.

The Global Fund, founded in 2002, is an international organization connecting the public and private sectors that finances programs combating AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria.

Dybul has had previous experience in global health issues prior to his appointment.

In 2004, he joined the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief and became the United States Global AIDS Coordinator in 2006, where he was responsible for overseeing American involvement in the Global Fund.

He was also chair of the coordinating board of the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV and AIDS and a member of the board of trustees for the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars.

He currently serves as a fellow in global health at the George W. Bush Institute in addition to working at the O’Neill Institute.

“This is a wonderful day for the field of global health, and we are extremely proud of Mark,” O’Neill Institute Faculty Director Lawrence O. Gostin wrote in the press release. “We have no doubt that he will be transformative in his new role at the Global Fund.”