KEYNOTE: THE SCIENCE & POLITICS OF MAKING FUNDING DECISIONS AT THE BILL & MELINDA GATES FOUNDATION

Damian Walker is a Senior Program Officer at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, where he works on the cost-effectiveness of health interventions and technologies.  His portfolio of grants includes efforts to set disease control priorities globally, as well as assessments of the cost-effectiveness of new vaccines, and HIV treatment and prevention interventions at the national level.  He led the development of the foundation's reference case methodology for cost-effectiveness analysis (in partnership with NICE International).  He also manages a recent grant awarded to NICE International - the international Decision Support Initiative - to support low- and middle-income governments in making resource allocation decisions for healthcare (co-funded with the UK's Department for International Development).  Prior to the joining the foundation in July 2010, Damian was an Associate Professor in the Department of International Health, Bloomberg School of Public Health, Johns Hopkins University.  Damian has published over 80 peer-reviewed journals, and a dozen book chapters.  Damian holds a BSc in economics and an M.Sc. in health economics from the University of York, and a PhD in health economics from the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine.