Dr. Tore Godal is an international public health specialist, currently working as a special advisor on global health at the Ministry of Foreign affairs, Norway. He has facilitated the establishment of a research program for global heath in Norway (Globvac) and global partnerships relating to maternal and child health such as the UN Every Woman Every Child initiative and the Global Financing Facility at the World Bank. As the founding executive secretary of GAVI, Dr. Godal was instrumental in the design and development of this alliance on which also The Global Fund was modelled. Previously, Dr. Godal was instrumental in the initiation of the UNDP/World Bank/WHO Special Program for Research and Training in Tropical Diseases, leading the program’s pilot project and flagship effort, Immunology of Leprosy. As a director of TDR, Dr Godal organized a number of large-scale trials, including on insecticide treated mosquito nets which showed that African children would be saved from dying from malaria if sleeping under a net. Before retiring from WHO, Dr. Godal launched the Roll Back Malaria project. A medical doctor and trained immunologist, Dr. Godal has contributed a great deal to the understanding of mechanisms of immunity to mycobacteria, the pathogenesis of autoimmune disease, and the clinical and sub-clinical manifestations of leprosy. His research in cancer has led to the development of diagnostic tools, including monoclonal antibodies for leukaemia and lymph node cancer. Most recently, Dr. Godal contributed to the initiation and financing of the promising Ebola vaccine trial in Guinea. Dr Godal has over 300 publications in peer reviewed journals.