Jeremy Farrar
Professor Sir Jeremy Farrar is Chief of PATH’s Asia, Middle East, and Europe (AMEE) Region and a member of PATH’s Executive Leadership Team. He leads PATH’s work across the region, strengthening partnerships with communities, governments, donors, and research institutions to accelerate the translation of scientific innovation into lasting public health impact.
Jeremy is a physician, scientist, and globally recognized leader in public health and clinical medicine. Before joining PATH, he served as Assistant Director-General for Health Promotion, Disease Prevention and Care at the World Health Organization (WHO), where he oversaw the organization’s work across communicable and noncommunicable diseases, health promotion, nutrition, maternal and child health, climate and health, and other major health priorities. Previously, he served as WHO’s Chief Scientist. Prior to joining WHO, he was Director of Wellcome, one of the world’s largest charitable foundations, where he led a decade of organizational transformation and expanded the foundation’s work in discovery science and a renewed global focus on infectious diseases, climate and health, and mental health.
Earlier in his career, he lived and worked in Viet Nam for nearly two decades as Director of the Clinical Research Unit at the Hospital for Tropical Diseases in Ho Chi Minh City. There, he helped build one of the world’s leading research partnerships focused on infectious diseases, working closely with governments, research institutions, and health systems across Asia. His research and clinical work has spanned endemic and emerging infections, including influenza, dengue, typhoid malaria, tuberculosis, HIV, antimicrobial resistance, and other major public health challenges.
Jeremy has advanced global pandemic preparedness and scientific collaboration, playing a leading role in establishing major international initiatives, including the WHO R&D Blueprint, the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI), the International Severe Acute Respiratory and Emerging Infection Consortium (ISARIC), and the International Pathogen Surveillance Network (IPSN). He has authored more than 650 scientific publications and is a Fellow of the Royal Society, the Academy of Medical Sciences, and the US National Academy of Medicine.
Professor Farrar is a Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences, the Royal Society, the European Molecular Biology Organization, and the US National Academy of Medicine. He serves on numerous national and international advisory boards and has been recognized globally for his contributions to science and public health. In 2015, he was named among Fortune's 50 World's Greatest Leaders. He has received the Memorial Medal and Ho Chi Minh City Medal from the Government of Viet Nam, the Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter Humanitarian of the Year Award, the Public Service Medal from the Government of Singapore, and the Order of the Rising Sun, Gold Rays with Neck Ribbon from the Government of Japan. He was knighted in the 2019 New Year Honours for services to global health. More recently, he was recognized among Politico's most influential people in Europe in 2022, named to STAT's list of the most influential leaders and innovators in the life sciences in 2024, and included in the 2024 TIME100 Health list recognizing the world's most influential figures in health.
Jeremy trained in neurology and infectious diseases in the United Kingdom, USA, and Australia and earned a PhD in immunology from the University of Oxford.