Dr Vasee Moorthy is an infectious diseases physician, T cell immunologist, clinical trialist and product developer. He leads a unit in WHO, reporting to the Chief Scientist, Dr Swaminathan, that includes the following functions: Global Health Ethics, the Global R&D observatory, International Clinical Trials Registration Platform, WHO’s R&D Blueprint for action to prevent epidemics, and quality oversight of WHO’s evidence-based guidelines that provide recommendations for clinical practice and public health. One ongoing responsibility is WHO’s work in developing governance options for human genome editing. In his 10 years at WHO he has been the lead for malaria vaccine R&D, then for all vaccine R&D, prior to taking up his current post. He was instrumental in development of the highly effective Ebola Vaccine and has led WHO’s work in clinical trials policy. Prior to joining WHO, he worked linking research with public health in Kwazulu/Natal, South Africa (1996-1998) led some of the first DNA and recombinant virus vaccine trials in Europe and The Gambia, Africa (19992003); set up the first malaria challenge trials in Europe (1999) and led global selection of clinical trial sites for PATH, a US-based NGO (2003-2005). He has a first class honours degree in Natural Sciences from the University of Cambridge, UK, a clinical medicine degree from the University of Oxford, and a PhD in molecular T cell immunology of malaria from the Institute of Molecular Medicine in Oxford.