Tore Godal

[rootpi]

Tore Godal is a doctor, public health scientist, and policy-maker; as far as I can tell he doesn’t have an English wikipedia page (which is remarkable, given that he has contributed to saving millions of lives) but here is the Norwegian one. A recent book serves as both a biography of him and a narrative around the amazing advances in global health over the past several decades. For anyone interested, I recommend reading this summary & review of the book, which also includes a conversation with Dean T. Jamison (full disclosure: my father).

I thought this line in particular might resonate with EA: “Perhaps ironically, his coolly detached honesty and pragmatism created an agenda of health for the poor and disadvantaged far more effective than the rhetoric of universal health care, valuable as that can be.”

Overall I see this as highlighting the importance of combining basic research, cost-effectiveness analysis, and political savvy in order to transform the world. Echoes of the recent discussion about PEPFAR (analytics; provocative post; response). A new generation of Norwegians (such as Ole Frithjof Norheim), and of course others, is carrying on this agenda.

[Dane Magaway]

I used Claude to translate the linked wiki page:

Tore Godal (born May 19, 1939 in Rauland, Telemark) is a Norwegian physician and public servant. Godal’s life’s work has been to improve public health in developing countries, especially for women and children.

In a speech in 2005, Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg said that “Tore Godal is probably the Norwegian who has saved the most lives since Fridtjof Nansen”.

Godal was the driving force behind the establishment of the vaccine alliance GAVI (Global Alliance of Vaccination and Immunization),[needs reference] and led the organization in its first six years.

Background and career He holds an M.D. from the University of Oslo. In 1970, he moved to Ethiopia to research leprosy at the newly established Armauer Hansen Research Institute.

In 1975, he left his job as head of the Immunology Laboratory at the Norwegian Radium Hospital to become chairman of the World Health Organization’s (WHO) steering group for research in leprosy immunology and tuberculosis immunology. In 1986, he became director of the program dedicated to research and education in tropical diseases, initiated by UNDP, WHO, and the World Bank.

Godal was central in the establishment of “Roll Back Malaria”, the world’s largest initiative to combat malaria.[needs reference] and in the establishment of the “Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations” (CEPI), which funds and coordinates the development of new vaccines against infectious diseases.[needs reference]

He was a special advisor to Gro Harlem Brundtland when she was Director-General of WHO (1998-1999) and has been an advisor to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. From 2005-2009, Godal was a special advisor for Jens Stoltenberg at the Office of the Prime Minister. Since 2009, Godal has been a special advisor for global health at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Godal is a lecturer and author of more than 300 publications[needs reference].

Godal received the King’s Medal of Merit in 2019.

Crown Princess Mette-Marit has called Tore Godal her role model. When asked by a student at NTNU what one should do to save the world, the Crown Princess replied “become Tore Godal”.

[rootpi]

Super thank you—I especially liked the last line about saving the world...