Autumn Brings Personnel Changes In Geneva

The annual summer shuffle of the mission staff in Geneva has been particularly active this year for those with responsibility for intellectual property rights, with several key diplomats packing their bags, and new ones arriving.

Egypt
Mohammed Gad of the Egyptian mission in Geneva, a leading diplomat on development issues at the World Intellectual Property Organization in recent years, has returned to the international economic affairs department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Cairo.

As of 1 August, first secretary Mokhtar Warida took over the IP duties at the Egyptian mission. He will follow WIPO, the World Trade Organization Council on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights, and will be a senior supervisor for the World Health Organization. Prior to joining the Egyptian mission in Geneva in July 2010, Warida had worked on international economic law and trade policy issues at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs since 1998. He was posted to the Egyptian Embassy in London between 2001 and 2005 where he worked on economic and European affairs. In addition, he was seconded to work with the Egyptian Minister of Health as an advisor for international relations and agreements affairs from 2007 to 2010. He holds a BA degree in Economics from Cairo University, an MA degree in Political Science from American University in Cairo, and a PhD in International Trade Law from University of London.

India
Sunjay Sudhir, who was responsible for WTO issues at the Mission of India, has returned to the Ministry of External Affairs in New Delhi.

The new official responsible for these issues is Hemant Kotalwar, who is counsellor at the Indian permanent mission to WTO.

Sri Lanka
At the Mission of Sri Lanka, Manorie Mallikaratchy, first secretary, left in June. She covered meetings in WIPO, WHO, the World Meteorological Organization, WMO, UNED and the HRC from July 2007 to June 2011. She was the coordinator of the Asian Group of WIPO in first half of the year 2009. She headed back to the Ministry of External Affairs in Colombo.

The new counsellor at the Sri Lanka mission is Rekha Goonesekera, who has responsibility for WIPO and WHO.

Algeria
Hayet Mehadji, who has been active in IP issues at WIPO in recent years, has completed her term at the Algerian mission in Geneva.

Canada
At the Canadian mission, Darren Smith has completed his rotation and is returning to the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade (DFAIT) in Ottawa. Smith was known in Geneva for maintaining an unusually low profile.

He is being replaced in late August by Sophie Galarneau, who is coming from the same ministry. Galarneau will cover intellectual property at WIPO and WTO.

France
At the French mission in Geneva, Counsellor Delphine Lida, is leaving at the end of August. Her replacement will be identified shortly.

WHO
Robert Ridley, director of the Special Programme for Research and Training in Tropical Diseases (TDR), based at the World Health Organization, is leaving TDR and a search for a new director is underway, the programme has announced.

The objective of TDR is “to foster an effective global research effort on infectious diseases of poverty in which disease endemic countries play a pivotal role,” according to its website. TDR has a central role in WHO activities related to intellectual property rights.

TDR is based at and executed by the WHO, and is sponsored by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the World Bank and WHO.

Full information on the job posting is here.

Merck Serono
Biopharmaceutical company Merck Serono has appointed [pdf] Annalisa Jenkins as global head of drug development & medical, effective 5 September. Jenkins was senior vice president for global medical at Bristol-Myers Squibb. Merck Serono also appointed Belén Garijo as chief operating officer, from 1 September. Garijo was senior vice president of global operations region Europe at Sanofi. Jenkins and Garijo will be based in Geneva, where the firm has been increasing its presence for several years.

[William New contributed to this report.]