Emilio A. Emini, Ph.D., is an independent biopharmaceutical and vaccine consultant.  He retired in June 2024 after several years as Chief Executive Officer of the Bill & Melinda Gates Medical Research Institute. He joined the Institute following a six-year tenure as Director of the Tuberculosis & HIV Program at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Emilio joined the foundation in 2015 after more than 30 years in the biopharmaceutical industry, during which he held senior positions in anti-infectives and vaccines R&D. From 1983 to 2004, Emilio led the virology research programs at the Merck Research Laboratories that resulted in the first of the highly active antiretroviral therapies for control of HIV/AIDS and, as Head of Vaccine Research, led the research teams involved in the development of multiple licensed vaccines. Following a two-year leave from the industry at the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative, Emilio joined Wyeth/Pfizer in 2005 as Senior Vice President of Vaccine R&D. There, he led the development of a second-generation vaccine for prevention of pneumococcal disease in young children and adults. Emilio also served as a member of the U.S. National Preparedness and Response Science Board, as a technical advisor to the COVID vaccine programs of the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovation (CEPI), and as a strategic advisor to the U.S. government’s COVID vaccine response effort. He is an elected Fellow of the American Academy of Microbiology, an elected Fellow of the International Society for Vaccine, and an elected Fellow and Trustee of the College of Physicians of Philadelphia.