Dr. Yach has focused his career on advancing global health. He is Chief Health Officer for the Vitality Group, part of Discovery Ltd.
Previously, Dr. Yach was SVP Global Health and Agriculture Policy at PepsiCo, headed global health at the Rockefeller Foundation, was a Professor of Global Health at Yale University, and is a former Executive Director for Noncommunicable Diseases and Mental Health of the World Health Organization (WHO). At WHO, he served as cabinet director under Director-General Gro Harlem Brundtland where he led the development of WHO’s Framework Convention on Tobacco Control and the Global Strategy on Diet and Physical Activity.
Dr. Yach also established the Centre for Epidemiological Research at the South African Medical Research Council. He has authored or co-authored over 200 articles covering the breadth of global health. Dr. Yach currently serves on several advisory boards including those of the Clinton Global Initiative, the World Economic Forum and as Chair of the World Economic Forum Global Agenda Council on Ageing.