Jose Oying Rimon Named New Director of Gates Institute

The Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health has named Jose "Oying" Rimon as the new director of the School’s Bill & Melinda Gates Institute for Population and Reproductive Health. 

A globally recognized leader in family planning, Rimon was chosen after an international search. He has served as the Institute’s interim director since early 2014, when Amy Tsui, who successfully steered the Institute for 10 years, stepped down as director.

“Oying brings more than 30 years of leadership experience in public health to this role,” says Michael J. Klag, MD, MPH, dean of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. “He has designed, managed and evaluated more than 300 advocacy, behavior change and knowledge-management projects in Asia, Africa and the Near East. He has led work in population and reproductive health, maternal and neonatal health, women's empowerment and numerous others areas. Most importantly, Oying is also a visionary leader.”

Rimon was a founding member and senior deputy director of the Center for Communication Programs (CCP) at the Bloomberg School. CCP works with organizations worldwide to implement communications programs that expand access to health care information and inspire behavior change. He played a key role in building what became CCP from a promising idea into one of the world’s leading organizations in its field with an annual budget of $100 million.

From 2008 to 2012, Rimon was a senior officer in the Global Health Policy and Advocacy group of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation covering the issues of family planning, maternal, neonatal and child health and nutrition. He was one of the key planners of the 2012 London Summit on Family Planning.

“To be invited to lead this most unique institution is an exceptional privilege that comes rarely,” Rimon says. “The Institute has been built by giants in the field and I am humbled by the opportunity to continue their work of excellence in scholarship and science for social change.”

The Bloomberg School’s Gates Institute conducts and facilitates cutting-edge research in family planning, reproductive health and population dynamics and translates science into policies, programs and practice. The Institute works to bridge the gap between knowledge and implementation, with the goal of promoting access to universal reproductive health and family planning.

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Media contacts for Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health: Stephanie Desmon at 410-955-7619 or sdesmon1@jhu.edu and Barbara Benham at 410-614-6029 or bbenham1@jhu.edu.