Michel Kazatchkine, MD, will step down as executive director of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria in mid-March, according to a statement from Kazatchkine to staff and partners. Kazatchkine explained that he is leaving following the appointment of a general manager in 2011 to oversee rehabilitating the fund; this was needed because probes had uncovered financial mismanagement at the fund. Kazatchkine, a French clinical immunologist, has headed the fund for the past five years.

To read the Kazatchkine statement, click here.