Derek Yach

Who is Derek Yach?

Derek Yach is a South African analyst of international health care policy. He is currently Senior Vice President of the Vitality Group, part of Discovery Ltd., where he leads the Vitality Institute for Health Promotion as Executive Director.

Derek has worked to address aspects of global health through advocacy and policy development; research and innovation; and directed actions. He was SVP Global Health and Agriculture Policy at PepsiCo, headed global health at the Rockefeller Foundation, been 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. 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 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 serves on several advisory boards including those of the Clinton Global Initiative, the World Economic Forum and the NIH’s Fogarty International Centre.