Helene Gayle, MD, president and chief executive officer of international charity CARE USA, has been appointed to chair the Presidential Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS, Reuters reports. Gayle, the former president of AIDS research at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, will advise President Barack Obama on fighting the epidemic.

“As we organize numerous ways to engage the American people in confronting the HIV epidemic in our country, the Presidential Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS will play a critical role in developing and implementing a national HIV/AIDS strategy,” Obama said in an August 24 statement.

Gayle has also led HIV/AIDS efforts at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.