Dr Tadataka Yamada, President of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation’s Global Health Programme, delivered the 2007 UCL Prize Lecture in Clinical Science on ‘Perspectives of Global Health’ on 24 October 2007. Dr Yamada leads the foundation’s efforts to help develop and deliver low-cost, life-saving health tools for the developing world. He oversees the foundation’s global health grant portfolio and global health advocacy.