Dr. Kim starts official work as President of World Bank Group

Dr. Jim Yong Kim begins his five-year term as the 12th President of the World Bank Group today July 1, 2012, taking over from Robert Zoellick.

As part of his new role, Dr Kim, a US citizen, will also be the Chairman of the Bank’s Board of Executive Directors and President of a group of five interrelated organizations – The International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD), International Development Association (IDA), International Finance Corporation (IFC), Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA) and International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID).

The World Bank’s Executive Directors on April 16, 2012 selected Dr. Kim, a physician, to head the Group.

Dr. Kim is a co-founder of Partners in Health (PIH) and a former director of the Department of HIV/AIDS at the World Health Organization (WHO).

Dr. Jim Yong Kim, before his new role at the Bank, was President of Dartmouth College. Before assuming the Dartmouth presidency, Dr. Kim held professorships at Harvard Medical School and the Harvard School of Public Health.

He also served as chair of the Department of Global Health and Social Medicine at Harvard Medical School, chief of the Division of Global Health Equity at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, and director of the François Xavier Bagnoud Center for Health and Human Rights at the Harvard School of Public Health.

Meanwhile Robert Zoellick on Wednesday announced that he will join think tanks after ending his term at the World Bank.

In a statement, Zoellick said he will join the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at Harvard University and the Peterson Institute for International Economics in Washington.

By Ekow Quandzie