Biography

Dr Derrick Sim is Managing Director of Vaccine Markets & Health Security. In this role, Derrick leads Gavi’s Market Shaping team, ensuring healthy markets for vaccines and other immunisation products. He also leads the Health Security team, which builds on the Vaccine Alliance’s experience and learnings from responses to outbreaks and the COVID-19 pandemic for improved preparedness and response to future health emergencies, pandemics and other global health priorities.

From July 2022 until March 2023, Derrick served as Acting Managing Director of the Office of the COVAX Facility, leading the coordination of procurement and delivery of 2 billion COVID-19 vaccine doses to 146 economies through COVAX, the only global initiative that is working with governments and manufacturers to ensure COVID-19 vaccines are available worldwide to both high-income and lower-income countries.

Derrick joined Gavi in 2020 as Director of Vaccine Supply & Demand, leading the Market Shaping team to build healthy markets for sustainable and equitable access to vaccines for lower-income countries. He also led the COVAX Facility’s Deals Team in securing COVID-19 vaccines for equitable distribution.

Prior to joining Gavi, Derrick worked for nearly two decades in the vaccines industry, having managed their commercialisation, launch and development at global and regional levels. Derrick led GlaxoSmithKline’s global business for several vaccines from London and Brussels. During the 2009 H1N1 influenza pandemic, he worked on national vaccine programmes in the Asia-Pacific region. Over several years working in Manila, he introduced several initiatives to increase access to vaccines among low- and middle-income communities. While in Asia, Derrick also contributed to the launch of the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine to protect against cervical cancer; and phase 3 clinical development and licensure of the rotavirus vaccine.

Derrick began his professional life at the Royal Children’s Hospital in Melbourne, Australia, as a medical doctor, where his interest in vaccines was ignited after being involved in phase 2 and 3 clinical research at the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute. Derrick gained his medical degree from Monash University and holds an MBA from Melbourne Business School, University of Melbourne.