Dr. Larry Brilliant

Executive Director, Google.org

Dr. Larry Brilliant is the Executive Director of Google.org. In this role, Larry works with the company's cofounders to define the mission and strategic goals of Google's philanthropic efforts. Google.org, the umbrella organization for these efforts, includes the Google Foundation as well as Google Grants (the AdWords giving program) and the company's major initiatives aimed at reducing global poverty, improving the health of the least advantaged in the world, and working to halt or even reverse the effects of the climate crisis.

Larry is an M.D. and M.P.H. who is board certified in preventive medicine and public health. He is a founder and director of The Seva Foundation, which works in dozens of countries around the world, primarily to eliminate preventable and curable blindness. Larry also serves as a member of strategic advisory committees for the Berkeley School of Public Health at the University of California, Berkeley; Omidyar Network; and Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers Venture Capital.

In addition to his medical career, Larry cofounded The Well, a pioneering virtual community, with Stewart Brand in 1985. He also holds a telecommunications technology patent and has served as CEO of two public companies and other venture-backed startups.

The author of two books and dozens of articles on infectious diseases, blindness and international health policy, Larry has worked at city, county, state, federal and international levels. He was recently a “first responder” for CDC's smallpox bio-terrorism response effort, he has volunteered in Sri Lanka for tsunami relief, and he has established “Pandefense,” an interdisciplinary consultancy that aims to prepare for possible pandemic influenza. Larry lived in India while working as a United Nations medical officer for more than a decade, where he played a key role in the successful World Health Organization (WHO) smallpox eradication program. He recently worked for the WHO polio eradication effort as well. He was Associate Professor of epidemiology, global health planning and economic development at the University of Michigan.

Larry earned a Master in Public Health degree in health planning and economic development from the University of Michigan, and he received his M.D. from Wayne Medical School. He has received several awards from the Government of India and from WHO. In 2005 he received an honorary Doctor of Sciences degree from Knox College, and he was named “International Public Health Hero” by the University of California. In February 2006 he received the Sapling Foundation's TED Prize.