Sue Desmond-Hellmann, AP Images

Sue Desmond-Hell­mann says it's time for her to leave the Gates Foun­da­tion. Strat­e­gy chief Mark Suz­man will now take the helm

Su­san Desmond-Hell­mann, the long­time re­searcher and ex­ec­u­tive who helped lead Genen­tech to de­vel­op the first gene-tar­get­ed can­cer ther­a­pies, is step­ping down af­ter 5 years as CEO of the Bill & Melin­da Gates Foun­da­tion.

Step­ping down as CEO of@Gates­Foun­da­tion is, with­out a doubt, the tough­est de­ci­sion of my ca­reer,” she wrote in the first of a se­ries of tweets an­nounc­ing and re­flect­ing on her de­par­ture. “But one of my mantras is ‘take your own pulse first.’ Over the last few months, I’ve done just that and con­clud­ed that I need to slow down.”

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