Charles Gore was diagnosed with hepatitis C in 1995 and cirrhosis in 1998. In 2002 he did pegylated interferon and ribavirin treatment and successfully eradicated the virus. Charles set up The Hepatitis C Trust in 2000 and ran it until 2018. He was the first President of the European Liver Patients Association. In 2007 he set up the World Hepatitis Alliance and was its President until end-2017. His advocacy work centred on putting patients first, getting access to medicines and giving viral hepatitis the same priority as HIV/AIDS, TB and malaria. Charles has been a member of all the WHO guideline development groups on testing and treating viral hepatitis, as well as the WHO STAC for viral hepatitis. Based on his work on access and his strong relationships with the community, WHO, the pharmaceutical industry and Ministries of Health, as well as his commitment to global public health, Charles was chosen as the new Medicines Patent Pool Executive Director from July 2018.