Jim Yong Kim named new head of World Bank

The president of Dartmouth College was a surprise choice for the financial institution’s top job.

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Dartmouth College President Jim Yong Kim has been nominated by President Obama to replace outgoing World Bank chief Robert Zoellick. Here, Kim speaks in 2005 in Kobe, western Japan, during the International Congress on AIDS in Asia and the Pacific.

Koji Sasahara / AP

Kim, a longtime public health expert and advocate, is a somewhat unorthodox choice to head the global financial institution. His name had not been among those that had been floated publicly since Zoellick announced in February that he would be stepping down. Here, Kim speaks during a 2005 interview in Rio de Janeiro.

Bruno Domingos / Reuters

Kim, who has been president of Dartmouth since July 2009, is a physician by training and an anthropologist. Here, Steven Hilton, left, gives the 2005 Hilton Humanitarian Prize to the co-founders of Partners In Health: Paul Farmer, Ophelia Dahl and Kim. The $1.5 million prize was awarded to an organization that the Hilton Foundation deemed was significantly alleviating human suffering.

Laurent Gillieron / AP

Kim smiles as he is introduced as the next president of Dartmouth College in 2009.

Jim Cole / AP

Kim directed the Department of HIV/AIDS at the World Health Organization and led the agency’s ambitious “3 by 5” initiative, which sought to treat 3 million new HIV/AIDS patients in developing countries with antiretroviral drugs by 2005. Here, Kim talks to the press in 2006 during the International Aids Society conference on HIV pathogenesis and treatment in Rio de Janeiro.

Antonio Scorza / AFP/Getty Images

President Clinton supported the selection of Kim during Obama’s deliberations, the Associated Press reported Friday. Here, Kim is pictured during his Dartmouth inauguration ceremonies in Hanover, N.H., in 2009.

Jim Cole / AP

Before coming to Dartmouth, Kim held professorships at Harvard Medical School and the Harvard School of Public Health. Here, Kim announces layoffs at the campus in 2010.

Jim Cole / AP

When he took the help at Dartmouth, Kim became the first Asian-American president of an Ivy League institution. Here, Conan O'Brien, right, receives an honorary Doctor of Arts degree from Kim during commencement exercises in 2011.

Jason R. Henske / AP

Kim and his wife, Younsook Lim, attend a state dinner at the White House in 2011 in honor of the state visit of South Korea's President Lee Myung-bak.

Yuri Gripas / Reuters

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