The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation’s chief of global health policy is moving to London to oversee an expansion of the fund’s work in Europe, reports The Seattle Times.

Joe Cerrell, a foundation employee since 2001 who helped shaped the foundation’s health policy and communications strategy, will assume leadership of the new London office in January. The organization is seeking to forge more partnerships with European nonprofits.

The Times also reports on progress on the Gates Foundation’s new $500-million Seattle headquarters, now set to open in 2011, and on the planned October opening of the new $37-million office of Mercy Corps in Portland, Ore.