PATH, the Seattle-based medical charity that is the leading recipient of grants from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, has named technology executive Steve Davis as its new chief executive, reports The Seattle Times.

He replaces Dr. Christopher Elias, who left PATH last fall to become head of the Gates Foundation’s global development program. The charity, which grew explosively under Dr. Elias, works on health solutions in the developing world.

Mr. Davis has spent 15 years with Corbis, a digital-media distribution company founded by Bill Gates. He is also an attorney who has specialized in civil rights and intellectual property, an advocate for gay and lesbian causes, and a member of the PATH board who spent six months leading the group’s operations in India.

Mr. Davis said his varied background will help him lead PATH into an era of change in funding sources and approaches to medical aid, notably a shift from programs targeting individual diseases to a broader effort to improve health by attacking root issues like poverty. “My job is to coax and guide and help set strategy,” he said.