Bill Gates to speak on "Giving back to society" at Stanford on April 19

Bill Gates, co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and chairman of Microsoft Corporation, will talk about the need to improve healthcare, bolster education and fight poverty around the world during a talk at Stanford on April 19.

Gates will deliver the 2010 Payne Distinguished Lecture, "Giving Back: Finding the Best Way to Make a Difference," at 5 p.m. in Memorial Auditorium at 551 Serra Mall. The address is sponsored by Stanford’s Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies (FSI) and will be followed by a question-and-answer session with the audience.

The free, ticketed event is open to Stanford students, faculty, staff and alumni. Tickets can be obtained at the Stanford Ticket Office at Tresidder Union.

Gates' visit to Stanford is part of a three-day, five-campus tour he's making to promote the work his foundation is doing to help the most disadvantaged people in the United States and abroad.

In the United States, the foundation seeks to ensure that all people, especially those with the fewest resources, have access to opportunities they need to succeed in school and life. Based in Seattle, the foundation is led by CEO Jeff Raikes and co-chair William H. Gates Sr., under the direction of Bill and Melinda Gates and Warren Buffett.

Through the foundation, Bill and Melinda Gates support philanthropic initiatives in global development, global health and education, in the hope that in the 21st century, advances in these critical areas will be available for all people.

With assets of about $34 billion, the Gates Foundation has given out about $21 billion in grants, including more than $3.6 billion to organizations working on expanding childhood immunization, eradicating polio and combating malaria.

Bill and Melinda Gates have pledged to spend more than $10 billion to develop and deliver new vaccines over the next decade, and the foundation plans to spend $2 billion on improving educational opportunities.