Since March 1999, Abel L. Packer is the Director of BIREME/PAHO/WHO, where he has been in charge of the development of information systems for more than 20 years.   He has actively participated in the design, development, and operation of major projects of BIREME, as the Latin American and Caribbean Center on Health Sciences Information` (a cooperative network with more than 900 information centers), the LILACS database (index of the Literature in Health Sciences of LA & C), the LILACS/CD-ROM (launched in 1987, permitted the broad dissemination of the scientific literature for the first time in the region), the project SciELO -  the Scientific Electronic Library Online (launched in 1997), and the Virtual Health Library (the current platform of LA & C for technical cooperation in scientific and technical information in health promoted by BIREME).   Abel Packer holds a bachelor degree in Sciences with master's degree in Information Science.