UNAIDS Executive Director Peter Piot will step down from his position when his term is over at the end of the year, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon announced on Tuesday at the United Nations 2008 High Level Meeting on AIDS in New York. Piot has served as UNAIDS executive director since the organization's inception in 1995.

Piot's replacement has not been named. The next executive director will be chosen by the chair of the UNAIDS Program Coordinating Board, which currently is the U.S., according to UNAIDS spokesperson Mahesh Mahalingam. The final decision is up to Ban, he added. Piot said that he likely will take a job in academia.