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Dr. Margaret
Chan of China
took up office as WHO’s Director-General
Dr. Margaret Chan of People’s Republic of China obtained her medical degree from the University of Western
Ontario in Canada.
She began her career in public health by joining the Hong Kong Department of
Health in 1978.
She was appointed as Director of Health of Hong Kong
in 1994. She launched new services to
prevent the spread of diseases and to promote better health. She introduced
new initiatives to improve communicable disease surveillance and response and
effectively managed outbreaks of avian influenza and severe acute respiratory
syndrome (SARS). She also introduced new initiatives to enhance training of
public health professionals and to establish better local and international
collaboration.
She joined WHO as Director of the Department for
Protection of the Human Environment in 2003 and was appointed as Director Communicable
Diseases Surveillance and Response in 2005. She was the Representative of the
Director-General for Pandemic Influenza. In September 2005, she was named
Assistant Director-General for Communicable Diseases.
Dr.Chan was nominated as
Director General by the WHO Executive Board and later on confirmed by the
World Health Assembly. She assumed her duties as Director General on 4 January 2007 and
will continue up to June 2012.
Dr. Margaret Chan, WHO’s Director General said that “The work we do together saves lives and
relieves suffering. I will work with you tirelessly to make this world a
healthier place” in her opening remarks to the World Health
Assembly. She has committed herself to
“accelerate human resource reform to
build a work ethic within WHO that is based on competence, and pride in
achieving results for health.”
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