Staff Reporter:
The World Health Organization (WHO) has appointed five new senior figures to its headquarters leader-ship team in Geneva.
The new appointments follow the reappointment of Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus to his second five-year term as Director-General. The overall leadership team has been consolidated to align with the Or-ganization’s priorities for the next five years and will work closely with the Director-General to drive forward these priorities and WHO’s ambitious transformation agenda.
The headquarters leadership team, comprising equal numbers of women and men, will work jointly with WHO regional and country offices.
New members of the headquarters leadership team:
Dr Jeremy Farrar will become WHO’s Chief Scientist as of 8 May 2023. The appointment of Dr Farrar was previously announced in December 2022. In this role Dr Farrar will oversee the Science Division, bringing together the best experts and networks in science and innovation from around the world to guide, develop and deliver high quality health policies and services to the people who need them most.
Dr Ailan Li will become Assistant Director-General for Universal Health Coverage, Healthier Popula-tions as of 8 May 2023. In this role Dr Li will oversee the Organization’s efforts to promote better health and well-being through interventions relating to the environmental, social, and economic determi-nants of health, including climate change, tobacco control, chemical safety, road safety, food systems and nutrition, physical activity, air pollution and radiation, through a One Health approach.
Dr Yukiko Nakatani will become Assistant Director-General for Access to Medicines and Health Prod-ucts as of 2 May 2023. In this role Dr Nakatani will oversee the development and implementation of WHO’s norms and policies to ensure equitable access to quality medicines, vaccines and diagnostics for all populations everywhere, including for preventing and responding to epidemics
Dr Razia Pendse will become the Chef de Cabinet as of 4 May 2023. In this role Dr Pendse will head the Director-General’s Office, helping to drive the Organization’s priorities and initiatives and will ensure alignment within the WHO leadership team and across the three levels of WHO.
Dr Jérôme Salomon will become Assistant Director-General for Universal Health Coverage, Communi-cable and Non-communicable Diseases as of 17 April 2023. In this role Dr Salomon will oversee a broad portfolio of technical programs covering HIV, viral hepatitis, sexually-transmitted infections, tuberculo-sis, malaria, neglected tropical diseases, mental health, substance use disorders, and non-communicable diseases such as cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, chronic respiratory diseases, and cancer.
The portfolios of existing members of the headquarters leadership team:
Dr Samira Asma will continue as the Assistant Director-General for Data, Analytics and Delivery for Impact. Dr Asma oversees a portfolio which ensures that health data are reliable and accessible and are used to improve health outcomes worldwide, including tracking and accelerating progress towards the triple billion targets and the health-related Sustainable Development Goals.
Dr Bruce Aylward has been appointed Assistant Director-General of the Universal Health Coverage, Life Course Division as of 4 May 2023. Dr Aylward has been leading WHO’s Transformation Agenda and the Organization’s work on the multi-agency Access to COVID-19 Tools Accelerator (ACT-A) Hub.
Dr Hanan Balkhy will continue as Assistant Director-General for Antimicrobial Resistance. Dr Balkhy provides technical and political leadership to curb the health and economic burdens of drug resistance, including through multi-sectoral collaboration with the Food and Agriculture Organization, the World Organization for Animal Health, and the United Nations Environment Program.
Dr Catharina Boehme will become Assistant Director-General, External Relations and Governance as of 4 May 2023. In this role Dr Boehme will lead WHO’s strategic engagement in the areas of governance, resource mobilization and partner relations.
Dr Chikwe Ihekweazu will continue as Assistant Director-General for the Division of Health Emergency Intelligence and Surveillance Systems in the Emergencies Program.
Dr Michael Ryan will continue as Executive Director of WHO’s Health Emergencies Program. Dr Ryan has been managing health emergencies in WHO for the past 25 years and most recently led WHO’s emergency response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Mr Raul Thomas will continue as Assistant Director-General for Business Operations. Mr Thomas has overall responsibility for WHO’s business functions, including budget, finance, human resources, admin-istration, audit, risk management, accountability and compliance, and general management.
