The 65th World Health Assembly held in Geneva on May 23rd elected Ms. Margaret Chan (陈冯富珍) the Director-General of the World Health Organization. Her term of office will last until June 30, 2017.
According to the resume provided by the World Health Organization official website, Dr Margaret Chan holds medical degree of University of Western Ontario. In 1978 she joined the Hong Kong Department of Health, where she began her public health career.
In 1994, Dr Chan was appointed as Director of Health of Hong Kong. During her nine-year tenure as the Director, she launched new services to prevent the spread of disease and promote better health. She also took new initiatives to improve communicable disease surveillance and response, enhanced training for public health professionals, and established better local and international cooperation, effectively handled the outbreak of avian flu and severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS).
In 2003, Dr Chan joined WHO as the Secretary of Protection of the Human Environment. In June 2005, was appointed Secretary of communicable disease surveillance and response, and representative of Director-General in responsible for Pandemic Influenza. In September 2005 she was designated as the Assistant Director-General of the department in charge of communicable diseases.
November 8, 2006, Margaret Chan became the first Chinese to hold position of the World Health Organization Director-General, she was the first Chinese who in charge of international organizations since the United Nations was founded 61 years ago.