The NY Times had a good profile of Dr. Margaret Chan, Director General of the World Health Organization, who has been in the news recently because of her spearheading her organization’s effort to prevent the spread of swine flu. According to the Times, she is perhaps “the most powerful international public health official in history.” In this day and age of global travel and business, it’s important for people to work together to prevent diseases from spreading. I’ve read nothing but positive things about Dr. Chan in the media, and it seems that swine flu has been relatively under control in recent days.
There’s a romantic story behind her ascent to Director General of WHO:
And it all started because her boyfriend decided to move to Canada.
Born in 1947, Dr. Chan grew up in Hong Kong and became a teacher. When David Chan, who would become her husband, left Hong Kong for college in Canada in 1969, she worried that the separation would end their relationship. So she consulted her mother, who told her to follow her heart to Canada…
Also:
In her announcement on April 29, Dr. Chan made it clear that she alone had decided to raise the pandemic alert. In an interview, she said there would always be uncertainty about new disease threats.
It’s pretty impressive that the new rules allow her to make quick decisions outside of the bureaucracy that comes with all large organizations, especially when dealing with fast moving pandemics.
Check out the article. It’s great to see another leader of Asian descent breaking the stereotypes.
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