Epidemiologist Jong Wook Lee, a South Korean expert on vaccines, tuberculosis and poverty-related disease, is expected to succeed Dr. Gro Harlem Brundtland as director general of the World Health Organization (WHO) in July. His nomination by the 32-member WHO Executive Board will likely be rubber-stamped by the World Health Assembly in May.
The very political race to succeed Harlem Brundtland attracted 9 candidates, with Lee, head of WHO's Stop TB Program, edging out Dr. Peter Piot, head of UNAIDS, on the seventh ballot.
Lee, 57, has held technical, managerial and policy positions with WHO for 2 decades. His roots contrast sharply with those of his Norwegian predecessor, who came to WHO 5 years ago as a former prime minister of Norway, a seasoned diplomat and environmental champion.
Although Lee is a relative unknown outside the WHO bureaucracy, there is optimism about his ability to shape WHO's mandate. One of his main jobs will be to maintain WHO as the world's premier policy-making body on health.
Having led the Stop TB Program, a coalition of more than 250 international partners, he will have some insight into how to best manage the thorny issue that dogged his predecessor: WHO's controversial embrace of “partnerships” with private industry.
When asked what rules or policies should govern these partnerships, Lee told the British Medical Journal that he “recognized the potential dangers of attempts by those with a vested interest to skew the normative functions of WHO. Partnerships are not an end in themselves.”
In a written manifesto submitted as part of his nomination process, Lee insisted that under his leadership WHO's overall mission — the attainment by all peoples of the highest possible level of health — will remain unchanged. — Alan Cassels, Victoria
Figure. Dr. Lee: 20 years at WHO Photo by: WHO