Dr. Margaret Chan was elected to be the Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO) in November 2006.

Dr. Chan, the former Hong Kong Director of Health, is the first Hong Kong resident elected to head a key United Nations organization.

Upon receiving the news, Chief Executive Donald Tsang said Dr. Chan’s election was a great honor for the people of Hong Kong. Mr. Tsang earlier commented that Dr. Chan’s experience in handling epidemic outbreaks, such as severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), and public health administration would come to bear in her work as Director-General of the organization.

Before being appointed Director-General, Dr. Chan was WHO Assistant Director-General for Communicable Diseases and Representative of the Director-General for Pandemic Influenza.

Prior to joining WHO, she was Director of Health in Hong Kong. During her nine years tenure as director, Dr. Chan confronted the first human outbreak of H5N1 avian influenza in 1997 and successfully defeated Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) in Hong Kong in 2003. She also launched new services to prevent diseases and promote better health.

In her acceptance speech to the World Health Assembly, she said, “I am proud to work for WHO because it is an organization that is increasingly recognized for what it does, as well as what it says…I want us to be judged by the impact we have on the health of the people of Africa and the health of women.”