The Candidates

WHO Announces Candidates for Director-General

The World Health Organization (WHO) announced 13 candidates (now 12) who have been nominated by their countries for the post of director-general to replace Lee Jong-wook -- who died in May, two years before his term ended.
The nominees' curricula vitae will be passed around the 192 U.N. member states.
WHO's 34-member Executive Board then will narrow the list of nominees down to five, interview the remaining candidates and decide on one candidate to propose to a special session of the World Health Assembly meeting on Nov. 9.
The countries represented on the current Executive Board  are: Afghanistan, Australia, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Bhutan, Bolivia, Brazil, China, Denmark, Djibouti, El Salvador, Iraq, Jamaica, Japan, Kenya, Latvia, Lesotho, Liberia, Libyan Arab Jamahiriya, Luxembourg, Madagascar, Mali, Mexico, Namibia, Portugal, Romania, Rwanda, Singapore, Slovenia, Sri Lanka, Tonga, Thailand, Turkey and the United States of America.

Dr Tomris Turmen (proposed by Turkey)

Dr Tomris Türmen is WHO's Executive Director, Family and Community Health
Dr Tomris Türmen was born in Istanbul, Turkey in 1944.
Dr Türmen graduated from the University of Ankara Medical School, Turkey, in 1970 and has been trained as a pediatrician in New York Medical College, USA and as a neonatologist/perinatologist at McGill University, Montreal, Canada. She is a full professor of pediatrics and neonatology and has had extensive research and teaching experience and is board certified.

FCA

Ms Elena Salgado Mendez (proposed by Spain)

Below her CV from a OECD site. She is the current Health Minsiter in Spain.

Here is her brief official bio in Spanish.

FCA

Dr Pekka Puska (proposed by Finland)

Professor Pekka Puska (M.D., Ph.D., M.Pol.Sc.) has served as the Director General of the National Public Health Institute (KTL) since late 2003.

Working under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health, KTL provides public decision makers, other stakeholders and the general public with reliable information on health.

FCA

Dr Shigeru Omi (proposed by Japan)

Dr Shigeru Omi is regioanl Director for WHO's Office for the Western Pacific Region.
Dr Shigeru Omi was born in Tokyo, Japan, in June 1949. In 1967, on a scholarship from the American Field Service, he attended Potsdam High School in New York and graduated in 1968. He studied Law at Keio University in Japan from 1969 to 1971. He obtained his degree in Medicine from Jichi Medical School in 1978. Dr Omi obtained his doctorate in the molecular biology of the hepatitis B virus at the Jichi Medical School, Japan, in 1990.  FCA

Dr Pascoal Mocumbi (presented by Mozambique)

Dr Pascoal Mocumbi is the High Representative of the European and Developing Countries Clinical Trials Partnership (EDCTP) since March 2004. His mandate is to raise the visibility of the EDCTP and gain political support, particular within Africa, and to contribute to the EDCTP’s fundraising activities.   FCA

 

       

Dr Bernard Kouchner (proposed by France)

His detailed CV and presentation can be found on this site (many pdf files so it's easier if you go and see by yourself). This profile from the BBC.

FCA (in French)

Dr Karam Karam (proposed by Syria)

I could not find a recent bio but I found this one when he was a candidate last time: he was then Lebanon's current Minister of Tourism and Alternate Minister of Health.
After serving as Health Minister for two years, he assumed his currentposition in 2000. Recognized as a leader in both the fields of tourism and health, he is a member o f the Arab Council of Ministers of Tourism and the Executive Board of the World Tourism Organization and also sits on the Executive Board of the World Health Organization.   FCA

Dr Nay Htun (proposed by Myanmar)

No bio via Google but those answers given to the People's Health Movement and at the end there is a description of his career:

With a PhD in Chemical Engineering, 15 years with UNEP culminating as the Deputy Executive Director with the rank of UN Assistant Secretary General and Professorships in the various technical and policy aspects of environment in leading Universities in the US, UK and Asia, I have extensive knowledge and experience in the environmental determinants of health.  FCA

David Gunnarsson (proposed by Iceland)

I only found a picture... no bio. via google.  FCA