Dr. Oleg Chestnov was appointed assistant director-general for noncommunicable diseases and mental health in February 2012. Prior to that, he was the deputy director for international relations at the Ministry of Health and Social Development of the Russian Federation. He began his career as a physician working at the primary care level in various states within the former Soviet Union. Chestnov worked in several countries affected by conflict as well as natural and technical disasters, where he was engaged in managing the delivery of humanitarian aid assistance.