Dr. Chikwe Ihekweazu is the assistant director general at the World Health Organization for surveillance and health emergency intelligence and leads the WHO Hub for Pandemic and Epidemic Intelligence, based in Berlin, Germany. Previously, Ihekweazu was the first director general of the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control. He acted as interim director of the West Africa Regional Centre for Surveillance and Disease Control through 2017. He trained as an infectious disease epidemiologist and has over 25 years of experience working in senior public health and leadership positions in national public health institutes.