It’s been an eventful few months for Dr. Jean Kaseya, a Congolese medical doctor who took office in April as the new director general of the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention.
At the end of last year, the Clinton Health Access Initiative, or CHAI, decided not to renew his contract as senior country director in the Democratic Republic of Congo. In early February, Kaseya took the organization to his country’s labor court.
But then Kaseya’s fortunes shifted dramatically. On Feb. 19, he was appointed as the surprise pick to the most prominent pan-African public health posting.