There’s another leadership change at the World Health Organization. Dr. Mike Ryan, executive director of its health emergencies program, is taking on another role as deputy director-general of WHO.
Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus announced Ryan’s appointment in an internal email sent to staff on April 4. According to the email, he will “assume the role of Deputy Director-General in addition to that of Executive Director.” As the new DDG, he will be representing Tedros internally and externally “on all matters delegated to him.”
Ryan first joined WHO in 1996. He has worked in conflict settings and led numerous responses to contain disease outbreaks, including WHO’s operational responses to the COVID-19 pandemic and the SARS epidemic. He left the agency in 2011 and moved back to Ireland, but came back in 2017 when Tedros became head of the agency. Upon his return, he served as assistant director-general for emergency preparedness and response in WHO's Health Emergencies Programme, which was established following the West Africa Ebola outbreak. In 2019, Ryan became the executive director of the program.
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Ryan takes over from Zsuzsanna Jakab, who was WHO’s deputy director-general from 2019. Tedros asked her to delay her retirement in 2022 and stay on as his deputy as well as officer in charge of the regional office for Western Pacific “for some more time,” amid a racism scandal at the Western Pacific regional office that saw its former director dismissed for misconduct. Jakab led the regional office during the transition and the election of a new regional leader — Dr. Saia Ma’u Piukala, who officially started his new role in February 2024. Jakab retired in February, according to WHO.
Meanwhile, Dr. Yukiko Nakatani, WHO assistant director-general for access to medicines and health products, was appointed as interim assistant director-general for antimicrobial resistance, according to WHO’s leadership page. The post was previously filled by Dr. Hanan Balkhy, who is now the regional director of the agency’s regional office for the Eastern Mediterranean.
Update, April 9, 2024: This story has been updated to include additional reporting that Zsuzsanna Jakab retired in February.
About the author
Jenny Lei Ravelo@JennyLeiRavelo
Jenny Lei Ravelo is a Devex Senior Reporter based in Manila. She covers global health, with a particular focus on the World Health Organization, and other development and humanitarian aid trends in Asia Pacific. Prior to Devex, she wrote for ABS-CBN, one of the largest broadcasting networks in the Philippines, and was a copy editor for various international scientific journals. She received her journalism degree from the University of Santo Tomas.
