Lee Jong Wook

▪ 2007

 South Korean epidemiologist and public health expert (b. April 12, 1945, Seoul, Korea [now in South Korea]—d. May 22, 2006, Geneva, Switz.), became director general of the World Health Organization (WHO) in 2003 and during his tenure dealt with outbreaks of SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome) and bird flu and significantly expanded antiretroviral treatment to AIDS patients in less-developed countries. Lee had hoped to offer treatment to three million AIDS-affected people by 2005, and though he fell short of his goal, he supported a new goal of universal access to treatment by 2010. He earned an M.D. degree from Seoul National University's College of Medicine and a master's degree in epidemiology and public health from the University of Hawaii School of Public Health, where he focused on the treatment of leprosy. From 1981 to 1983 he worked as a medical officer at the LBJ Tropical Medical Center in American Samoa. Lee then joined WHO as leader of a leprosy-control team for the South Pacific. From 1987 to 1990 he served as a regional adviser for chronic disease, and in 1990 he was named director of WHO's Disease Prevention and Control office in Manila. In 1994 Lee moved to WHO's headquarters in Geneva to direct the organization's global program for vaccines and immunizations. In this post he spearheaded the agency's efforts to combat polio and tuberculosis. In 1998 Lee became a senior policy adviser to the WHO director general. From 2000 he was the director of the agency's Stop TB program, an antituberculosis campaign.

▪ 2004

      In January 2003, South Korean epidemiologist and public-health expert Lee Jong Wook was nominated as the next director general of the World Health Organization (WHO). Although the American-trained Lee had worked for the United Nations agency for nearly 20 years, he was not widely known in international circles, and the vote by WHO's 32-member executive board was close. Lee was chosen by a 17–15 margin over Peter Piot, the Belgian head of the UN's AIDS program, after several other prominent candidates—including Mozambican Prime Minister Pascoal Mocumbi—had been eliminated in a preliminary round of voting. After being formally approved by the WHO General Assembly in May, Lee took office and began a five-year term on July 21.

      Lee was born on April 12, 1945, in Seoul. He earned an M.D. degree from Seoul National University's College of Medicine and a master's degree in epidemiology and public health from the University of Hawaii School of Public Health, where he focused on the treatment of leprosy. From 1981 to 1983 he worked as a medical officer at the LBJ Tropical Medical Center in American Samoa. Lee then joined WHO as leader of a leprosy-control team for the South Pacific. From 1987 to 1990 he served as a regional adviser for chronic disease, and in 1990 he was named director of WHO's Disease Prevention and Control office in Manila.

      In 1994 Lee moved to WHO's headquarters in Geneva to direct the organization's global program for vaccines and immunizations. In this post he spearheaded the agency's efforts to combat polio and tuberculosis. In 1998 Lee became a senior policy adviser to the WHO director general. From 2000 he was the director of the agency's Stop TB program, an antituberculosis campaign that involved more than 250 international partners, including governments, academic institutions, nongovernmental organizations, and other UN agencies.

      Before his election as director general, Lee had outlined his plans for WHO should he be awarded the job. He identified “poverty and AIDS, conflict and disasters, inequitable distribution of critical resources like food and safe drinking water, and environmental degradation” as the most serious current threats to public health and pledged to devote more resources to those countries in which health care systems were facing collapse. In particular, he wanted to ensure that the most basic services and drugs were available to poor communities. Organizationally, Lee called for decentralizing WHO in order to improve its effectiveness and said that by 2005 he would like to see 75% of its resources and staff based in country and regional offices rather than in Geneva.

Sherman Hollar

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