Forbes has ranked Margaret Chan, BA’73, MD’77, DSc’99, World Health Organization (WHO) director-general, as the world’s 33rd most powerful woman on the magazine’s World’s 100 Most Powerful Women list. Once again, the list is topped by German chancellor Angela Merkel. Chan was ranked 37th last year.
“We’ve selected women who go beyond the traditional taxonomy of the power elite (political and economic might),” wrote Forbes’ Caoline Howard in her introduction to the list. “These change-agents are actually shifting our very idea of clout and authority and, in the process, transforming the world in fresh and exhilarating ways.”
Situated between Yahoo! CEO Marissa Mayer and Lockheed Martin CEO Marillyn Hewson on this year’s list, Chan was nominated for a second term as chief of the United Nation’s WHO in January 2012. She was the only candidate put forward to the WHO’s executive board.
The magazine wrote:
As the lead of the World Health Organization (WHO) Chan is the sole person with the authority to call a worldwide pandemic; her recommendations on drugs and treatments direct countries battling major diseases and viruses like malaria and HIV/AIDS. Chan, born in the People’s Republic of China, is regarded as a strong and activist secretary-general. Prior to joining WHO in 2006 the first female director of Hong Kong’s Department of Health handled outbreaks of avian influenza (bird flu) and of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS). 2013 SPOTLIGHT: The WHO 2013 Statistics report published in May was largely a positive one: declining infant mortality rates in the world’s poorest countries, increased life expectancies worldwide and a pronouncement that 27 nations have already met the U.N.’s 2015 Millennial Development Goals.
Originally a teacher, Chan received her undergraduate degree from Brescia University College before she trained as a doctor at Western, returning to Hong Kong and heading the health department – just in time to have to deal with an outbreak of avian influenza. After initially trying to reassure people chicken was safe to eat, she ordered a cull of all 1.5 million ducks and chicken in the country – and her decision was seen as crucial in stopping the virus.
She was also at the helm when SARS hit, and while she was criticized for what was seen as a slow response, the then director-general of the WHO was so impressed that he headhunted her saying, “You are the only person who has managed crises. I have many armchair experts. I need generals.”
As well as battling international viruses, she is also trying to champion improvements in maternal care, HIV and AIDS care, malaria, and all of our most pressing diseases. When she was made director in 2006 she was clear about her priorities:
“What matters most to me is people. And two specific groups of people in particular. I want us to be judged by the impact we have on the health of the people of Africa, and the health of women.”