Lee Jong-wook
| Lee Jong-wook | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| 6th Director-General of World Health Organization | |
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In office 21 July 2003 – 22 May 2006 |
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| Preceded by | Gro Harlem Brundtland |
| Succeeded by | Anders Nordström |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
12 April 1945 Seoul, Korea |
| Died | May 22, 2006 (aged 61) Geneva, Switzerland |
| Cause of death | Stroke |
| Resting place | Daejeon National Cemetery, Daejeon, Daejeon Metropolitan City, South Korea |
| Nationality | South Korean |
| Korean name | |
| Hangul | 이종욱 |
|---|---|
| Hanja | 李鍾郁 |
| Revised Romanization | I Jong-uk |
| McCune–Reischauer | Yi Chong-uk |
Lee Jong-wook (12 April 1945 – 22 May 2006) was the director-general of the World Health Organization for three years. He joined the WHO in 1983, working on a variety of projects including the Global Programme for Vaccines and Immunizations and Stop Tuberculosis. He began his term as director-general in 2003. He was the first figure from Korea (both North and South) to lead an international agency. In 2004, he was one of the 100 people who shapes our lives and most powerful people in the world by Time Magazine.
Born on 12 April 1945 in Seoul, Korea, Lee obtained a medical degree at Seoul National University, then obtained an MA at the University of Hawaii in public health. He is the third son in a family of six children; he has three brothers and two sisters. Two brothers are professors.
Lee took care of leprosy patients in Anyang, South Korea when he was studying medicine. There were few medical facilities set up at the time and he worked in a volunteer capacity. He met and later married Kaburaki Reiko, a Japanese woman who visited Korea in order to help out there.
He worked at the World Health Organisation (WHO), at country, regional and headquarter levels for 23 years. His work in WHO started in 1983 when he worked with leprosy in Fiji. He started his work as an advisor on leprosy, and later also treated tuberculosis and promoted the vaccination of children against preventable diseases.
In 1994, Lee moved to Geneva to work at WHO headquarters as chief in prevention and vaccines. In 1995, he was nicknamed Vaccine Czar according to Scientific American. Lee became official candidate for 6th director-generals of WHO.
He had said that global efforts to control the HIV/AIDS pandemic would be the right course that would give meaning to his tenure as director-general of the agency.
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Wikipedia