Zsuzsanna Jakab

Zsuzsanna Jakab, a native of Hungary, was appointed Deputy Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO) in March 2019, after having served as WHO Regional Director for the European Region for nine years. The Deputy Director-General’s portfolio includes WHO’s technical programmes for universal health coverage, the life course, communicable and noncommunicable diseases, healthier populations and antimicrobial resistance, alongside other programmes.

Dr Jakab has held a number of high-profile national and international public health policy positions in the last three decades. She served as the founding Director of the European Union's European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) in Stockholm, Sweden. Between 2005 and 2010, she built ECDC into an internationally respected centre of excellence in the fight against infectious diseases. Between 2002 and 2005, Dr Jakab was State Secretary at the Hungarian Ministry of Health, Social and Family Affairs. Between 1991 and 2002, she worked at the WHO Regional Office for Europe in a range of senior management roles.