NEW YORK — World Health Organization Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus announced his senior leadership team on Tuesday in which Saudi Arabia’s Professor Lubna A. Al-Ansary was named as one of the Assistant Director-General appointees.

The new team, according to the WHO press release, includes former ministers of health, some of the world’s leading physicians, scientists and researchers, and programmatic experts in universal health coverage, health emergencies, communicable and non-communicable diseases, climate and environmental health, and women’s, adolescents’ and children’s health.

Individually and collectively, they have a wealth of experience across government, private sector, multilateral, civil society and academic organizations, the release added.

“The team represents 14 countries, including all WHO regions, and is more than 60 percent women, reflecting my deep-held belief that we need top talent, gender equity and a geographically diverse set of perspectives to fulfill our mission to keep the world safe,” said Dr. Tedros.

Dr. Soumya Swaminathan will be Deputy Director-General for Programs (DDP) and Jane Ellison will be Deputy Director-General for Corporate Operations (DDC). In addition, Dr. Peter Salama will remain in his role as the Executive Director of the Health Emergencies Program.

Among the Assistant Director-General appointees, Professor Al-Ansary has been appointed Assistant Director General for Metrics and Measurement. Well-known for her extensive experience promoting and supporting evidence-based health care in Gulf countries, Professor Al-Ansary is a Professor of Family Medicine at the College of Medicine and head of the Clinical Practice Guidelines Committee at King Saud University (KSU).

In addition, she currently holds the Bahamdan Research Chair for evidence-based health care and knowledge translation at KSU, which focuses on evidence-generation and implementation.

In eight years, the Bahamdan Chair has published more than 40 papers. Along with her team, she has also provided in-depth training on local adaptation of clinical practice guidelines (CPGs) for different organizations in KSA, Tunisia and Kuwait and collaborated with WHO-EMRO toward establishing a regional initiative on CPGs.

In 2013, Professor Al-Ansary became a member of the Shoura Council in recognition of her work in health care in KSA and other Gulf countries as well as on human rights. She was one of the first women deputies, and she represented women MPs at the Inter-parliamentary Union for two years.

The other Assistant Director-General appointees are:

• Dr. Bernhard Schwartländer, Chef de Cabinet

• Dr. Naoko Yamamoto, Assistant Director-General for Universal Health Coverage and Health Systems Cluster

• Dr. Svetlana Akselrod, Assistant Director-General for Noncommunicable Diseases and Mental Health

• Ambassador Michèle Boccoz, Assistant Director-General for External Relations

• Dr. Ranieri Guerra, Assistant Director-General for Special Initiatives

• Dr. Ren Minghui, Assistant Director-General for Communicable Diseases

• Dr. Mariângela Batista Galvão Simão, Assistant Director-General for Drug Access, Vaccines and Pharmaceuticals

• Dr. Princess Nothemba (Nono) Simelela, Assistant Director-General for Family, Women, Children and Adolescents

• Stewart Simonson, Assistant Director-General for General Management

• Dr. Joy St John, Assistant Director-General for Climate and Other Determinants of Health

All of these appointees will be transitioning into their new roles over the next several weeks. — SG