Dr Michel Thieren, Regional Emergency Director, Health Emergency Programme
The Department of Health Emergencies brings together various components of emergency preparedness and readiness and response, as well as further adds operational capabilities for humanitarian emergencies.
The Department comprises the following programmes:
- Country Health Emergency Preparedness and International Health Regulations
- Emergency Operations
- External Relations
- Health Emergency Information and Risk Assessment
- Infectios Hazard Management
- Management and Administration.
Biography
Dr Michel Thieren began his career in 1989 with Médecins sans Frontières as a physician in Thailand's refugee camps. Since then he has held various positions in WHO and other United Nations agencies.
Since June 2014, Dr Thieren has served a WHO Representative in Pakistan. Prior to this, he was PAHO/WHO Representative in Bolivia (2011–2014) and Senior Programme Management Officer/Acting WHO Representative in Cambodia (2008–2011). Dr thieren has also worked at WHO headquarters within the department of humanitarian actiion, and epidemiology and statistics. from 1995 to 1996 he was head of the field office for northern bosnia, and has also worked in coistra rica and ecuador, as subregional coordinator for AMRO's Emergency Relief and Preparedness programme.
Dr Thieren's work in emergencies and humanitarian action took him to the Democratic Republic of Congo, where he worked as medical coordinator for the UNHCR for the Rwandan refugee crisis, and to Haiti, as a Medical Human Rights Observer with the UN/DPKO.
Dr Thieren holds a Doctorate in Medicine and Surgery from the Catholic University of Louvain, Faculty of Medicine, Brussels, as well as Diploma in Tropical Medicine from the Prince Leopold II Institute of Tropical Medicine, Antwerp. Dr Thieren also holds a Masters Degree in Public Health from John Hopkins School of Hygiene and Public Health, Baltimore.