Chan named among global elite

By Jason Winders

Forbes has ranked Margaret Chan, BA’73, MD’77, DSc’99, World Health Organization (WHO) director-general, as the world’s 59^th most powerful person on the magazine’s World’s Most Powerful People list. The list is topped by Russian President Vladimir Putin. Chan was ranked 58^th last year.

Situated between Oracle CEO Larry Ellison and Rosneft Chairman Igor Sechin 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:

“Now in her second term as leader of the World Health Organization, Chan is the most powerful person in global public health and the only person with the authority to call a worldwide pandemic. Her advice on drugs and treatments direct countries battling major diseases and viruses like malaria and HIV/AIDS; her recommendations often dictate drug industry profits. WHO 2013 Statistics report showed 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.”

The Most Powerful People in the World list is an annual snapshot of the heads of state, CEOs and financiers, philanthropists and NGO chiefs, billionaires and entrepreneurs who “truly rule the world.” It represents the collective wisdom of Forbes editors, who consider hundreds of nominees before ranking the planet’s top 72 power-brokers – one for every 100 million people on Earth.

This year’s list features 27 CEOs, 17 heads of state and 12 entrepreneurs. There are only nine women on the list, representing 12 per cent of the world’s most powerful — in stark contrast to being 50 per cent of the world’s population.