Ala Abdessaheb al-Alwan (born 1949) was Minister of Education in the cabinet appointed by the

Interim Iraq Governing Council The Iraqi Governing Council (IGC) was the provisional government of Iraq from 13 July 2003 to 1 June 2004. It was established by and served under the United States-led Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA). The IGC consisted of various Iraqi pol ...

in September 2003, and Minister of Health in the

Iraqi Interim Government The Iraqi Interim Government was created by the United States and its coalition allies as a caretaker government to govern Iraq until the drafting of the new constitution following the National Assembly election conducted on January 30, 2005. T ...

. In September 2019, Alwan officially resigned as the Health Minister of Iraq, following alleged political pressure and defamatory attempts against him. It was the second resignation that Prime Minister

Adil Abdul-Mahdi Adil Abdul-Mahdi al-Muntafiki ( ar, عادل عبد المهدي المنتفكي, born 1 January 1942) is an Iraqi politician who served as Prime Minister of Iraq from October 2018 until May 2020, hundreds of protestors of ''Tishreen revolutio ...

received from him after March.

Education and career

Alwan graduated in Medicine from the University of Alexandria. He practiced medicine in Scotland and obtained his postgraduate training and qualifications in the United Kingdom. Following his return to Iraq, he held several positions in clinical and academic medicine and public health. He was Professor and Dean of the Faculty of Medicine,

Al-Mustansiriya University Mustansiriyah University (Arabic: الجامعة المستنصرية) is a university in Baghdad, Iraq. History The original Mustansiriya Madrasah was established in 1227 (or 1232/34 A.D. by some accounts) by the Abbasid Caliph Al-Mustansir ...

, Baghdad. Alwan left Iraq in 2005 back to the

World Health Organization The World Health Organization (WHO) is a specialized agency of the United Nations responsible for international public health. The WHO Constitution states its main objective as "the attainment by all peoples of the highest possible level of h ...

, where he held several leading positions at the World Health Organization based in

Geneva, Switzerland Geneva ( ; french: Genève ) frp, Genèva ; german: link=no, Genf ; it, Ginevra ; rm, Genevra is the List of cities in Switzerland, second-most populous city in Switzerland (after Zürich) and the most populous city of Romandy, the French-speaki ...

including Assistant Director General for noncommunicable diseases and mental health, and Representative of the Director General for emergencies and health action in crises. In October 2011, he was elected by Member States for the position of Regional Director of the World Health Organization Region of the Eastern Mediterranean (covering Arab countries, Afghanistan, Iran and Pakistan). His appointment was confirmed by the WHO Executive Board in January 2012. After his retirement, Alwan served on the selection committee that chose Peter Sands to succeed

Mark Dybul Mark R. Dybul (born September 23, 1963) is an American diplomat, physician and medical researcher. He served as the executive director of The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria from 2012 until 2017. Biography Early life and e ...

as executive director of the

Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (or simply the Global Fund) is an international financing and partnership organization that aims to "attract, leverage and invest additional resources to end the epidemics of HIV/AIDS, t ...

(GFATM) in 2017. He was subsequently appointed by WHO Director-General

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus ( ti, ቴዎድሮስ አድሓኖም ገብረኢየሱስ, sometimes spelt ti, ቴድሮስ ኣድሓኖም ገብረየሱስ, label=none; born 3 March 1965) is an Ethiopian public health official, researcher, and ...

to serve on the Independent High-level Commission on Non-Communicable Diseases from 2018 until 2019.

Other activities

World Health Summit The World Health Summit is an international conference that has been held in Berlin every October since 2009. It has developed into one of the world's leading global health conferences. It was held for the first time on the occasion of the 300th an ...

(WHS), Member of the Council * '' DCP3'', Member of the Advisory Committee to the Editors * '' Lancet''-O'Neill Institute Georgetown University Commission on Global Health and Law, Member

Education and career

Other activities

References

Further reading