Ma Xiaowei (; born December 1959) is a Chinese physician and politician who has served as head of the

National Health Commission The National Health Commission of the People's Republic of China is a cabinet-level executive department of the State Council which is responsible for formulating national health policies. It was formed on 19 March 2018. The ministry is headqu ...

of China since March 2018. Ma is also president of the

Chinese Medical Association In China, the practice of medicine is a mixture of government, charitable, and private institutions, while many people rely on traditional medicine. Until reforms in the late twentieth and early twenty-first century, physicians were quasi-governm ...

and vice president of the

Red Cross Society of China The Red Cross Society of China () is the national Red Cross Society in the People's Republic of China. Origins and history before 1949 The Red Cross Society of China was founded as the Shanghai International Red Cross Committee on March 10, 19 ...

. __TOC__

Biography

Ma was born in

Wutai County Wutai County () is a county under the administration of the prefecture-level city of Xinzhou, in the northeast of Shanxi Province, China, bordering Hebei province to the east. It is named after Mount Wutai, which is located within its borders. I ...

Shanxi Shanxi (; ; formerly romanised as Shansi) is a landlocked province of the People's Republic of China and is part of the North China region. The capital and largest city of the province is Taiyuan, while its next most populated prefecture-lev ...

in December 1959. He is part of the

Han Han may refer to: Ethnic groups * Han Chinese, or Han People (): the name for the largest ethnic group in China, which also constitutes the world's largest ethnic group. ** Han Taiwanese (): the name for the ethnic group of the Taiwanese p ...

ethnic group. In April 1978, he was accepted to China Medical University. Upon graduation in December 1982, he was assigned to work at the Ministry of Health. He joined the

Chinese Communist Party The Chinese Communist Party (CCP), officially the Communist Party of China (CPC), is the founding and One-party state, sole ruling party of the China, People's Republic of China (PRC). Under the leadership of Mao Zedong, the CCP emerged victoriou ...

(CCP) in 1982. He became a cadre at the then Ministry of Health before working for China Medical University where he later served as hospital administrator and party secretary. He also became the director of Liaoning Provincial Health Department. In October 2001, he was appointed Vice Minister of Health. When the ministry was reorganized into the

National Health and Family Planning Commission The National Health and Family Planning Commission of the People's Republic of China (NHFPC) was a cabinet-level executive department under the State Council which is responsible for providing information, raising health awareness and education, ...

, he continued to serve as deputy director. In May 2015 he concurrently served as vice-president of the

. On December 15, 2015, he was appointed president of

, replacing

Chen Zhu Chen Zhu (; born August 17, 1953) is a Chinese hematologist, molecular biologist, and politician. He is a vice-chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, and President of the Red Cross Society of China. He was also the c ...

. On 19 March 2018, Ma was appointed director of

at the first session of the 13th National People's Congress. Ma has been one of the leading figures in the fight against

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

as well as communication around it.

References

External links

Biography of Ma Xiaowei
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ma, Xiaowei 1959 births Living people China Medical University (PRC) alumni People's Republic of China politicians from Shanxi Chinese Communist Party politicians from Shanxi Politicians from Xinzhou Physicians from Shanxi COVID-19 pandemic in China