Margaret Chan Salary, Education, Hong Kong Career, WHO Director and Personal Life

Chinese-Canadian physician Margaret Chan salary increased as she became the Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO) as a delegation of People’s Republic of China for 2006-17.

Synopsis

The Executive Board of WHO elected and endorsed Margaret Chan in 2006. Since then, she has been working as Director-General of WHO. Before WHO, Margaret Chan salary grew for serving Hong Kong Government as the Director of Health from 1994 to 2003. Similarly, Magaret Chan salary rose as she worked as representative of the WHO Director-General for Pandemic Influenza. In addition, Chan worked as WHO Assistant Director-General for Communicable Diseases from 2003 to 2006. For significant roles, Forbes ranked Margaret Chan the 30^th most powerful woman in the world in 2014.

Early Life and Education

Margaret Chan was born as Margaret Fung Fu-chun in Hong Kong. She received her home economics teacher training from the Northcote College of Education. Later, Chan earned her BA in home economics and MD degree from the University of Western Ontario in 1973 and 1977 respectively. Further, she did MSc in Public Health from National University of Singapore in 1985. Keen in knowledge, Chan also completed the Program for Management Development at Harvard Business School in 1991.

Professional Career Highlights

Chan joined the Hong Kong Government at the end of 1978 where she served as a medical officer. After a decade, she earned her promotion turning into Assistant Director of the Department of Health. In 1992, Margaret Chan salary rose as she got promotion becoming the Deputy Director. Her professional career retained highlights as she became the Head of the Department of Health in 1994. Chan was the first woman in Hong Kong to achieve this position. In 1997, Queen Elizabeth II appointed Chan as the Officer of the Order of the British Empire. Later, she left Hong Kong to join the World Health Organization in 2003.

Director of Health in Hong Kong

Chan’s major responsibilities as the director of Health in Hong Kong included handling 1997 H5N1 avian influenza outbreak and 2003 SARS outbreak in Hong Kong. During the H5N1 outbreak, she consoled the citizens stating that she ate chicken recently and that she was fine. However, people criticized her for misleading them after the outbreak spread. As a result, people saw her as ignorant and arrogant person who epitomizes the mentality of business. Nevertheless, the same people and the organization credited Chan for bring the outbreak under control by slaughtering 1.5 million chickens in the region disregarding political opposition.

In addition, Chan became the subject of criticism when SARS outbreak killed 299 people under her management. The Legislative Council of Hong Kong, SARS victims and their relatives criticized her passive performance and believing in misleading information. On the contrary, Hong Kong government-established- SARS expert committee backed Chan saying it was not Chan’s fault. Instead, they stated that the structure of Hong Kong’s health care system was the major problem.

WHO Director-General

Margaret Chan salary grew as she became Director-General of WHO in 2006. She emphasized on helping people in greatest need. In the beginning of 2012, the WHO’s Executive Board appointed her for the second term. As the director of WHO, Margaret Chan provoked the anger of humanitarian & civil society by questioning the best of generic medicines in 2007 visit to Thailand. In this role, media and people criticized her assessment of North Korean citizen’s health. Newspapers like the Wall Street Journal wrote an editorial about her wrong assessment stating “she allowed herself to be fooled”.

Apart from the growth of position and rising Margaret Chan salary, she also received massive criticisms in her professional life. In 2014-15, her slow response of the WHO to Ebola virus epidemics in West Africa garnered her huge criticism. However, her high positions also attracted the attention of magazines like Forbes that listed her as 30^th most powerful woman in the world in 2014.

Personal Life, Salary and Net Worth

Margaret Chan married ophthalmologist, David Chan. Talking about the prestigious position holding high profile powerful Margaret Chan salary, no data is available about it. However, Margaret Chan boasts a net worth of 11000 USD.