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LSHTM Director Peter Piot has welcomed appointment of Dr Takeshi Kasai as WHO Regional Director for Western Pacific Region. Dr Kasai, a renowned public health expert from Japan, gained his Master's in Public Health in Developing Countries at LSHTM in 1996. He has spent 28 years working in public health and has a long track record of helping countries prepare for complex health challenges on the horizon – from NCDs and ageing to global health security threats.

Professor Piot said: “Dr Kasai’s public health expertise ranges from delivering health services in the most remote settings to developing global approaches to infectious disease control. I warmly congratulate our alumnus Dr Kasai on his appointment.”

Dr Kasai will take office on 1 February 2019 for a term of five years.

He will work alongside fellow LSHTM alumni Dr Matshidiso Rebecca Moeti, WHO Regional Director for Africa (MSc in Community Health for Developing Countries, 1986) and Dr Carissa F. Etienne, WHO Regional Director for the Americas (MSc Community Health in Developing Countries, 1982). WHO Director-General, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, completed a MSc in Immunology of Infectious Diseases at LSHTM in 1992. Dr Moeti was awarded an Honorary Fellowship - LSHTM's most prestigious honour - in March 2018.

A recent LSHTM analysis of graduate careers and destinations found the WHO was the third top employer for our graduates.