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Michael J. Ryan (doctor)

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Michael Ryan
Born1965 (age 58–59)
Sligo, Ireland
EducationMPH
Alma materNUI Galway, UCD, Health Protection Agency
Occupation(s)Chief Executive, WHO Health Emergencies Programme
Years active1990-present
Known forCOVID-19 prevention

Michael "Mike" J. Ryan (born 1965) is a former trauma surgeon and epidemiologist who specializes in infectious disease and public health. He is currently the Chief Executive Director of the World Health Organization's Health Emergencies Programme.[1] Ryan works on the international containment and treatment of COVID-19.[2] Ryan has held leadership positions and has worked on various outbreak response teams in the field to eradicate the spread of diseases that include bacillary dysentery, cholera, Crimean–Congo hemorrhagic fever, Ebola, Marburg virus disease, measles, meningitis, relapsing fever, Rift Valley fever, SARS, and Shigellosis.[3][4]

Early life and education

Ryan is from the townland of Tubbercurry in County Sligo, Ireland, where his family has deep roots.[5] He grew up in the town of Charleston in County Mayo.[3]

Ryan trained in medicine at the National University of Ireland in Galway. He has a MPH master’s degree in Public Health from University College Dublin. Ryan completed specialist training in communicable disease control, public health and infectious disease at the Health Protection Agency in London. He also completed the European Programme for Intervention Epidemiology Training (EPIET).[1][3]

Career

In 1990, Ryan, who was a trauma surgeon, was held hostage in Iraq.[6] The experience made him shift his work into public health and infectious disease.[7]

Ryan worked with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation on their efforts to stamp out infectious diseases in Africa.[8]

In 1996, Ryan joined the World Health Organization to work in a newly opened unit that focused on epidemics and infectious diseases.[1]

Ryan developed measles outbreak response guidelines as part of the Expanded Programme on Immunization (EPI) team who implemented surveillance for acute flaccid paralysis, which is how polio is eradicated.[3]

From 2000 to 2003, Ryan was coordinator of Epidemic Response at the WHO.[1] In 2001, Ryan was based in Uganda where he was head of a team of international experts involved in the containment of the Ebola epidemic.[9] During this time, he was in areas of conflict in areas like the Democratic Republic of the Congo, where aid workers were often attacked and murdered.[6]

In 2003, he worked as an Operational Coordinator on the SARS outbreak.[1]

From 2005 to 2011, Ryan was Director of Global Alert and Response Operations for the WHO.[1] During this time he worked on the development of the WHO's Strategic Health Operations Centre and Event Management System. He worked on the implementation of the International Health Regulations (IHR), among other duties to do with infectious disease and emergency responses to pathogens and and epidemics.[3]

In the early days of the Ebola crisis, Ryan was a field epidemiologist, field coordinator, operational coordinator or director during the majority of the reported Ebola outbreaks in Africa. From 2014 to 2015, Ryan was Senior Advisor to the UN Mission for Ebola Emergency Response (UNMEER) in West Africa. He worked in the field in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone.[3]

From 2013 to 2017, Ryan worked in the Middle East as Senior Advisor on Polio Eradication and Emergencies for the World Health Organization's Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI).[3] The goal was to eradicate polio from Pakistan and Afghanistan.[4] He coordinated operational and technical support to polio outbreak response activities in the region which included Syria and Iraq. In 2014, Director General Margaret Chan appointed Ryan to the WHO Advisory Group on the Ebola Virus Disease Response, which was co-chaired by Sam Zaramba and David L. Heymann.[10] During this time he was based in Islamabad, Pakistan at the National Emergency Operations Centre (NEOC), where he liaised with the Government of Pakistan.[3]

From 2017 to 2019, Ryan served as Assistant Director-General for Emergency Preparedness and Response in WHO's Health Emergencies Programme.[1]

In 2019, Ryan was part of the leadership that created the Global Preparedness Report for the Global Preparedness Monitoring Board (GPMB).[4]

In 2019, Ryan became Executive Director of the World Health Organization's Health Emergencies Programme/[1]

Ryan has worked as a Professor of International Health at University College Dublin. He has taught and lectured on medicine and public health on the undergraduate and post graduate level.[3]

Leadership

  • Global Outbreak Alert and Response Network (GOARN), Founding Member[1][3]
  • Informal Advisory Group on the Ebola Virus Disease Response, Member[3]
  • 2016-2017: WHO Health Emergencies Programmes, Independent Oversight and Advisory Committee[3]

Personal life

Ryan's wife, Marie, is also a doctor.[9] They have three children.

Ryan is currently based in Geneva, Switzerland.[11]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i "WHO Headquarters Leadership Team: Dr Michael Ryan, Executive Director, WHO Health Emergencies Programme". World Health Organization. Retrieved 2020-03-23.
  2. ^ Cullen, Paul (2020-02-02). "Irishman leading WHO response to coronavirus outbreak optimistic". The Irish Times.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l "About WHO: Dr Michael J Ryan, Senior Advisor, Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI), National Emergency Operations Centre, Islamabad, Pakistan". World Health Organization. Retrieved 2020-03-23.
  4. ^ a b c Patnaik, Priti (2020-03-12). "Q&A: How countries in crisis can prepare for a coronavirus epidemic". The New Humanitarian.
  5. ^ McCarrick, Roger (2020-02-11). "Corona Virus". The Sligo Champion.
  6. ^ a b "Taking risks to provide care in a conflict zone". World Health Organization. 2019-05-22.
  7. ^ "Sligoman leads the fight against global spread of coronavirus". Ocean FM (Ireland). 2020-02-05.
  8. ^ Murray, Eavan (2020-03-17). "How a former trauma surgeon from Ireland is leading global fight against coronavirus". Irish Independent.
  9. ^ a b Feehan, Conor (2001-01-13). "Hero doctor returns from fighting Ebola virus". Irish Independent.
  10. ^ "WHO: Members of the WHO Advisory Group on the Ebola Virus Disease Response". World Health Organization. September 2015.
  11. ^ McGreal, Edwin (2020-03-10). "Charlestown man at heart of worldwide fight against coronavirus". The Mayo News.


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