Dr. Maria Van Kerkhove

Dr. Maria Van Kerkhove is the Acting Director of the Department of Epidemic and Pandemic Prevention and Preparedness in the Health Emergencies Programme of the World Health Organization. She is also the COVID-19 Technical Lead and has served as the global Incident Manager for mpox for the World Health Organization (WHO). Maria is an infectious disease epidemiologist educated at Cornell University, Stanford University Medical School and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. She is a global leader in infectious disease epidemiology with more than 20 years of experience in international coordination, management, technical expertise, field studies, and policy development in emerging and re-emerging diseases, including COVID-19, avian and pandemic influenza, MERS, mpox, dengue, Ebola, Marburg, plague, yellow fever, Zika and more.