Ahmed Al-Mandhari

Ahmed Al-Mandhari has been the World Health Organization’s Regional Director for the Eastern Mediterranean since 1 June 2018.

He was responsible for developing WHO’s strategic vision of Health for All by All throughout the Region, and now leads work to achieve that vision, including key initiatives to address the underlying social determinants of health, ensure access to high-quality health care services, tackle both communicable and noncommunicable diseases, enhance the evidence base for health policy-making and promote health as a bridge to peace.

Al-Mandhari is a native of Oman and a specialist in family and community medicine. He was head of Quality Management and Development at Sultan Qaboos University Hospital from 2005 to 2006, and Deputy Director-General for Clinical Affairs until 2010. From 2010 to 2013, he was Director-General of Sultan Qaboos University Hospital, and he then served as Director-General of the Quality Assurance Centre at the Ministry of Health.

He also worked as a senior consultant in family medicine and public health in Oman from 2009 to 2018. 

Dr Al-Mandhari’s research has been widely published and he sits on the editorial boards of several journals, including the Middle East Journal of Family Medicine.

Throughout his career, he has been a member of various scientific and professional committees and lectured in the fields of quality management, patient safety, family medicine and public health. 

Dr Al-Mandhari obtained a BSc in Health Sciences (1990), followed by an MD in Medicine and Surgery (1993) from Sultan Qaboos University in Oman.

In 1996, he earned a diploma in Tropical Medicine and Hygiene from the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine in the United Kingdom and was awarded the Royal Fellowship for Family Doctors in 1998.

In 2002, he obtained a PhD in Quality Management of Health Care from the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine.