Rana Hajjeh

Hajjeh is a senior public health leader with 30 years experience in global health,infectious diseases epidemiology, health policy and diplomacy, and health management,especially in the Middle East Region. Dr Hajjeh is currently holding the position of the Director of Programme Management (DPM) at the WHO Eastern Mediterranean Regional Office (EMRO) since April 2019 (i.e. deputy regional director for technical issues). 

Between 2016-2019, she held the position of the Director of the Department of Communicable Diseases Prevention and Control. Prior to joining WHO/EMRO in 2016, Dr Hajjeh worked at the US Centers for Disease Prevention and Control (CDC) for 23 years, where she held many senior positions. 

Between 2005-2010, Dr Hajjeh was the Director of the GAVI Hib vaccine Initiative, that introduced lifesaving vaccines for Hib meningitis and pneumonia to millions of children in limited resource countries around the world. During her work at CDC, Dr Hajjeh led responses to major epidemics across the world, including meningitis during Hajj in Saudi Arabia in 2000, cholera in Haiti in 2010, as well as MERS CoV in Saudi Arabia and Ebola in West Africa.

Dr Hajjeh holds a Medical Doctor (M.D.) degree from the American University of Beirut (AUB), Lebanon, and is American board certified in Internal Medicine and Infectious Diseases, as well as trained in epidemiology at the CDC (EIS Class of 1993).

 She has received many awards, including the prestigious U.S. Federal Employee of the Year Award in 2014 for her global vaccine work. 

Dr. Hajjeh has published over 200 peer-reviewed papers and book chapters, serves as a reviewer for multiple journals, and holds visiting professor positions in medicine and public health at Emory Univ., Johns Hopkins Univ. and AUB.