WHO Chief Brundtland To Speak at NIH
Dr. Gro Harlem Brundtland, director-general of the World Health Organization, will speak on Thursday, Oct. 29 at 11 a.m. in Masur Auditorium, Bldg. 10. She will discuss "The New WHO and Partnerships for the Future."
Brundtland was prime minister of Norway for more than 10 years. She was first appointed to that position at age 41, becoming the youngest person, and first woman, to head Norway's government. She stepped down from the post in 1996 and was elected director-general of WHO last May.
Dr. Gro Harlem Brundtland
Brundtland's ascendance in the government of Norway resulted from a lifetime of political activism in the nation's labor movement, along with her career in medicine, public health and environmental issues. She earned an M.D. from the University of Oslo, followed by a master of public health degree from Harvard. She served for many years in Norway's public health system and was the director of health services for Oslo's school children prior to her appointment as Norway's minister of the environment in 1974.
In 1983, she chaired a key international committee on sustainable development, known officially as the World Commission on Environment and Development, but more widely called the Brundtland Commission. The commission's recommendations led to the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro in 1992.
Speaking at the World Bank in March, Brundtland called on countries "to unleash resources -- intellectual, political and financial. We cannot allow health to remain a secondary item on the international political agenda."
Dr. Wendy Baldwin, NIH deputy director for extramural research, says, "This is a wonderful opportunity to hear firsthand about Dr. Brundtland's aspirations for the WHO and how NIH can play a part."
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