Keiji Fukuda

Professor Keiji Fukuda joined the School of Public Health of The University of Hong Kong in December 2016. Professor Fukuda has extensive public health experience at global and national levels. During 2005 – 2016, he was a staff member of the World Health Organization (WHO) and held positions as Scientist, Coordinator and then Director of the Global Influenza Programme (2005-2008), Assistant Director-General for Health Security and Environment ad interim (2008-2009), Special Adviser on Pandemic Influenza to the Director-General (2009-2010), Assistant Director-General for Health Security (2010-2015) and Special Representative for Antimicrobial Resistance for the Director-General (2015-2016).

At WHO, he was instrumental in global and national approaches to issues such as health security; preparedness and responses for emerging infectious diseases; the development and adoption of the Pandemic Influenza Preparedness Framework, a ground breaking intergovernmental agreement on the sharing of potential pandemic influenza viruses and related benefits; and implementation of the International Health Regulations. He personally led several field investigations related to globally important and sensitive outbreaks such as influenza H5N1 and H7N9, Pandemic influenza, SARS, MERS and Ebola and was often WHO’s main media spokesperson for such issues. Most recently, he directly facilitated the successful development of an intergovernmental, multisectoral process which resulted in a historic Heads of State level meeting at the United Nations (UN), and a UN resolution, on antimicrobial resistance. During his tenure at WHO, Professor Fukuda has become increasingly involved and interested in health diplomacy, which has emerged as a major need in an increasingly globalized world.

Before joining WHO, Professor Fukuda was Chief of Epidemiology in the Influenza Branch of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Centers (CDC). He led the CDC field teams that assisted Hong Kong during the emergence of avian influenza H5N1 in 1997 and has worked closely and extensively with China on issues such as influenza surveillance, SARS and influenza H7N9. He helped develop new models combining epidemiological and laboratory data to estimate the burden of influenza and on US influenza vaccination policy. Early in his career, Professor Fukuda worked on chronic fatigue syndrome and led the international team that redefined this condition. He is a physician who trained in internal medicine and received his BA from Oberlin College, MD from the University of Vermont and MPH from the University of California, Berkeley.