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Dr Samlee Plianbangchang joined as Regional Director of
WHO South-East Asia Region, New
Delhi, India,
on 1 March 2004. Formerly Dean,
College of Public Health of Chulalongkorn
University, Bangkok, Thailand and Adviser to Minister of Public Health, the
Royal Thai Government; Dr Samlee Plianbangchang had been Deputy Regional
Director and Director, Programme Management (DRD/DPM) of the World Health
Organization Regional Office for South-East Asia, New Delhi, India (WHO/SEARO).
He joined WHO in January 1984 and departed in June 2000.
During this period, he had also held other positions, i.e. Consultant in
Primary Health Care; Senior Regional Planning Officer; and Director, Disease
Prevention and Control. After departure from WHO, he was invited to be Senior
Analyst / Special Adviser to the WHO Director–General in Budget and
Management Reform at the World Health Organization Headquarters in Geneva,
Switzerland.
Before joining the World Health Organization, Dr Samlee
Plianbangchang had been working with the Ministry of Public Health, Thailand. He
started his career in 1965 as a medical officer assigned in various
capacities, i.e. medical intern at one of the provincial hospitals in the
Northeast; acting medical officer at the first class health centers in one of
the Northeast districts; medical officer of a special unit to counter
insurgency in the same region; medical officer at Infections Disease Hospital
in a province near Bangkok; a teacher at Health Training Center for the
Central Region; second and then first grade medical officer of Health
Training Division of Department of Health; Director, Technical Division of
Department of Medical Services; and
Director, Office of the National Advisory Board for Disease Prevention and
Control.
Dr Samlee Plianbangchang graduated with the degree
equivalent to M.D. (Medical Doctor) from the University of Medical Sciences
in Bangkok; obtained Master of Public Health and Tropical Medicine (M.P.H.
& T.M.) and Doctor of Public Health (Dr. P.H.) from Tulane University,
and Certificate of Comprehensive Health Planning for Senior Health
Administrators from Johns Hopkins University School of Hygiene and Public
Health, both in U.S.A. He was certified by the American Board of Preventive
Medicine to be specialist in international public health, and by the Thai
Medical Council to be specialist in preventive and social medicine;
recognized by American Medical Association to be an outstanding physician in
1970; awarded a gold medal by Tulane University for the best doctoral
dissertation in 1972; and selected to be member of Delta Omega (ETA Chapter)
which is one of the prestigious American public health professional
societies.
In 2004, Dr Samlee received a degree of Doctor of Public
Health, Honoris Causa, from
Mahidol University, Bangkok,
Thailand, for
his academic achievements and outstanding professional services. Also, in 2007 he received honorary doctoral
degree in public health from Chulalongkorn
University, Bangkok, Thailand.
On returning from WHO to his own country in 2000, he was
appointed to be Senior Adviser on International Health by Ministry of Public
health, and Senior Adviser on Human Resource Development by the College of
Public Health, Chulalongkorn University and by the
same university to be Senior Specialist in Public Health. Then he become Dean of the College in 2001 until end-February
2004.
Before joining WHO, Dr Samlee Plianbangchang had been
regularly attending meetings for 10 years of the WHO Governing Bodies,
especially the Regional Committee for South-East Asia
and World Health Assembly as standing member of the Thai delegation. He was
member and secretary of the National Organizing Committee for the 30th
session of the WHO South-East Asia Regional Committee held in Bangkok in 1977;
Thailand delegate on the Joint Coordinating Board (JCB) of WHO/World
Bank/United Nations Development Programme Special Programme for Research and
Training in Tropical Diseases (TDR) from 1980 to 1984; member and
secretary of the Royal Thai Government and WHO Coordination Committee during
the same period.
He had been member and
secretary of the National Organizing Committee for World Health Day
between 1974 and 1984; Chairman National Organizing Committee for the 3rd
Regional Meeting of the Directors of Medical Research Councils and Analogous
Bodies of the Countries in WHO South-East Asia Region hosted by the Royal
Thai Government in 1982; and General Secretary of the National Organizing
Committee of the 4th meeting of the Joint Coordination Board of WHO/WB/UNDP
Special Programme for Research and Training in Tropical Disease (TDR) held in
Bangkok in 1984.
Dr Samlee Plianbangchang has always been recognized
nationally as an outstanding public health professional and administrator;
and in the international health community as an outstanding health expert,
administrator and manager, especially in health planning and management and programme development and management. While being Deputy
Regional Director and Director, Programme Management at WHO Regional Office
for South-East Asia he had always been admired by the Member States in South-East Asia for his efficient and effective
handling of the development and management of the WHO Programme Budget to
support health development in the Region.
26 April 2007
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