(FILE)

Eric Chan Lu-sek joined the World Health Organization (WHO) in Switzerland on June 21 as its chief scientist in nursing and midwifery. He is the second medical expert from Hong Kong to take up a senior post at the UN body to help improve international public health. Margaret Chan Fung Fu-chun from Hong Kong is the incumbent WHO director general.

Chan worked in Australia between 1978 and 1993 in frontline and administrative posts before he returned to Hong Kong to work for the Hospital Authority. One of his achievements in Australia was to help the country upgrade nurse training to university level. He was a senior planning manager at Hong Kong's Hospital Authority before taking up the WHO post. He had advised the WHO on nursing and midwifery management since 1995.

In his new post with the WHO, Chan is tasked with three missions--human resources training, establishing standards for nurse training, and coordinating the six global regions to adopt those training standards.