Speaker Details

Kazem Behbehani

Biography:

Kazem Behbehani is a Kuwaiti National, studied at Liverpool and London Universities and attained his MSc in Medical Parasitology in 1969, and received his PhD in 1972.

He was a Post Doctoral Fellow at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and the Mathilda and Terence Kennedy Institute of Rheumatology in London. He returned to Kuwait in (1973) and joined University of Kuwait, Medical School, where he eventually became Professor of Immunology and Medical Parasitology. At the University level he held the following posts: Vice President for Research, Vice Dean of the Faculty of Science, Vice Dean (Research) of the Faculty of Medicine and member of the university council. During these years, he also became a visiting scholar at Harvard Medical School (1979-1984). He was also Deputy Director General of Kuwait Institute for Scientific Research (KISR)and a member of the Management Board of the IBM Scientific Centre, Kuwait. In 1990 he joined World Health Organization (WHO- Geneva). At WHO (1990-2005), he worked in the vaccine research of the Global programmed of AIDS, was the Programme Manager of Tropical Disease Research (TDR), the Director of both the Division of the Control of Tropical Diseases (1994-1998) and, the Eastern Mediterranean Liaison Office (1998-2003) at WHO Geneva. He served as a member of the WHO Board of Appeal, Secretary of number of Intergovernmental meetings (e.g. Tobacco Convention), as well as several of the committees/subcommittees of the Executive Board and the World Health Assembly. His last position was Assistant Director-General for External Relations and Governing Bodies (2003 - 5). In 2005, he became the WHO Health Envoy. In 2006 he was a candidate for the WHO Director-General, where he succeeded to reach the top 5 candidates in the short list. He is a member of the Kuwait National Nuclear Energy Committee (KNNEC), and presently is the Director-General of the Dasman Diabetes Institute in Kuwait.

Status: Confirmed