New WMA Secretary General appointed

Dr Otmar Kloiber, deputy Secretary General of the German Medical Association, has been unanimously appointed as the new Secretary General of the World Medical Association.

He succeeds Dr Delon Human, a former family physician from Pretoria, South Africa, who is standing down as Secretary General early next year after seven years in the position.

Dr Kloiber, who is 47 and a pathophysiologist, has been working at the German Medical Association since 1991. Before then he was involved in research on neurotoxicology, first at the University of Minnesota in Duluth, USA and then on pathophysiological studies at the Max-Planck Institute for Neurological Research in Cologne, Germany.

His appointment was announced by the WMA at its annual General Assembly in Tokyo last week. Dr Kloiber was selected from more than 70 candidates with the help of an international recruiting firm.

Dr Yoram Blachar, chairman of the WMA Council, said: 'I am confident that we have selected the right candidate. Dr Kloiber is certainly capable of meeting the challenges that lie ahead'.

Previous WMA Secretaries have been: