University of Coimbra confers Honoris Causa degree to WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus
The director of the UC Faculty of Medicine, Carlos Robalo Cordeiro, introduced the honouree, and professors António Jorge Ferreira and Filipe Froes delivered the speeches of praise.
English version: Diana Taborda
Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus , Director-General of the World Health Organisation (WHO), will receive the degree of Doctor Honoris Causa by the University of Coimbra (UC), on the 28th of June, starting at 10.30 am at the Great Hall of Acts (Sala dos Capelos).
The award of the Honorary Doctorate was proposed by the Faculty of Medicine of the UC for the "outstanding profile" and "remarkable professional career" of the Ethiopian biologist and academic, and mainly in recognition of his role in the fight against Covid-19. "The World Health Organization, under the leadership of Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, managed to remarkably manage all the unexpected impacts of the devastating Covid-19 pandemic, keeping the world informed by the minute, and ensuring that no one would stop fighting to recover peace and health for us all," reads the proposal for the conferral of the Degree.
Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus holds a BSc in Biology from the University of Asmara (Eritrea), an MSc in Immunology of Infectious Diseases from the University of London (UK) and a PhD in Public Health from the University of Nottingham (UK).
After serving as Minister of Health (between 2005 and 2012) and Minister of Foreign Affairs (between 2012 and 2016) for the Ethiopian government, he was appointed Director-General of the World Health Organisation in 2017 and elected for a second term in 2022.
