Biographical Note - Dr. Mirta Roses Periago

Mirta Roses Periago, Director Emeritus, was born in Argentina on October 20, 1945, and graduated as a surgeon from the National University of Cordoba in 1969. She earned her degree in Public Health, with a concentration in epidemiology and a certificate of specialization in infectious diseases, at the University of Buenos Aires, and in Tropical Medicine at the Federal University of Bahia, Brazil. Her career in hospital care and university teaching began in Cordoba, Argentina, and culminated at the National Institutes and Research Board and the National Health Emergency Management Board of the nation's Ministry of Public Health. She joined the Pan American Health Organization/World Health Organization (PAHO/WHO) in 1984 as coordinator of the Caribbean Epidemiology Center (CAREC) in Trinidad and Tobago. Dr. Roses took over as PAHO/WHO Representative in the Dominican Republic in 1988 and Bolivia in 1992, and was appointed PAHO Assistant Director in 1995.

In September 2002, she was elected by the countries of the Americas as Director of the Pan American Sanitary Bureau, becoming the first Argentine and the first woman to hold that position at the world's oldest public health body, founded in 1902. Dr. Roses was reelected for a second term in 2007. Together with PAHO Member States, she formulated a mission consisting of three pillars: addressing the unfinished agenda, protecting current achievements, and facing new challenges. She proposed the Health Agenda for the Americas 2008-2017, which was approved by heads of state at the General Assembly of the Organization of American States (OAS). She called on health leaders and WHO regions to celebrate a global Vaccination Week every April. She also spearheaded the creation of the first special United Nations session on chronic diseases and the launch of Wellness Week in the Americas.