Rick Brennan is Regional Emergency Director for the World Health Organization’s (WHO) Eastern Mediterranean Regional Office, based in Cairo, Egypt.  Previously, he had spent seven years at WHO headquarters as Director of Emergency Operations, Director of Ebola Coordination and Response, and Director of Emergency Risk Management and Humanitarian Response. 

Rick has extensive experience in humanitarian settings in over 35 countries across Africa, Asia, the Middle East, and Eastern Europe.  He received his medical degree fromor the University of Sydney and undertook emergency medicine training in Australia and the United States.  After receiving a Masters of Public Health degree from Johns Hopkins University, he worked with the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on humanitarian, chem-bio-nuclear and civil-military issues.  Thereafter, Rick spent 10 years as the Health Director of the International Rescue Committee (IRC) in New York, overseeing technical support to humanitarian programmes world-wide.  Immediately prior to joining WHO, he spent two-and-a-half years with JSI Research and Training in Liberia, managing a large post-conflict health system reconstruction project.