Margaret Chan of Hong Kong is to become the next Director-General of the World Health Organization. On 9 November, the World Health Assembly, the WHO’s top decision making body, formally approved her nomination. She succeeds Lee Jong-wook, who died suddenly last May. A former director of Hong Kong’s department of health, Chan will leave her current job as the WHO’s Assistant Director-General for communicable diseases to take the post. She becomes the first Chinese national to head a major UN agency.