AI? Brain manipulation? WHO ’s new chief scientist aims to anticipate global challenges

At the beginning of May, after almost 10 years at the helm of one of the world’s richest biomedical foundations, British physician Jeremy Farrar traded funding clout for a bigger international stage, moving to Geneva to become chief scientist at the World Health Organization (WHO). Farrar had helped make the U.K.-based Wellcome Trust a major player in global issues such as infectious diseases and the health effects of climate change. He also wasn’t shy about criticizing WHO’s leadership, specifically its slow response to the West African Ebola outbreak in 2014. Only the second person in the chief scientist post, he succeeds Indian pediatrician Soumya Swaminathan, who was promoted from another WHO position in March 2019 and left the new post late last year . “I think it’s fair to say that the role of chief scientist is still to be fully framed,” Farrar says. But in his eyes it offers an opportunity to provide countries with science to help their political decision-making. “I wanted to do something closer to countries, because ultimately, that’s where health and science is going to be delivered.” COVID-19 will remain a focus, Farrar said in an interview last week, because the world needs to prepare for the unlikely but possible scenario “that we could go back in a bad direction.” But he also wants to look forward. “Part of what I would like to achieve is bringing a sense of tomorrow into the World Health Organization.” T...
Source: ScienceNOW - Category: Science Source Type: news