Since the inception of the World Health Organisation, there have been eight Directors-General excluding one acting. Tedros Adhanom became the first African to hold the post. He was elected in 2017. Previously, Brock Chisholm (1948-1953), Marcolino Gomes Candau (1953-1973), Halfdan T. Mahler (1973-1988), Hiroshi Nakajima (1988-1998), Gro Harlem Brundtland (1998-2003), Lee Jong-Wook (2003-2006), Anders Nordstrom (2006 acting), and Margaret Chan (2006-2017).
