Marcolino Gomes Candau (30 May 1911 – 23 January 1983) was a Brazilian doctor who served as director-general of the

World Health Organization The World Health Organization (WHO) is a specialized agency of the United Nations responsible for international public health. The WHO Constitution states its main objective as "the attainment by all peoples of the highest possible level of ...

(WHO) from 1953 to 1973. He did

doctorate A doctorate (from Latin ''docere'', "to teach"), doctor's degree (from Latin ''doctor'', "teacher"), or doctoral degree is an academic degree awarded by universities and some other educational institutions, derived from the ancient formalism ''li ...

and other courses such as MPH, and FRCP before served at WHO.

Biography

Candau was born in

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the state of the same name, Brazil's third-most populous state, and the second-most populous city in Brazil, after São Paulo. Listed by the GaWC as a ...

and studied medicine at the state medical school in Rio de Janeiro and worked at the state department of Health before pursuing Masters in Public Health at

Johns Hopkins University Johns Hopkins University (Johns Hopkins, Hopkins, or JHU) is a private research university in Baltimore, Maryland. Founded in 1876, Johns Hopkins is the oldest research university in the United States and in the western hemisphere. It consi ...

.Marcolino Gomes Candau
/ref> Candau returned to Brazil to work in the state public health department before joining the staff of the

Geneva , neighboring_municipalities= Carouge, Chêne-Bougeries, Cologny, Lancy, Grand-Saconnex, Pregny-Chambésy, Vernier, Veyrier , website = https://www.geneve.ch/ Geneva ( ; french: Genève ) frp, Genèva ; german: link=no, Genf ; it, Ginevr ...

in 1950 as Director of the Division of Organization of Health Services for the Americas. Within a year, he was appointed Assistant Director-General in charge of Advisory Services. In 1952, he moved to

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...

as Assistant Director of the Pan American Sanitary Bureau—the WHO Regional Office for the Americas. In 1953, while occupying that position, he was elected, at the age of 42, WHO's second Director-General. As Director-General, Candau was influenced by his previous work in Brazil's malaria control program. He presented the case for global malaria eradication at the World Health Assembly meeting in Mexico City in May 1955. In 1958, 1963 and 1968, Dr Candau was re-elected for his successive terms in that office, which he held until 1973. In 1963 Candau received an honorary Sc.D. from

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Sources

* ''2006 Bates College Alumni Directory'' (Lewiston, ME: Bates College 2006)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Candau, Marcolino Gomes 1911 births 1983 deaths World Health Organization officials Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health alumni Rio de Janeiro State University alumni Brazilian public health doctors Brazilian officials of the United Nations Léon Bernard Foundation Prize laureates