Dr. Steve Hsu-Sung Kuo was sworn in as the 10th Director-General of Taiwan Centers for Disease Control (Taiwan CDC) on June 17, 2014.

The swearing-in ceremony of the Director-General was administered by the Health Minister, Wen-Ta Chiu. Minister Chiu acknowledged that Dr. Steve Kuo is experienced in public administration, communicable disease control, international communication, health cooperation, and organizational leadership, which would greatly facilitate his role in directing Taiwan CDC for years to come.

Dr. Steve Kuo expressed his sincere gratitude to Minister Chiu for the trust invested in him and to the distinguished guests, including the Infectious Disease Committee Members, colleagues from the Ministry of Health and Welfare, as well as experts from research institutes, for their continued support and cooperation on matters related to infectious disease control with Taiwan CDC. He acknowledged that there is more work to be done, especially for TB control. He outlined the following objectives to guide the agency’s future work:

• To enhance core capacities of Taiwan CDC’s staff members and to strengthen training of public health personnel.

• To review and improve communicable disease control strategies through facilitating the Health Technology Assessment.

• To closely follow the principles of WHO’s global strategy and develop Taiwan’s post-2015 national tuberculosis plan to sustain and strengthen the program towards the milestones for 2035.

Additionally, as a responsible member of the global community, Dr. Steve Kuo will continue leading Taiwan CDC to cooperate with international counterparts in closing the gap in global disease detection and in fighting against the threat of emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases.

Dr. Steve Kuo had previously served as the Director-General of Taiwan CDC for almost six years, from October 2004 to May 2010. Learning great lessons from the SARS outbreak of 2003, he led Taiwan CDC to launch a series of reforms and programs, which included the establishment of a national health command center, the completion of a national influenza pandemic preparedness plan resulting in a successful fight against the 2009 H1N1 flu pandemic, the implementation of a 10-year plan to halve TB incidence, and a harm reduction program to control HIV, as well as setting up an IHR Focal Point for communications with WHO and other countries that engage in IHR implementation, and conducting numerous cooperative programs with many countries.

Among his other previous positions, he was the Coordinator of the Taiwan SARS Task Force, Senior Advisor of the de facto Taiwan Embassy in Washington DC, and Director-General of the Bureau of Planning and Evaluation of Taiwan’s Health Ministry.