On February 22, 2023, the Taiwan Centers for Disease Control (Taiwan CDC) staged a handover ceremony between its outgoing and incoming Directors-General as well as a swearing-in ceremony for its new Director-General. Dr.  Chuang Jen-hsiang (莊人祥), who previously served as the agency’s  Deputy Director-General,  was sworn in as the new Director-General of Taiwan CDC.

The swearing-in ceremony was presided over by the Health and Welfare Minister  Hsueh Jui-yuan (薛瑞元). According to Hsueh, Dr. Chou Jih-haw (周志浩), the outgoing Director-General, had pushed for the completion of various major policies during his tenure, laying a strong foundation for the disease control system. Chou’s contributions include setting aside a budget for vaccination fees, promoting the upgrade of the seasonal influenza vaccine, ensuring a steady decrease in the nationwide tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS incidence rates, Hsueh said. Among Chou’s numerous achievements, the establishment of the national disease control center marks another milestone in Taiwan’s history of disease control. Moreover, over more than three years during the COVID-19 pandemic, Chou organized and managed the responsibilities of the entire Taiwan CDC to ensure the smooth operation of the Central Epidemic Command Center, while overseeing the international negotiation of Taiwan’s vaccine procurement,   Hsueh added. To applaud Chou’s efforts, he has been promoted as the Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Health and Welfare, shouldering even more responsibilities, the minister said. 

Besides being a physician, the incoming Director-General Chuang has expertise in public health and medical informatics, Hsueh said. Chuang previously served as Associate Researcher and Deputy Director-General at Taiwan CDC in addition to acting as the agency’s spokesperson for many years, Hsieh added. With comprehensive background and experiences in disease control, Chuang has the most direct and insightful understanding of the overall disease control policies as well as public opinion and concern, Hsueh said. As Chuang has also served as the CECC spokesperson and the director of the community-based disease control division of the CECC during the pandemic, his efforts and performance in response mobilization and implementing disease control policies in the community are noticeable. Chuang is an outstanding individual who can be entrusted with important tasks, Hsueh said. Hsueh expects that under the leadership of Chuang, Taiwan CDC will continue to fine-tune the agency’s responsibilities and work hard to ensure the health and wellbeing of the people in Taiwan, improving public confidence in the government’s disease prevention and control efforts. 

In response, Chuang took the opportunity to express his gratitude to Hsueh for his recognition. According to Chuang, fighting diseases is like waging wars. As Taiwan eases its COVID-19 regulations during the post-pandemic era, relevant transition efforts need to be implemented properly, while reviewing the past experiences in order to be prepared for the next pandemic in the face of ever-changing challenges in the future. Chuang vows to lead the colleagues of Taiwan CDC under the five values of enthusiasm, professionalism, teamwork, action and excellence and with the vision of improving the disease control preparedness and response system, continuously fulfilling Taiwan CDC’s duty of  ensuring the public is free from the threat of diseases.