physics

Margaret Chan

Margaret Chan is a physics topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Margaret Chan rather than just read about it. In short: Margaret Chan Fung Fu-chun (born 21 August 1947) is a Chinese-Canadian physician and politician, who served as the Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO) delegating the People's Republic of China from 2006 to 2017. Chan previously served as Director of Health in the Hong Kong Government (1994–2003) and representative of the WHO Director-General for Pandemic Influenza and WHO Assistant Director-Gener…

Key takeaways

Margaret Chan belongs to physics; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Margaret Chan to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Margaret Chan from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Margaret Chan Fung Fu-chun (born 21 August 1947) is a Chinese-Canadian physician and politician, who served as the Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO) delegating the People's Republic of China from 2006 to 2017. Chan previously served as Director of Health in the Hong Kong Government (1994–2003) and representative of the WHO Director-General for Pandemic Influenza and WHO Assistant Director-General for Communicable Diseases (2003–2006). In 2014, Forbes ranked her as the 30th most powerful woman in the world. In early 2018 she joined the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC). She was widely criticized for her handling of the 1997 H5N1 avian influenza outbreak and the 2003 SARS outbreak in Hong Kong, and for her frequent travels while serving as Director-General of the WHO.

Early life and education Chan was born and raised in British Hong Kong. Her ancestors came from Shunde, Guangdong. Chan received a professional degree for teaching home economics at the Northecote College of Education in Hong Kong. She received a bachelor of arts with a major in home economics in 1973 and a doctor of medicine in 1977 from the University of Western Ontario in Canada. She received a master of science (public health) from the National University of Singapore in 1985.

Career

Early career Chan joined the Government of British Hong Kong in December 1978 as a medical officer. In November 1989, she was promoted to assistant director of the Department of Health. In April 1992, she was promoted to deputy director and, in June 1994, was named the first woman in Hong Kong to head the Department of Health.

Director of Health in Hong Kong, 1994–2003 Chan survived the transition from British to PRC-HKSAR rule in June 1997. Her profile was raised by her handling, in those positions, of the 1997 H5N1 avian influenza outbreak and the 2003 SARS outbreak in Hong Kong. After the first cases of the H5N1 died, Chan first tried to reassure Hong Kong residents with statements such as "I ate chicken last night" or "I eat chicken every day, don't panic, everyone". When many more H5N1 cases appeared, she was criticized for misleading the public. She became "a symbol of ignorance and arrogance epitomizing the mentality of 'business as usual' embedded in the ideological and institutional practices within the bureaucracy, especially after the hand-over." In the end, she was credited for helping bring the epidemic under control by the slaughter of 1.5 million chickens in the region in the face of stiff political opposition. Her performance during the SARS outbreak, which ultimately led to 299 deaths, attracted harsh criticism from the Legislative Council of Hong Kong and many people with SARS and their relatives. She was criticised by the Legislative Council for her passiveness, for believing in misleading information shared by the mainland authority, and for not acting swiftly. She was also criticised for a lack of political wisdom was evident in her indifference to media reports and widespread public fear at that time. On the other hand, the SARS expert committee established by the HKSAR government to assess its handling of the crisis, opined that the failure was not Chan's fault, but due to the structure of Hong Kong's health care system, in which the separation of the hospital authority from the public health authority resulted in problems with data sharing.

Assistant to DGWHO Chan left the Hong Kong Government in August 2003 after 25 years of service to join the World Health Organization. She could initially not take up a post of Assistant Director-General because the Chinese Government did not give its clearance. She was given the post of Director, Sustainable Development and Healthy Environment Department, until she could move on, in 2005, to the position of ADG. From 2003 until 2005, Chan served as the Representative of the World Health Organization Director-General for Pandemic Influenza and as Assistant Director-General for Communicable Diseases.

Director-General of WHO, 2006–2017 Chan served two terms of five years apiece as Director-General of the WHO. Appointed to the post in November 2006, Chan's first term ran through to June 2012. In her appointment speech, Chan considered the "improvements in the health of the people of Africa and the health of women" to be the key performance indicator of WHO and she wants to focus WHO's attention on "the people in greatest need." On 18 January 2012, Chan was nominated by the WHO's executive board for a second term and was confirmed by the World Health Assembly on 23 May 2012. In her acceptance speech, Chan indicated that universal coverage is a "powerful equaliser" and the most powerful concept of public health. Chan's new term began on 1 July 2012 and continued until 30 June 2017.

First term

In February 2007, Chan provoked the anger of humanitarian and civil society groups including Doctors Without Borders by questioning the quality of generic medicines while on a visit to Thailand. In 2010 Chan was criticised for "crying wolf" about the 2009 flu pandemic, which turned out to be much milder than expected. After a visit to North Korea in April 2010, Chan said malnutrition was a problem in the country but that North Korea's health system would be the envy of many developing countries because of the abundance of medical staff. She also noted there were no signs of obesity in the country, which is a newly emerging problem in other parts of Asia. Chan's comments marked a significant departure from that of her predecessor, Gro Harlem Brundtland, who said in 2001 that North Korea's health system was near collapse. The director-general's assessment was criticised, including in a Wall Street Journal editorial which called her statements "surreal." The editorial further stated, "Ms. Chan is either winking at the reality to maintain contact with the North or she allowed herself to be fooled." In 2011, because of financial constraints in donor countries the WHO slashed its budget by nearly $1 billion and cut 300 jobs at its headquarters under Chan's leadership.

Second term

The WHO was accused of deferring to the Syrian government of President Bashar al-Assad when polio made a comeback in that country in late 2013. In 2014 and 2015, Chan was again heavily criticised because of the slow response of the WHO to the Ebola virus epidemic in West Africa. In 2016 at the request of the WHA, Chan launched the Health Emergencies Programme.

… excerpt ends here. Continue reading the full article.

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Margaret Chan

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Margaret Chan claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In physics, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Margaret Chan before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Margaret Chan ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Margaret Chan

In research: Margaret Chan appears in physics research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Margaret Chan in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Margaret Chan is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1947 births, 20th-century Canadian women scientists, 20th-century Chinese medical doctors, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Margaret Chan outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Margaret Chan in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Margaret Chan means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Margaret Chan out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Margaret Chan in simple terms?

Why does Margaret Chan matter?

Because it connects several physics ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Margaret Chan?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Margaret Chan.