Dear colleagues,  

I am delighted to announce that after a comprehensive and competitive selection process, Dee Lee has been selected by the World Hepatitis Alliance (WHA) global board to serve as president-elect beginning January 2025.  

Dee Lee has served as the Director of Inno Asia since 2023, following his tenure as Director of the Inno Community Development Organisation from 2007-2022. He was appointed as WHA WPRO Regional Board Member from 2015-2019 and resumed the role again in 2024. In addition, he is the Chair of the Steering Group for the International Liver Cancer Movement, a Fellow of the Asia Society, and a member of both the Coalition to Eradicate Viral Hepatitis in Asia Pacific (CEVHAP) and the International Coalition to Eliminate Hepatitis B (ICE-HBV).

As a person living with hepatitis, Dee’s fight in China has been against the injustices faced by hepatitis patients unable to get access to treatment and employees wrongfully terminated based on their blood test results. From 2010-2014, Dee worked to eliminate the hepatitis B screening policy in 200 factories covering more than one million workers directly.

In 2016, Dee joined the then WHA President, Charles Gore in Geneva to finalise the introduction of viral hepatitis in the Global Health Sector Strategy with the goal of ending hepatitis before 2030. He has spoken in countless seminars to raise awareness of hepatitis, and the stigma and discrimination attached to it. More than twenty of his journals have been published with the support of the community.

During his break from the WHA Board, Dee realised that focusing solely on China, fighting stigma and discrimination, or raising awareness was not enough. Aware that his hepatitis B status could lead to liver cancer, he renewed his committment to work with the community and WHA. He determined to speed-up the process of a functional cure for hepatitis B and reduce stigma and discrimination as barriers to the elimination of viral hepatitis.

Dee understands the mission and vision of WHA and over the next year as president-elect, he and I will work closely together to prepare him for the presidency and to assure a smooth transition. Together with our board and the staff team, we will strengthen WHA’s position on the global stage, use our voice to empower the millions living with viral hepatitis and help make WHA’s mission a reality.  

Please join me in congratulating Dee Lee on his appointment and welcoming him aboard! 

Rachel Halford, WHA President