Tan Sri Dr Jemilah Mahmood joined the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) in August 2009 as the Chief of the Humanitarian Response Branch. In addition to supporting UNFPA’s emergency preparedness, humanitarian and recovery responses, she is responsible for developing capacity building strategies for UNFPA especially around sexual reproductive health and population issues.
Dr Jemilah is an Obstetrician and Gynaecologist by training and a fellow of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists United Kingdom. She also completed the Program for Executive Development at the International Institute of Management and Development (IMD) in Lausanne, Switzerland.
In 1999, she founded MERCY Malaysia, and has extensive field experience having worked in both complex and natural disasters globally.
Dr Jemilah held the position of Vice-Chair of the International Council of Voluntary Agencies (ICVA) from 2006-2009 and sat on the board of Humanitarian Accountability Partnership International in Geneva from 2007-2009. In 2008, she was appointed as Co-Chair of the Global Humanitarian Platform.
She was appointed by the Secretary General of the United Nations as a member of the First Advisory Group of the United Nations Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) for a period of three years. She also served on the Board of Trustees of Save the Children UK and retired from all these positions upon joining the UN.
Dr Jemilah is also an active member of the United Nations Disaster Assessment & Coordination Team (UNDAC) and has completed training in Civil Military Coordination by the United Nations.In 2009, she became the first woman and first non-Corporate to be elected as the Most Valuable Participant of the IMDt. Apart from numerous local awards, she received the ‘East Asian Women’s Award for Peace’ (Humanitarian Section) from Philippines in August 2003 and in October 2006, she was awarded the prestigious “Gandhi, King, Ikeda Award” by Morehouse College USA (Martin Luther King Chapel) for her contribution to community development and peace advocacy.
