Dr Jacob Kumaresan presented the Letter of Credentials to the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Hon. Mangala Samaraweera, on 23 June. Dr Kumaresan recently assumed office as the WHO Representative to Sri Lanka. Previously he was Executive Director, WHO Office at the United Nations in New York from 2011-15. Earlier he was Director of WHO Centre for Health Development in Kobe, Japan from 2008-11 and President of the International Trachoma Initiative, a non-profit organization dedicated to eliminating the leading cause of preventable blindness from 2003-07. He joined World Health Organization headquarters in 1992 where he eventually headed the Stop TB Partnership. He worked with the governments of Zimbabwe and Botswana during 1980s. Dr Kumaresan received his MD degree from University of Madras, India and MPH and DrPH degrees from Tulane University, USA.