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Joan Stephenson, PhD

JAMA. 2002;288:2257.

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 117 words of the full text and any section headings.

Gro Harlem Brundtland, MD, director general of the World Health Organization, announced that she will leave the office in July 2003 at the end of her term.

"My decision to complete my work as director general at the end of my current term reflects the fact that I have had leading positions in political and public office for nearly 30 years, and would be 69 at the end of a second term," she said. Brundtland will be the first WHO director general to serve fewer than two consecutive terms.

In January, the executive board of WHO will nominate a candidate for the position, to be elected at the World Health Assembly in May 2003.