The Director General of Health, Leausa Dr. Take Naseri, has been appointed as an Adjunct Associate Professor of Epidemiology sanctioned by the U.S.A. based Brown University School Public Health.

Brown University is one of the oldest medical faculty founded in 1764, and a member of the Ivy League.

 It is recognized for the quality of its teaching, research, and unique curriculum. 

“I am pleased to advise you that on the recommendation of the Department of Epidemiology of the School of Public Health at Brown University you have been appointed as an Adjunct Associate Professor of Epidemiology effective May 1, 2018 through April 30, 2021, subject to the Faculty Rules and Regulations,” Nancy Barnett, PhD Associate Dean for Faculty Affairs; Brown University School of Public Health Department of Epidemiology notified Leausa in writing.  

“Although your appointment does not carry a salary or benefits from or constitute employment by Brown University, my colleagues and I value the services that you will provide to our programs.” 

Dr. Naseri holds a Masters in Public Health (M.P.H.) from the University of Queensland, Australia and a Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery (M.B.B.S.) from the University of Papua New Guinea.  He started his education in Samoa before furthering his studies in New Zealand and Fiji. 

Dr. Naseri is a registered practicing physician and has served in the Medical Profession for over 25 years in Samoa, American Samoa and in New Zealand in the areas of Anesthesia and I.C.U, Internal Medicine and Infectious Diseases and Population Health.  

In 2010 he was appointed at the Samoa Ministry of Health as the Consultant Specialist Physician, Public Health and Assistant Chief Executive Officer. 

He was instrumental in establishing and developing Samoa’s National Disease Surveillance (N.D.S.) and International Health Regulations (I.H.R.) Division within the Ministry in 2012. 

In 2014 he became the Director General and C.E.O. of the Ministry of Health.  His population health background and distinguished clinical experience with his visionary approach, led to Samoa’s implementation of the W.H.O. N.C.D. Package of Essential Non-communicable disease interventions (P.E.N.), which he contextualized in the Samoan way now called P.E.N. Fa’asamoa

This was recognized with an award for “Best Proposal” at the Pacific Health Ministers Meeting’s 20th Anniversary Yanuca in Fiji 2014.  He also led Samoa’s first side event on N.C.D.s at the W.H.O. World Health Assembly (W.H.A.) 2014 and the Small Island Developing States (S.I.D.s) Conference, the same year. 

Under Dr Naseri’s guidance, the health sector by September 2017 was the first sector to develop a Disaster Risk Management (D.R.M.) Strategy for Samoa.  

The policy not only grounded the mainstreaming of climate change and health instruments across-sector, but also assures the integrating of the I.H.R. 2005 and the Asia Pacific Strategy for Emergencies and Emerging Diseases III (APSED III); into all aspects of the strategy.  

Of significance, as the Director General of Health, Dr. Naseri since mid-2017 has led the re-organization of the realigned health system; with emphasis now on prevention, research and population health and not just centralized curative care as it has been in the last two decades.  

It will place the emphasis to be patient-focused and population health oriented, with the main goal of decentralizing health resources to the communities and grassroots’ levels.

Dr. Naseri has collaborated with international academic institutions – Brown University and  Yale University in the United States - researchers and others in Samoa since 2010 in their ongoing public health studies of cardiometabolic disease risk factors.  His leadership since early 2014 has not only allowed growth in collaborative research but focused the research on its operational implications for implementing future interventions.