Wits RHI Celebrates Professor Helen Rees

We are proud to share that Professor Helen Rees, Executive Director of Wits RHI, has been awarded the 2025 Dr LEE Jong-wook Memorial Prize for Public Health by the World Health Organization (WHO). This prestigious global accolade recognises her extraordinary, sustained contributions to improving public health at local, national, regional, and global levels.

Professor Rees received the award on Friday, 23 May 2025, at a special plenary ceremony during the Seventy-eighth World Health Assembly in Geneva, Switzerland, where six public health leaders were honoured for their lifelong impact.

“We need action, sound science, and policies rooted in evidence to serve everyone, especially the most vulnerable.”— Professor Helen Rees

A Legacy of Leadership and Impact

Wits RHI proudly celebrates Professor Rees for this well-deserved global recognition. Her visionary leadership, rigorous research, and unwavering commitment to health equity continue to shape public health responses across the world from HIV prevention to HPV and COVID-19 vaccine development.

“Public health and human rights are intertwined, driven by the social determinants of health and the access people have to care let us continue the struggle for health for all.”— Professor Helen Rees

About the Award

The Dr LEE Jong-wook Memorial Prize for Public Health, established in 2008, honours the legacy of Dr LEE Jong-wook, the sixth WHO Director-General. The award is presented to individuals and institutions whose work has profoundly improved public health, especially for the underprivileged. Learn more about the Award.

Read the Official WHO announcement

Watch the award ceremony

Watch the Prof Rees’s acceptance lecture

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