Ms Bethke was appointed WHO Representative a.i. to the Syrian Arab Republic on 19 October 2024. She joined the WHO Syria Office in 2022, first serving as Emergency Team Lead and, in July 2024, moving to the position of WHO Deputy Representative.
Ms Bethke has extensive experience in public health, humanitarian health response, health cluster coordination, and resource mobilization. She served as Health Cluster Coordinator in Lebanon for 2 years following the Beirut Port Explosion in 2020, as Whole of Syria Health Cluster Coordinator for 3 years, starting in 2019, and led the WHO emergency response to the earthquake in Syria in February 2023.
Ms Bethke has worked with UN and international organizations in Liberia, Lebanon and Jordan. She holds 2 master’s degrees – in public health and in clinical social work – from Boston University, and a bachelor’s degree in psychology and Spanish from Vanderbilt University.
