Brock Chisholm was born in Canada in 1896 and fought in World War I and World War II, holding a high medical position in the Canadian Army. In 1946, he became the Executive Secretary of the Interim Commission of the World Health Organisation and in 1948 was voted as the WHO's first Director-General. Under Chisholm's leadership, the WHO was established in 1948 with its headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland and has since helped eradicate smallpox and reduce deaths from diseases like measles and tuberculosis through global vaccination initiatives.