I'm a doctor at the World Bank – you can trust me to help end global poverty

My medical background has given me the skills to prioritise, troubleshoot and use data to track outcomes - all excellent training for my role at the bank

I am writing this at my desk on the 12th floor of the World Bank headquarters in Washington DC. It feels a long way from the hospitals where I began my career. I'm a doctor by training and I often get asked how I ended up running the World Bank president's delivery unit (PDU).

In fact, my medical background prepared me for this role in three big ways: understanding the nature of triage means I can prioritise; formulating a diagnosis means I can troubleshoot; and I have always used data to track prognosis and outcomes. All three are fundamental to my role at the bank, as well as the new approach to development under the leadership of World Bank president Jim Yong Kim.

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