Rebekah Thomas serves as the Secretary of the World Health Organization (WHO) Guidelines Review Committee, where she oversees the development, quality assurance, and scientific rigor of WHO guidelines. In this capacity, she provides support and guidance to multidisciplinary teams, ensuring each guideline upholds WHO’s high standards for scientific validity, transparency, and stakeholder engagement.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Rebekah led the COVID-19 Publications Review Committee, ensuring that all WHO COVID-related publications met essential scientific and research standards. Prior to this role, she was an Advisor for Human Rights in the Gender, Equity, and Human Rights Team at WHO headquarters and has held positions at the Joint UN Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) and the International Commission on Global Migration. With an advanced degree in international human rights law and over 20 years of experience in health policy and guideline development, Rebekah brings a wealth of expertise to her role, working to improve health outcomes and reduce inequity through evidence-informed practices.
In addition to her role on the Guidelines Review Committee, Rebekah has served as Co-Chair of the Public Health and Ethics Consultation Service, editorial advisor to the WHO Bulletin Editorial Board, and as an Associate Editor for the BMC International Health and Human Rights journal. She is currently a peer reviewer for BMJ Open and the Journal of Clinical Epidemiology, a member of the GRADE Working group, and has published and contributed to research on human rights; migration; and guideline development.