Marthelise Eersel (born 6 April 1957) is a Surinamese civil servant and physician. Previously the director of the Ministry of Health, she was director of the Suriname COVID-19 Crisis Management Team from July 2020 to May 2021.
Eersel was born in Amsterdam on 6 April 1957.[1] Her father Hein Eersel[2] was studying at the University of Amsterdam. They moved back to Suriname in February 1959,[3] where her younger sister Rachel was born a few months later.[4] [5]
Eersel trained as a physician at the University of Suriname. She also completed a Master of Science in Public Health (MSPH) at Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine in 1989.[6] She has taught public health and biostatistics at the Institute for Graduate Studies & Research of the Anton de Kom University in Public Health,[7] and was a director at the Ministry of Health.[8] She represented Suriname on the WHO Executive Board.[9]
In July 2020, Eersel succeeded Cleopatra Jessurun as director of the national COVID-19 Crisis Management Team.[10] She served in this position until May 2021.[11]
In 2020, the Marthelise Eersel Center was established in Nickerie. This medical centre, which specialises in treating chronically-ill patients, is a government agency as part of the One Stop Shop (OSS) Foundation.[12]