Nedret Emiroglu

Dr Nedret Emiroglu is a medical doctor and health expert with over 30 years of experience, mostly in the United Nations. Her expertise spans all fields of public health and development work. This is coupled with a track record of leadership roles where she has contributed to crafting global health policy.

Dr Nedret Emiroglu is the Director of Health Emergencies and Communicable Diseases at the WHO Regional Office for Europe.

She leads efforts to support countries prepare for and respond to health emergencies, and to prevent and control infectious diseases. Under her tenure, the European Region was declared malaria-free, abated mother-to-child transmission of HIV, and progresses towards measles and rubella elimination. As the Director of Programme Management, she was the principal adviser to the Regional Office on health policies, strategies and technical priorities in line with the Sustainable Development Goals.

Dr. Nedret Emiroglu started her career on communicable disease prevention and control in the Turkish Ministry of Health, where she led Turkey’ eradication of poliomyelitis.

In 1997, she joined WHO in charge of vaccination first in the Western Pacific Region and then in Turkey and the Balkans.

From 2001, she headed the immunization programme at WHO Regional Office for Europe and held managerial positions in all technical areas of public health. She led Europe’s response to pandemic influenza in 2009.

Before taking up her present positions, Dr Emiroglu was Deputy Director of the Division and Special Representative of the Regional Director on the Millennium Development Goals and Governance.