Thomas Zeltner

Prof. Dr. Thomas Zeltner, the former Director General of the Swiss Federal Office of Public Health (FOPH, 1991 - 2009), has a long history as an innovative leader in public health. Currently he is board member of the Swiss Academies of Arts and Sciences and Vice-President of UNESCO commission of Switzerland. He also is chairman of the Board of the KPT insurance company, one of the most innovative health insurance plans in Switzerland.

Since 1992, he has been Professor of Public Health at the University of Berne and is a Visiting Scientist at the Harvard School of Public Health (Boston). He is member of the Council of the Medical University of Vienna and chairs the Advisory Board of the Global Health Center at the Graduate Institute in Geneva.

As head of the Swiss Federal Office of Public Health, Zeltner regularly represented Switzerland at the World Health Assemblies (1991-2009). He was a member and Vice-President of the Executive Board of the World Health Organization (1999-2002).

Thomas Zeltner is born in Bern (Switzerland). He graduated with an MD and a Master’s degree in Law from the University of Bern. He is a 2010 Fellow of the Harvard Advanced Leadership Initiative and Doctor of Laws (honoris causa) of the University of Neuchatel.