Dr Catharina Boehme, Senior Advisor, World Health Organization

Dr Catharina Boehme is a global health executive with over 20 years of experience at the intersection of strategy, policy, and innovation. She has expanded access to life-saving technologies, shaped international health policy, and mobilized billions in funding for global health priorities. She currently serves as Senior Advisor to the Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO).

As WHO’s Assistant Director-General for External Relations and Governance, Dr Boehme led corporate communications, partnerships, resource mobilization, and the work of the governing boards that set global health direction. She built multi-stakeholder platforms with the private sector, civil society, parliaments, and youth, and launched innovative public-private initiatives such as a health impact investment platform.

Previously, as Chef de Cabinet to the WHO Director-General during the COVID-19 crisis, she supported leadership decision-making, advised on critical policy issues, and coordinated strategic planning and program delivery across all WHO regions and country offices. She played a key role in driving organizational reform and embedding gender and equity into WHO’s work.

Before joining WHO, Dr Boehme was CEO of FIND, where she transformed the organization into a global diagnostics leader operating in over 40 countries. Under her leadership, FIND delivered innovations to over 100 million people and co-led the ACT-Accelerator for COVID-19 testing.

Her early clinical and research work in Tanzania, South Africa, and Ghana grounds her commitment to inclusive, sustainable solutions that address health systems challenges.