Dr. Roberto Bertollini, MD, MPH

From October 2011 until June 2016, Roberto Bertollini, MD, MPH has been WHO Representative to the EU in Brussels and Chief Scientist of the WHO Regional Office for Europe. Before this assignment, he has occupied senior management positions in WHO both at the Regional Office for Europe and at the Headquarters in Geneva since 1991 when he joined the Organization. In late 2016 he has been Richard von Weizsächer Fellow at the Robert Bosch Academy in Germany. From 2016 until June 2023 he has been a Member of the Scientific Committee on Health, Environmental and Emerging Risks of the European Commission. Presently he is advisor for public health of the Minister of Health of Qatar and has been heavily involved in the Qatar response to the Covid-19 epidemic by chairing the country’s Scientific Reference and Research Task Force which provided scientific evidence for the public health response to the pandemic. He has led the Qatar – WHO project on sport and health and in this capacity was also in charge of health monitoring during the Qatar FIFA World Cup in 2022. In addition, he is Clinical Professor in Public Health at Qatar University, Adjunct Full Professor at Hamad Bin Khalifa University and visiting lecturer at the Global Health Master Programme of the University of Milan. His main professional interests concern the determinants of communicable and non-communicable diseases, with special reference to the effects of emerging environmental threats – such as climate change and air pollution – as well as of lifestyle and socioeconomic determinants. He is also very involved in the translation of research findings for public health policy development and in the implementation and evaluation of public health programmes and practices.