Jeffrey Koplan is vice president for Global Health at Emory University and director of the Emory Global Health Institute, an organization created to advance Emory University’s efforts to improve health around the world.

Pekka Puska was appointed director general of THL in 2008. From 1972 to 1997, he was the director and principal investigator of the North Karelia Project, a highly successful public health project targeting noncommunicable diseases – particularly cardiovascular disease – in Finland.

Rajae El Aouad is a medical doctor and professor in Immunology. She was appointed as the director of the National Institute of Hygiene (NIH) in 2001.

Prof. Reinhard Burger is president of Germany’s Robert Koch Institute. He received his PhD in 1976 at the Institute for Medical Microbiology, University of Mainz. From 1983-1987 he served as a professor for Immunology at the Faculty for Theoretical Medicine, at the University of Heidelberg.

Dr. David Butler-Jones is Canada's first chief public health officer. He heads the Public Health Agency of Canada which provides leadership on the government's efforts to protect and promote the health and safety of Canadians

Dr. Mwele Malecela is director general of the National Institute for Medical Research in Tanzania and is the first woman to hold this position. She is also director of the Tanzania Lymphatic Filariasis Elimination Program.

Justin McCracken, is chief executive of the UK Health Protection Agency (HPA). The agency is responsible for providing information and services to support a coordinated and consistent UK public health response to national level emergencies.

Professor Mahmudur Rahman directs the Institute of Epidemiology, Disease Control and Research (IEDCR) and National Influenza Center in Bangladesh

Amabelia Rodrigues is president of the new National Institute of Public Health in Guinea Bissau. She received her PhD at the University of Copenhagen in 2001, concentrating on the epidemiology of cholera. She has done research on cholera, rotavirus, malaria and vaccines.

Prof. Mario H. Rodriguez earned a MD from the School of Medicine, University of Yucatan, Merida, Specialty in internal medicine at the Instituto Nacional de la Nutricion, National University of Mexico, and a MSc and a PhD in medical parasitology at the University of London School of Tropical Health and Medicine.

Dr. Yu Wang has been a molecular-virologist and immunologist since 1983 and accelerated the development and production of the pandemic H1N1 vaccine.

Dr Paulo Buss is the Brazilian Representative at the WHO’s Executive Board (2008-2011). He has served as the president of the World Federation of Public Health Associations (WFPHA) since 2008.

Professor Mohammed Hassar has been director of the Institute Pasteur du Maroc (IPM) since 2001 and is a board member of IANPHI.

Dr. Messele served as the director general of Ethiopian Health and Nutrition Research Institute (EHNRI) from 2004 to 2011 .

Dr. Sawanpanyalert received his medical degree from Mahidol University in Bangkok in 1986. In 1995, he received a doctorate in public health from the School of Hygiene and Public Health in Baltimore, Maryland.

Barry David Schoub was born in Johannesburg and received his undergraduate MB BCh at the University of the Witwatersrand.

Director General Geir Stene-Larsen is trained as a medical doctor and has worked as a specialist in internal medicine in several major hospitals in Norway.

Jane Wilde is Chief Executive of the Institute of Public Health in Ireland (IPH) which promotes cooperation between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland.