IANPHI Elects Duncan Selbie as President
IANPHI also elected five members to its Executive Board, from Germany, Ethiopia, Finland, Pakistan and Rwanda.
Duncan Selbie will take office in January 2021.
The International Association of National Public Health Institutes announced the election of Prof. Duncan Selbie as its new president during today’s virtual meeting of the IANPHI General Assembly. Selbie, the former chief executive of Public Health England, has served on IANPHI’s Executive Board.
“Public health institutes are a force for unbelievable good around the world,” said Selbie, whose three-year term begins in January 2021. “I am passionately committed to serving IANPHI’s members and helping show the world how important national public health institutes are to global health and economic prosperity.”
“IANPHI is very fortunate to have someone of Duncan’s experience and skill at its helm,” said Prof. André Van Der Zande, IANPHI’s outgoing president and the former director general of the Netherlands’ National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM). “The COVID-19 pandemic has reminded the world of how important it is to have strong, effective institutes protecting the public’s health.”
IANPHI’s members also chose five public health leaders from three continents to serve on IANPHI’s Executive Board. The board provides policy oversight for the organization:
- Prof. Lothar H. Wieler, president, Robert Koch Institute, Germany (second mandate)
- Dr. Ebba Abate, director general, Ethiopian Public Health Institute (second mandate)
- Dr. Markku Tervahauta, director general, Finnish Institute of Health and Welfare
- Dr. Aamer Ikram, executive director, National Public Health Institute of Pakistan
- Dr. Sabin Nsanzimana, director general, Rwanda Biomedical Center
About Duncan Selbie
Prof. Duncan Selbie was the founding chief executive of Public Health England from 2013 to 2020. He has been an executive board member of IANPHI since 2016 and has also served as IANPHI Foundation Board trustee and IANPHI treasurer.
Prior to 2013, he was chief executive of Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals, the regional teaching hospital for the south east of England. From 2003 to 2007 he was the director general of Programmes and Performance for the NHS, and subsequently its first director general of Commissioning. Prior to this, he was chief executive of South East London Strategic Health Authority, and before that, chief executive of the South West London and St George’s Mental Health NHS Trust.
Other appointments include honorary professor at the Robert Gordon University, Aberdeen; honorary professor at Chester University, vice President of the College of Medicine, London; companion of the Institute of Healthcare Management; honorary fellow of the UK Faculty of Public Health; and board member of the Saudi Center for Disease Prevention and Control.
About IANPHI
The International Association of National Public Health Institutes (IANPHI) is the only organization that links and strengthens national public health institutes (NPHIs). IANPHI improves the world’s health by leveraging the experience and expertise of its member institutes to build robust public health systems.
IANPHI is currently made up of 110 members across 95 countries. There are four regional networks that connect members: Africa; Asia; Europe; and Latin America and the Caribbean. The IANPHI Secretariat is hosted near Paris by Santé publique France, the French public health agency. The IANPHI U.S. Office is hosted by the Emory Global Health Institute in Atlanta, GA.