Päivi Sillanaukee

Päivi Sillanaukee (MD, PhD, eMBA) is the thematic Ambassador for Health and Wellbeing at the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland as part of a pilot programme of cross-sectoral cooperation on global issues.

Dr Sillanaukee is on leave from her duty as the Director-General of the Department of Safety, Security and Health of the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health of Finland. Dr Sillanaukee served as the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry from 2012 to 2019. Between 2008 and 2012, she was the Director General of the Department for Social and Health Services at the Ministry. Previously, she was the Deputy Mayor and Director of Social and Health Services in the City of Tampere, Finland.

Between 1990 and 2004, she held clinical and managerial positions in the Pirkanmaa Hospital District and was a member of the Tampere City Council. Dr Sillanaukee is a specialist in public health and management from the University of Helsinki. She has worked on policies to promote public health, social protection, gender equality, innovation and digitalization in the European Union and at the global level.

She has represented Finland in the WHO Executive Board since May 2018 and served as its first and third Vice Chair from 2018 to 2020. She is the co-chair of the Alliance for Health Security Cooperation (AHSC), a member of the Steering Group of the Global Health Security Agenda (GHSA), and a member of Health Advisory Board of the UN Technology Innovation Lab (UNTIL) Finland.