Päivi Sillanaukee (MD, PhD, eMBA) is the Special Envoy for Health and Wellbeing at the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health of Finland. Dr Sillanaukee served as the Ambassador for Health and Wellbeing at the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland from 2019 to 2023 and as the Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health 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 and doctor honoris causa 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 represented Finland in the WHO Executive Board from May 2018 to May 2021 and served as its first and third Vice Chair from 2018 to 2020. From September 2021 to September 2022 she served as Executive President of the WHO Regional Committee for Europe. She has been the co-chair of the Alliance for Health Security Cooperation (AHSC), member of the Steering Group of the Global Health Security Agenda (GHSA), member of Health Advisory Board of the UN Global Pulse Finland. She is Member of the HIMSS Board of Directors and Member of the I-DAIR inaugural Board.