Dr Sania Nishtar

About & Career Background

Dr. Sania Nishtar is an internationally acclaimed global health leader, physician, public policy pioneer, CEO of Gavi, The Vaccine Alliance, and former Federal Minister & Chairperson of Ehsaas Pakistan.

Dr. Sania Nishtar (SI, FRCP, Ph.D.) is a globally celebrated physician, cardiologist, health economist, and public policy leader who currently serves as the Chief Executive Officer of Gavi, The Vaccine Alliance in Geneva. She previously served as Special Assistant to the Prime Minister of Pakistan on Poverty Alleviation and Social Safety with the rank of Federal Minister, where she architected and executed the historic Ehsaas Program—Pakistan's largest, most transparent social protection and poverty eradication initiative hailed by the World Bank and United Nations as a global benchmark during the COVID-19 pandemic. Dr. Nishtar holds a Ph.D. from King's College London and fellowships with the Royal College of Physicians. She has served as Co-Chair of the World Health Organization's (WHO) High-Level Commission on Non-Communicable Diseases, Chair of the World Economic Forum's Global Agenda Council on the Future of Healthcare, and Founder of the civil society think tank Heartfile. Her rigorous work on institutional governance, anti-corruption frameworks, and digital social welfare distribution has influenced healthcare systems globally. ### Areas of Global Leadership & Consulting - Universal Health Coverage (UHC), Global Immunization Strategy & Pandemic Preparedness - Large-Scale Digital Social Protection Systems & Biometric Cash Transfers - Public Sector Institutional Integrity, Governance Reform & Anti-Corruption Mechanisms - Global Health Diplomacy, Multilateral Fund Allocations & WHO Engagements - Health Systems Policy Research, Non-Communicable Disease (NCD) Prevention & Analytics ### Multilateral Impact & Global Governance Dr. Sania Nishtar collaborates with global heads of state, multilateral development banks, and humanitarian organizations to expand immunization equity, deploy transparent biometric welfare systems, and strengthen pandemic response resilience across low- and middle-income countries.

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