Agnes Binagwaho, MD, PhD

“The right to health is not a joke. It’s part of the rights you have the day you are born.”

Agnes Binagwaho is the Vice Chancellor of the University of Global Health Equity in Rwanda, her co-founded initiative of Partners in Health that focuses on changing the way health care is delivered by training the next generation of global health professionals to deliver more equitable, quality health services for all.

A practicing pediatrician, Binagwaho also held various high-level roles in the Rwandan government, including Minister of Health, Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Health, and Executive Secretary of the National AIDS Control Commission. She was responsible for the ministry’s response to the growing burden of non-communicable diseases, implementing a national vaccination campaign, and developing policies addressing adolescent sexual reproductive health and rights.

A senior advisor to the Director General of the World Health Organization, Binagwaho also serves as a Senior Lecturer of Global Health and Social Medicine at Harvard Medical School, Professor of the Practice of Global Health Delivery at the University of Global Health Equity in Rwanda, and Adjunct Clinical Professor of Pediatrics at Dartmouth College. She belongs to the U.S. National Academy of Medicine and African Academy of Sciences. For her research and contributions to public health, she received the Roux Prize from the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation and the Ronald McDonald House Charities Award of Excellence.

Binagwaho obtained her M.D. in general medicine from the Université libre de Bruxelles, her M.A. in pediatrics from the Université de Bretagne Occidentale, and her Ph.D. from the University of Rwanda College of Business and Economics. She was awarded an Honorary Doctor of Science from Dartmouth College and has published over 150 peer-reviewed papers on health equity, human rights, implementation science, and pediatric care delivery systems.