Dr Gauden Galea is the WHO Representative in China. He was Director of the Division of Noncommunicable Diseases (NCDs) and Promoting Health through the Life-course of the European Regional Office of WHO.

Dr Galea is a public health physician and has worked for WHO since 1998. He previously held posts in Suva, the Western Pacific Regional Office in Manila, and at WHO headquarters in Geneva.

Dr Galea is a leading voice on NCDs, active at both national and global levels. He contributed to the development of a national stepwise approach to NCDs, first implemented in the Pacific Islands, and deployed evidenced-based advocacy to link NCDs to the global development agenda, including the 2011 UN High Level Meeting on NCDs. He has helped to generate a renewal of life-course approaches to health promotion and public health; in WHO Europe those efforts have resulted in action plans on child and adolescent health, child maltreatment, women’s health, and an action plan on men’s health in Europe.

Dr Galea is widely published and holds a deep personal interest in computer programming and the applications of data science to the practice of public health today.