Ilona Selma Kickbusch (Munic, 1948), professor emeritus at the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies in Geneva and expert in global health, with a special interest in global health governance. Currently, Kickbusch is co-president of the Council of the World Health Summit, advisor to the Director-General of the World Health Organization(OMS), vice-president of the European Health Forum in Gastein, founder and promoter of the Young Leaders for Health Network, and member of the Council Advisory Women in Global Health, among others. Since 2010 she has been director of the Global Health Programme at the University Institute of International and Development Studies, which she presides.

Ilona Selma Kickbusch, a graduated and PhD in Political Science and Sociology from the University of Konstanz (Germany), has been Senior Advisor for the Millennium Development Goals of the  Pan American Health Organization and Senior Advisor for Health Policy at the Swiss Federal Office of Public Health. She has worked in the area of Health Education at the WHO European Regional Office and coordinated the first International Conference on Health Promotion in Ottawa, where she played a decisive role in the Ottawa Charter, the key to Public Health. She has also been Director of Health Promotion, Education and Communication at WHO headquarters in Geneva.

Dr. Kickbush has received numerous awards and distinctions, including the WHO Medal for her role in the Ottawa Declaration, as well as honorary doctorates from the University of Labem (Czech Republic), the University of Girona, the Honorary Doctorate from the University of Gothenburg and the Honorary Professorship from the Charité University of Berlin.