Senator Dr. Sania Nishtar, SI, FRCP, Ph.D, D.Sc Download Bio in PDF
Sania Nishtar is an internationally recognized leader in global health, noted for her exceptional breadth of leadership experience spanning government, civil society, multilateral organizations, parliamentary service, and the medical profession.
Leadership in the multilateral system
Dr. Sania Nishtar currently serves as the CEO of Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, where she oversees an annual portfolio of $2 billion and leads the widely recognized Gavi Leap reform initiative. She is regarded as a pivotal leader in driving essential reforms within the global health architecture, today.
She is the former Chair of several multilateral initiatives: WHO’s High-Level Commission on Non-communicable diseases; WEF’s Global Agenda Council on the Future of Healthcare; U.S National Academy of Sciences Global Study on the Quality of Healthcare in LMICs; UN International Institute for Global Health’s Advisory Committee; UN Secretary General’s Independent Accountability Panel for Women’s and Children’s health and WHO’s Commission on Ending Childhood Obesity. In 2017, she was Pakistan’s nominee for Director-General of the World Health Organisation and was in the final shortlist of three.
Public sector leadership
Sania Nishtar served as Senator in Pakistan and Special Assistant to the Prime Minister with the status of Federal Minister, where she held the cabinet portfolio of Poverty Alleviation (2018-2022); she widely earned acclaim for transparency and merit-based operations in this role and for scaling up social protection operations from 7-15 million households during the Covid 19 pandemic.
She was also appointed Federal Minister during Pakistan’s 2013 Caretaker Government, where she reinstalled Pakistan’s Ministry of Health; her work was also highly praised for its transparency and effectiveness.
Civil society leadership
Sania Nishtar has strong civil society credentials as founder of civil society institutions in Pakistan and as a member of boards of many INGOs. She was awarded Sitara-i-Imtiaz (a presidential award) and the Rockefeller Foundation’s Global Innovation Award for her contributions to civil society.
Physician Scientist, author and thought leader
Sania Nishtar is a physician by training with strong research credentials. She is widely published in peer reviewed literature and is the author of seven books. Her book, Choked Pipes is used as a post-graduate text book and a reference guide. She has led the Pakistan Lancet Series on health reform and is the author of Pakistan’s first compendium of health statistics and the country’s first national public health plan for Prevention and Control of Noncommunicable Diseases and Health Promotion.
Sania Nishtar graduated as the best graduate in 1986, setting a college record. She is a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians and took a Ph.D at Kings College London. Her Alma mater, Kings College London honored her with an Honouris Causa (D.Sc) in 2019. She is listed amongst the notable alumni of Kings College. In 2020 she was listed amongst BBC’s 100 most influential women, globally.