Director of ECDC - Dr Pamela Rendi-Wagner

Dr Pamela Rendi-Wagner took up her post as Director of ECDC on 17 June 2024. She is a medical doctor, former researcher, and health politician. 

In 2011, she was appointed Director General for Public Health and Chief Medical Officer at the Ministry of Health in Austria. She was responsible for pandemic preparedness, chief crisis management and communication (e.g. Fukushima, EHEC, Ebola, Avian flu, refugee crises), AMR prevention, health promotion, health equity, and the national immunisation programme. One of the key issues during her time at the Ministry was to optimise preparedness and outbreak response by implementing a fully digitalised national infectious disease reporting system.  

She served as Chair of the Federal Office for Safety in Health Care, the Austrian national authority for medicines, medical devices, blood and tissue. During her time there, Dr Rendi-Wagner was appointed member of the ECDC Management Board and member of the Standing Committee, a subcommittee of the WHO Regional Committee for Europe.  

In 2017, Dr Rendi-Wagner was appointed Minister of Health and Women’s Affairs. As minister, she adopted a reform of primary health care and introduced an e-health application in Austria. From 2018 to 2023, she was the first woman to chair the Austrian Social Democratic Party.