Quality Forum 2021: Plenary Presentation – Agnes Binagwaho

Agnes Binagwaho
Vice Chancellor, University of Global Health Equity

Professor Agnes Binagwaho, MD, M(Ped), PHD is the Vice Chancellor of the University of Global Health Equity (UGHE), an initiative of Partners In Health focused on changing health care delivery around the world by training global health professionals who strive to deliver more equitable, quality health services for all. She is a Rwandan pediatrician who specializes in emergency pediatrics, neonatology, and the treatment of HIV/AIDS. She completed her MD at the Universite Libre de Bruxelles in Belgium and her MA in Pediatrics at the Universite de Bretagne Occidentale in France. She was awarded an Honorary Doctor of Science from Dartmouth College and earned a Doctorate of Philosophy from the University of Rwanda College of Business and Economics.

She worked for 20 years in the public health sector of Rwanda, first as a clinician. From 2002-2016, she served the Rwandan Health Sector in high-level government positions, initially as the Executive Secretary of Rwanda’s National AIDS Control Commission, then as Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Health, and lastly as the Minister of Health for 5 years. She is the Senior Advisor to the Director General of the World Health Organization, a senior Lecturer in the Department of Global Health and Social Medicine at Harvard Medical School, a Professor of the Practice of Global Health Delivery and a Professor of Pediatrics at UGHE, and an Adjunct Clinical Professor of Pediatrics at Dartmouth’s Geisel School of Medicine. Since 2016, she has been a member of the American National Academy of Medicine and since 2017, a fellow of the African Academy of Sciences. Her academic engagements include research in implementation sciences and human rights to health, health services delivery systems strengthening, HIV/AIDS, and pediatric care. She has published over 210 peer-reviewed articles and was named among the 100 Most Influential African Women for 2020.