Nata Menabde

Date of Birth

May 27, 1960

Professional Experience

Dr. Nata Menabde was appointed Ambassador of Georgia to the Kingdom of Denmark and Iceland in January 2022.

Ambassador Menabde has a long and distinguished diplomatic career at the United Nations. With over 30 years of professional experience in global health, health diplomacy, and health systems Dr. Menabde has built an unblemished track record as a global health leader. 

Ambassador Menabde’s professional experience is routed in both the East and West of the European Region, in South-East Asia, and in the United States, at country, regional, and global levels.

Since 1987, Nata Menabde has served in several senior official posts in Georgian public service and at the World Health Organization. Before her appointment as Ambassador to Denmark and Iceland, Ambassador Menabde served as Executive Director of the WHO Office at the United Nations in New York (2015-2021), leading WHO’s engagement with the UN system to anchor health in the Sustainable Development Agenda 2030. She has created effective global diplomatic, political, and professional networks and coalitions with a broad range of multisectoral stakeholders to place health in the deliberations, decisions, and resolutions of UN Inter-governmental bodies. Examples of Dr. Menabde’s accomplishments include the adoption of the UN General Assembly’s Annual Global Health and Foreign Policy resolutions, which set in motion an unprecedented number of the UN General Assembly high-level meetings on health:

-       Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) (2016)

-       Tuberculosis and on Non-Communicable Diseases (2018)

-       Universal Health Coverage (2019).

Dr. Menabde contributed to and facilitated the establishment of the UN Secretary General’s (SG) High-Level Commission on health employment and Economic Growth, and served as a member of the Advisory Group to the UN SG’s High-Level Panel on Access to Medicines (2016).

Dr. Menabde engaged in political and diplomatic efforts related to Security Council resolutions on Ebola outbreak response, and attacks on healthcare facilities and supported WHO's engagement at the SG's High-level meeting on counter-terrorism.

Ambassador Menabde’s career includes other notable and senior positions. As Head of Mission and WHO Representative to India (2010-2015), Dr. Menabde has led a large team - thousands of dedicated professionals across India - supporting the government’s efforts in tackling health and health systems challenges.  This period saw one of the biggest achievements in the annals of public health to which Dr. Menabde has contributed substantially: India eradicated polio.

As Deputy Regional Director at the WHO Regional Office for Europe (2002-2010), Dr. Menabde successfully led the region’s work on health systems and their relationships with health and wealth, which culminated in the adoption of the European Tallinn Charter in 2008. During that period she was also in charge of WHO’s extensive operations in 35 European countries, including emergency response and post-conflict recovery and rehabilitation (Peace through Health in Balkan countries). 

During her work in Georgia, Nata Menabde has been focused on clinical and applied pharmacology (pharmacogenetics) research and institutional strengthening of health systems in the context of poverty and war. She has also led the humanitarian operations within the Ministry of Health of Georgia during the political, economic, and military crises of 1991-1993. 

Education

Ambassador Menabde holds an Honor’s degree (MSc) from Tbilisi State Medical Institute, Georgia (1983) and a PhD in clinical pharmacology from the USSR Academy of Medical Sciences (1987). She was awarded a Thomas Jefferson Fellowship in Health Management and Leadership, (USA, 1993) and studied healthcare economics at the University of York (United Kingdom, 1994). She later studied Public Health at the Nordic School of Public Health, in Sweden. 

Nata Menabde is an inspiring communicator fluent in Georgian, English, and Russian. She has been a keynote speaker and a chair in a broad range of high-level international conferences organized by the European Union Presidency, European Commission, World Bank, Asian Development Bank, Global Symposium on Health Systems Research, Nuffield Trust (UK), National Geographic, Economic Times, British Medical Journal Awards, Oxford India Summit, European Public Health Association (EUPHA), European Health Forum in Gastein (Austria) and others.

Awards

For outstanding contribution to health development in Georgia, in 1997 the President of Georgia recognized Nata Menabde with the highest national award in the field of health – a Golden Medal in the name of Zaza Panaskerteli.

In 2018 Ambassador Menabde received a Mental Health Award for Excellence by the NGO Committee on Mental Health (in consultative status with the United Nations), as well as a Woman Ambassadors Award for leadership by the NGO Committee on the Status of Women at the UN. 

Diplomatic Rank