Thea Emmerling

Ms Thea Emmerling came back to DG Sante on 1 September 2017. Between September 2013 and September 2017 she led the Food Safety, Health and Consumer Affairs Section in the Delegation of the European Union in Washington, DC. Prior to that, she worked as Minister Counselor at the European Union Delegation to the UN and other international organisations, in Geneva. From December 2008 to November 2009 she was on secondment to the World Health Organisation, Cluster on Partnerships and UN Reform. Ms Emmerling has extensive working experience with the European Commission, which she joined in 1996. She was Deputy Head of Unit, DG Health and Consumers (SANCO) in the Health Law and International Directorate, dealing with EU public health legislation, especially tobacco control, international contacts and international and multilateral health questions. She was a Member of the Private Office of Budget Commissioner Dr Michaele Schreyer, dealing with health, agriculture, environmental, transport and regional policy, and Spokesperson for former Health and Consumers Commissioner David Byrne. Ms Emmerling also worked in DG SANCO’s Health Risk Evaluation Unit as a speech writer, and was Desk Officer in the Commission’s Department for Regional Policy, managing EU structural funds. Ms Emmerling holds a diploma in economics from the University of Hamburg, Germany. Prior to joining the European Commission, she worked for nine years as a political and economic journalist for the German Press Agency in Stuttgart, Bonn and Düsseldorf.