Barbara Schedler Fischer

Barbara Schedler Fischer is Switzerland’s Ambassador for Global Health and leads the International Affairs Division of the Federal Office of Public Health. Before taking up this position in 2024, she was posted as a career diplomat to Lebanon, Canada and Austria. At the Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs she also acted as Deputy Head of the Peace and Human Rights Division. In this role, she was responsible for the strategic orientation and implementation of Swiss foreign policy in the areas of human rights, humanitarian diplomacy and migration, including the deployment of civilian peacebuilding experts. Before joining Foreign Affairs, Barbara worked for a Swiss bank as well as for the project Indo-Swiss Collaboration in iotechnology at the Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich. She studied English Literature and Linguistics, Modern History and Communication at the Universities of Zurich and Aberdeen (Scotland).