Dr. Catharina Boehme

Dr. Catharina Boehme is the United Nations Assistant Secretary-General and Deputy Executive Director (Programme) of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA). Appointed to this position by United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres, she provides strategic direction and oversight across UNFPA’s global programme portfolio to advance sexual and reproductive health and rights worldwide. Dr. Boehme brings more than two decades of distinguished senior leadership across global health, development, and multilateral governance. Most recently, she served as Acting Regional Director for the World Health Organization (WHO) South-East Asia Region. Previously, she held key executive roles at WHO headquarters in Geneva, including Assistant Director-General for External Relations and Governance (2023–2025) and Chef de Cabinet (2021–2023), driving high-level policy, strategic alignment, and partner engagement. Prior to her leadership at WHO, Dr. Boehme served as Chief Executive Officer of the Foundation for Innovative New Diagnostics (FIND) from 2013 to 2021, transforming the organization into a global leader in health technology and diagnostics. A clinically trained medical doctor, her earlier career includes serving as Chief Medical Officer, Head of the TB Programme, and Senior Medical Officer at FIND. She also served as the TB/HIV Programme Coordinator for the Mbeya Medical Research Program in Tanzania and as a Senior House Officer at the University Hospital Munich. Dr. Boehme holds a Doctor of Medicine from Heidelberg University and a Diploma in Public Health from Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin in Germany. In addition to her native German, she is fluent in English and French.