Ricardo Baptista Leite

Dr Ricardo Baptista Leite is a Portuguese-Canadian medical doctor trained in infectious diseases with extensive experience in global health, health systems and science-based policymaking. Prior to his current role as CEO of 'HealthAI - The Global Agency for Responsible AI in Health' in Geneva, Dr. Ricardo served four terms as a Member of Parliament in Portugal on both health and foreign affairs committees. Ricardo is a city councillor in Sintra and previously served as Deputy Mayor of Cascais. He is the founder and President of the 'UNITE Parliamentarians Network for Global Health', a network of current and former policymakers from 110 countries. With more than 15 years of academic experience, he is Chair of the Board of the Harvard-Charité Global Health Policy Lab, based in Berlin, and Chair of the Centre for Global Health at NOVA University Information Management and Data Science School in Lisbon. He completed postgraduate studies at Johns Hopkins University, Harvard Kennedy School of Government and Harvard Medical School. Previously, Dr Baptista Leite worked as a practising physician in the Portuguese National Health Service for several years, including an internship at the World Health Organization. More recently, he served as a medical volunteer both during the COVID pandemic in his hometown hospital in Portugal for over a year and as part of a humanitarian mission at the Lviv Regional Hospital in Ukraine during the first summer after the beginning of the war.