Prof. Dr. Ximena Aguilera

Dr. Ximena Aguilera, MD, MPH served as Minister of Health of Chile from 2022 to 2026, leading structural reforms that strengthened the resilience and equity of the Chilean health system, including the elimination of co-payments in public health facilities, the expansion of universal primary care financed through general taxation, and the introduction of risk-sharing agreements with the pharmaceutical industry for high-cost medicines. Under her leadership, Chile became the first country in the Americas verified by WHO for the elimination of leprosy, and achieved zero infant deaths from Respiratory Syncytial Virus through universal access to monoclonal antibody prophylaxis. She is a physician, specialist in public health, and holds a Master's degree in Public Health from the University of Chile, and is a Corresponding Member of the Chilean Academy of Medicine. Her international career includes senior roles at the Pan American Health Organization, coordination of the technical response to the 2009 H1N1 pandemic, and participation in the WHO mission to Beijing during the 2003 SARS-CoV outbreak. She has served on the WHO Commission on Social Connection (2023–2026) and was profiled in The Lancet Infectious Diseases in 2022.