Olivia Wigzell

Background

About Olivia Wigzell

Olivia Wigzell is Director General for the Public Health agency of Sweden. She was Director-General at the National Board of Health and Welfare between 2015 and 2024. She is also Chair of the University Board for Malmö University. Between 2016 and 2019 she held the same position at Örebro University. Wigzell is former DG of SBU- the Swedish Agency for Health Technology Assessment and Assessment of Social Services. Between 2008 and 2014 she was Director at the Government Offices of Sweden and head of the Division for Public Health and Healthcare. She has been an investigator for the Government which resulted in reports on equal care and on stewardship as well as a report on governance including a proposal on a new legislation for elderly care. Wigzell has also been working at the Ministry of Foreign Affaires and at the Foundation of Alva and Gunnar Myrdal. Wigzell holds a degree in communication and political science. Wigzell has had several positions internationally. She was chairing the OECD Health Committee (2016-2019) as well as an EU-expert committee on the topic of Health System Performance Assessment (2011-2016). She has been on the board of The European Observatory and in the board of Gothia Fortbildning AB. 2016-2018 she was an Executive Board-member in WHO. She is currently one of the members of SC of the WHO Euro and charing one of the subgroups. She was ranked second 2023 on a ranking list consisting of the 100 most influential persons in the Swedish health sector.