(Vienna, 21-02-2024) Pamela Rendi-Wanger, a long-serving Minister of Health and MedUni Vienna employee, has been nominated by the Management Committee of the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) as the new Director for a five-year term of office. Based in Stockholm, the Centre's mission is to identify, assess and disseminate information on current and emerging risks to human health from communicable diseases. For her new leadership position, Rendi-Wagner brings top qualifications and extensive experience in epidemiological surveillance of infectious diseases.
Pamela Rendi-Wagner prevailed against three other applicants in the final selection. After studying medicine, she worked in the field of tropical medicine and infectious diseases for almost ten years. From 2011 to 2017, she was Director General of Public Health. During this time, she served on the ECDC's Management Board for six years, which is why she knows the agency inside out.
Pamela Rendi-Wagner studied human medicine at the Medical Faculty of the University of Vienna (now the Medical University of Vienna) from 1989, where she graduated in 1996. She then completed her specialist training in specific prophylaxis and tropical hygiene at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, UK, and at the Medical University of Vienna. From 1998, she worked for more than ten years as a research assistant in the field of infection epidemiology, vaccine prevention and travel medicine at MedUni Vienna's Institute of Specific Prophylaxis and Tropical Medicine.
As project manager, Rendi-Wagner established a network for the nationwide epidemiological surveillance of important infectious diseases. In the course of her research, the recommended interval for tick vaccinations was also increased from three to five years.
In 2008, she habilitated on the subject of prevention through immunisation. She then worked internationally as a scientist in the fields of infection epidemiology, vaccine prevention and travel medicine. Under the leadership of Alois Stöger (SPÖ), she took over as Head of Section III, "Public Health and Medical Affairs" in the Federal Ministry of Health on 1 March 2011.
In 2017, Pamela Rendi-Wagner became Minister of Health, and from 2018 to 2023 she was the first woman to be the Federal Party Chairwoman of the Austrian Social Democratic Party. Since leaving politics, Rendi-Wagner has returned to work at MedUni Vienna, where she is currently involved in setting up the Ignaz Semmelweis Institute for Infection Research. She was also a visiting professor at MedUni Vienna between 2013 and 2016.