Tokyo and Kuala Lumpur — The United Nations University (UNU) is pleased to announce the appointment of Dr. Revati Phalkey as the next Director of the UNU International Institute for Global Health (UNU-IIGH) in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Dr. Phalkey will take up the post of Director of UNU-IIGH on 3 February 2025.
UNU-IIGH serves as the UN’s think tank on global health. The institute works to advance equitable, just and effective policies and practices by interrogating power and gender asymmetries in global health governance and accountability, health systems and workforces, digital health governance and security, climate health emergencies, and just transitions. Through collaborative research and education, UNU-IIGH builds knowledge and capacity for decision-making by UN agencies, member states and other multilateral groups for sustainable development of global health and well-being.
Dr. Phalkey comes to UNU from Save the Children International, where she was the Global Director for Health and Nutrition. In this role, she was responsible for the quality and impact of health, nutrition, and water, sanitation and hygiene programmes across 66 countries in development contexts and 54 countries in humanitarian settings. Overseeing a programme portfolio exceeding US$350 million per year, she successfully implemented the organization’s 2022–2024 ambitions. Dr. Phalkey spearheaded development of Save the Children’s “Healthy Start in Life” strategy and 2025–2027 roadmaps, emphasizing the reduction of global health inequalities. Additionally, she provided technical leadership for the organization’s global health and nutrition research, evidence and learning agenda, ensuring innovative and impactful interventions worldwide.
“I am delighted to welcome Dr. Revati Phalkey to the UNU family as the new Director of UNU-IIGH”, said UNU Rector and UN Under-Secretary-General Tshilidzi Marwala. “Dr. Phalkey’s deep knowledge of the interconnected issues causing today’s global health challenges will be vital for expanding UNU-IIGH’s success in providing evidence-based solutions. I am certain her extensive health sector expertise, combined with her experience building consensus and partnerships, will drive UNU-IIGH’s work to reach new heights of innovation and impact.”
Dr. Flavia Bustreo, Chair of the UNU-IIGH International Advisory Board, emphasized that: “Dr. Phalkey is a very dynamic leader who has experience across universities, government agencies and non-governmental organizations and has been a strong champion for health equity and justice, including through advocacy for the World Health Organization resolutions on women’s and children’s health. I am excited to work with Dr. Phalkey in the next phase of the UNU-IIGH strategy implementation.”
Before joining Save the Children International, Dr. Phalkey was Head of Climate Change and Health at the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA), where she co-led the 4th assessment of the health impacts of climate change in the UK. As the UK’s national focal point and health lead for climate adaptation, she co-chaired the Health in Climate Working Group of the WHO Europe Office (2019–22). In this role, she led the development of the position paper to scale up action on climate change adaptation for health in the WHO European Region to be adopted in over 53 Member States.
Working across departments within the UK Government, she led UKHSA’s input to the design of the COP26 Health Programme, which was instrumental in setting up the momentum for health within UNFCCC processes. She served as an invited Steering Committee member for the first ever Health Day at COP28. She is widely recognized for her thought leadership in centralizing climate justice and systems-based approaches to addressing climate-driven intersecting determinants of health inequities.
Dr. Phalkey has robust experience with convening technical experts and strategic partners to build consensus on key global health policy issues. She currently serves as the Co-Chair of the Vaccination Subgroup of the Global Child Health Taskforce. She was invited as the Founding Chair of the Health and Climate Working Group of the International Association for National Public Health Institutes (IANPHI, representing 110 National Public Health Institutes globally) where she led on the development of IANPHI’s Roadmap for Action on Climate Change. Dr. Phalkey was contributing author for IPCC AR6 and lead author for UNEP Adaptation Gap Report on Health (Chapter 8: Nutritional Security).
Dr. Phalkey is Honorary Associate Professor for Global Health at the Heidelberg Institute for Global Health (HIGH), Germany, and at the University of Nottingham, UK. As a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy, UK, Dr. Phalkey brings strong mentoring and capacity strengthening expertise. As an academic, she has served in various roles in the UK and Germany delivering interdisciplinary, multi-country, multi-site implementation research projects on a range of global health topics in West, East and Southern Africa, South and Central Asia, and Europe.
Dr. Phalkey holds a PhD in Public Health (Health Information Systems) from the University of Heidelberg, Germany; a Master's Degree in International Health (Tropical Medicine and Disease Control) from the Humboldt University, Germany; and a Master's Degree in Humanitarian Assistance (Peace and Conflict Resolution) from the University of Bochum, Germany.
Media contacts
Journalists who would like more information, or who wish to request an interview with incoming UNU-IIGH Director Dr. Revati Phalkey, may contact:
- Gopi Chandra Kharel, Knowledge Management and Communication Manager, UNU-IIGH, gopi.kharel@unu.edu
- Kiki Bowman, UNU Head of Communications, bowman@unu.edu
