Dr. Sandro Demaio is the Director and Head of the World Health Organization Asia-Pacific Centre for Environment and Health (WHO ACE). In this role, he leads WHO’s regional efforts to address the intersection of climate, environment, and health, advancing policy, research, and partnerships to build healthier and more resilient communities across 38 countries in the Asia-Pacific.
Previously, Sandro was the CEO of VicHealth, the health promotion agency for the Australian state of Victoria. He led the agency through the COVID-19 pandemic, delivered a new ten-year health promotion strategy, and in 2020 additionally supported the state’s pandemic response as a Deputy Public Health Commander.
Prior to this, he served as the CEO of EAT, the global multi-stakeholder platform for food systems transformation. Under his leadership, the organization launched the EAT-Lancet Commission, which became one of the most discussed health and social justice reports of its time.
Sandro was previously a Medical Officer and technical advisor with the World Health Organization in Geneva, Switzerland. He played a key role in the ideation and launch of the United Nations Decade of Action on Nutrition, coordinated the Lancet Series on the Double Burden of Malnutrition, and contributed to the innovation section of WHO’s 13th Global Programme of Work.
He sits on the Advisory Board of Pictet Asset Management’s Nutrition Fund, various government taskforces, and was a senior advisor to UNICEF’s flagship 2019 State of the World’s Children report.
Sandro is currently an Associate Professor and has previously held honorary titles with Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and the University of Melbourne.
He completed a Postdoctoral Fellowship at Harvard Medical School and Harvard School of Public Health and was an Assistant Professor and Course Director in Global Health at the Copenhagen School of Global Health.
He holds a PhD in public health and epidemiology from the University of Copenhagen, with doctoral research based in Mongolia in collaboration with the Ministry of Health and the Millennium Challenge Corporation. His work involved designing and leading a national epidemiological survey on chronic non-communicable disease prevention, covering more than 3,500 households.
Originally trained as a medical doctor in Australia, Sandro also holds a Master of Public Health, including fieldwork in Cambodia.
A regular presence in media, he co-hosted the Netflix television show Ask the Doctor, an innovative factual medical series broadcast in over 130 countries.