Mario Fafangel Jr. /fa'fændʒel/ is a medical doctor who is Slovenia's head

epidemiologist Epidemiology is the study and analysis of the distribution (who, when, and where), patterns and risk factor, determinants of health and disease conditions in a defined population. It is a cornerstone of public health, and shapes policy decision ...

as head of the Communicable Diseases Centre at the National Institute of Public Health (NIJZ). He earned an M.D. from the

University of Trieste The University of Trieste ( it, Università degli Studi di Trieste, or UniTS) is a public research university in Trieste in the Friuli-Venezia Giulia region in northeast Italy. The university consists of 10 departments, boasts a wide and almos ...

in 2007. He resigned from

Janez Janša Ivan Janša (; born 17 September 1958), baptized and best known as Janez Janša (), is a Slovenian politician who served three times as a prime minister of Slovenia, a position he had held from 2004 to 2008, from 2012 to 2013, and from 2020 to 2 ...

's government's

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was COVID-19 pandemic in Hubei, identified in Wuhan, China, in December ...

advisory group as chief epidemiologist because his evidence-based proposals were not listened to by political members of the group.

Awards

He was awarded the Name of the Year 2020 award by major Slovenian newspaper ''

Delo ''Delo'' (russian: Дело) is a business oriented online media in Ukraine, belonging to ekonomika+ media holding. ''Delo'' was the first daily in Ukraine, publishing its real print circulation (13.000 - 15.000) and trying to introduce Western e ...

''.Epidemiologist Fafangel Delo's person of the year

Slovenian Press Agency Slovenian Press Agency ( sl, Slovenska tiskovna agencija) (STA), established in 1991, is a national press agency covering domestic and international events. It was established and is owned by the Republic of Slovenia. STA news services (the Gen ...

, 7 January 2021.

References

Living people Epidemiologists 1980 births {{Slovenia-scientist-stub Slovenian physicians University of Trieste alumni Health officials Slovenian government officials People in public health