Alexander "Sandro" Kvitashvili ( ka, ალექსანდრე ��ანდროკვიტაშვილი, ''Alek'sandre Kvitashvili''; uk, Олександр Мерабович Квіташвілі, ''Oleksandr Merabovych Kvitashvili''; born 15 November 1970) is a Georgian and

Ukrainia Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders Russia–Ukraine border, to the east and northeast. Ukraine ...

n health manager and government official. He is a former Minister of Healthcare of Ukraine appointed on 2 December 2014 and was granted

Ukrainian citizenship Ukrainian nationality law details the conditions by which a person holds nationality of Ukraine. The primary law governing these requirements is the law "On Citizenship of Ukraine", which came into force on 1 March 2001. Any person born to a Uk ...

the same day. On 14 April 2016 he was relieved from his post. Kvitashvili was Minister of Health of Georgia from 2008 to 2010 and rector of

Tbilisi State University Ivane Javakhishvili Tbilisi State University ( ka, ივანე ჯავახიშვილის სახელობის თბილისის სახელმწიფო უნივერსიტეტი ''Ivane Javaxishvi ...

(TSU) from 2010 to 2013.

Education and early career

Born in

Tbilisi Tbilisi ( ; ka, თბილისი ), in some languages still known by its pre-1936 name Tiflis ( ), is the capital and the largest city of Georgia, lying on the banks of the Kura River with a population of approximately 1.5 million p ...

, the capital of then- Soviet Georgia, Kvitashvili graduated from the Tbilisi State University with a degree in history in 1992. In the framework of the

Edmund S. Muskie Graduate Fellowship Program Edmund S. Muskie Graduate Fellowship Program was a program of the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs of the United States Department of State in 1992–2013. The Edmund S. Muskie Graduate Fellowship Program provided opportunities for gradua ...

, he continued his education at the Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service and obtained his

M.A. A Master of Arts ( la, Magister Artium or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA, M.A., AM, or A.M.) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. ...

in public management in 1993. Having briefly worked for financial and administrative departments at the

Grady Memorial Hospital Grady Memorial Hospital, frequently referred to as Grady Hospital or simply Grady, is the public hospital for the city of Atlanta. It is the tenth-largest public hospital in the United States, and one of the busiest Level I trauma centers in th ...

, Kvitashvili returned to Georgia in 1993 and worked for the

United Nations Development Programme The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)french: Programme des Nations unies pour le développement, PNUD is a United Nations agency tasked with helping countries eliminate poverty and achieve sustainable economic growth and human dev ...

United Methodist Committee on Relief The United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR) is the global humanitarian aid and development organization of the United Methodist Church (UMC). UMCOR is a nonprofit 501(c)3 organization operated under the auspices of the General Board of Globa ...

, international fund of the Georgian

NGO A non-governmental organization (NGO) or non-governmental organisation (see spelling differences) is an organization that generally is formed independent from government. They are typically nonprofit entities, and many of them are active in ...

Curatio, and the

EastWest Institute The EastWest Institute (EWI), originally known as the Institute for East-West Security Studies and officially the Institute for EastWest Studies, Inc., was an international not-for-profit, non-partisan think tank focusing on international confli ...

. He consulted various international organizations based in

Azerbaijan Azerbaijan (, ; az, Azərbaycan ), officially the Republic of Azerbaijan, , also sometimes officially called the Azerbaijan Republic is a transcontinental country located at the boundary of Eastern Europe and Western Asia. It is a part of th ...

Latvia Latvia ( or ; lv, Latvija ; ltg, Latveja; liv, Leţmō), officially the Republic of Latvia ( lv, Latvijas Republika, links=no, ltg, Latvejas Republika, links=no, liv, Leţmō Vabāmō, links=no), is a country in the Baltic region of ...

Ukraine Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian invas ...

Armenia Armenia (), , group=pron officially the Republic of Armenia,, is a landlocked country in the Armenian Highlands of Western Asia.The UNbr>classification of world regions places Armenia in Western Asia; the CIA World Factbook , , and ...

, and

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders wit ...

on the education-, healthcare- and social security-related issues.

Minister of Health

Georgia

On 31 January 2008, Kvitashvili was appointed by the then-

President of Georgia President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese f ...

Mikheil Saakashvili Mikheil Saakashvili ( ka, მიხეილ სააკაშვილი ; uk, Міхеіл Саакашвілі ; born 21 December 1967) is a Georgian and Ukrainian politician and jurist.

as Minister of Health, Labour and Social Affairs of Georgia. He resigned on 31 August 2010, citing "a proposal from academic circles" to be an acting rector of the

, a position he took over in September 2010. He served as an elected Rector of the TSU from 27 December 2010 until his resignation on 12 June 2013.

Ukraine

On 2 December 2014 Kvitashvili was appointed as Minister of Healthcare of Ukraine in the

Second Yatsenyuk Government The second Yatsenyuk government was created in Ukraine after the 2014 Ukrainian parliamentary election. On 2 December 2014, 288 members (of the 423

with the hope to reform the country's healthcare system. He was granted the

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese f ...

Petro Poroshenko Petro Oleksiyovych Poroshenko ( uk, Петро́ Олексі́йович Пороше́нко, ; born 26 September 1965) is a Ukrainian businessman and politician who served as the fifth president of Ukraine from 2014 to 2019. Poroshenko se ...

on the same day. "I've been working on reforms in Ukraine for last three months, but my love for this country has much longer history... I accepted proposal to work in the Ukrainian government because of my deep respect towards Ukraine. I am proud to be a citizen of this great nation, which has a great future," Kvitashvili commented on his appointment. Georgia's incumbent Prime Minister

Irakli Garibashvili Irakli Garibashvili ( ka, ირაკლი ღარიბაშვილი, also transliterated as Gharibashvili; born 28 June 1982) is a Georgian politician and a former business executive who serves as the prime minister of Georgia since 22 ...

reacted negatively to the appointment, accusing Kvitashvili of "destroying" Georgia's healthcare system. On 2 July 2015 Kvitashvili wrote a letter of resignation after losing the support of the

Petro Poroshenko Bloc European Solidarity ( uk, Європейська солідарність, Yevropeis'ka solidarnist', YeS) is a political party in Ukraine. It has its roots in a parliamentary group called Solidarity dating from 2000 and has existed since in vari ...

in which he stated "If my resignation helps pass bills that are needed to launch reform, I'm ready to leave".Rada votes against accepting resignation of health minister Kvitashvili

Interfax-Ukraine The Interfax-Ukraine ( uk, Інтерфакс-Україна) is a Kyiv-based Ukraine, Ukrainian independent news agency founded in 1992. The company does not belong to the Russian news corporation Interfax Information Services. The company pub ...

(17 September 2015) The Ukrainian parliament voted against accepting the resignation on 17 September 2015. By 22 December 2015 the Ukrainian parliament had voted four times against accepting the resignation. On 10 December 2015 Kvitashvili stated in an interview with

Ukraine Today Ukraine Today was a Ukraine-based private English language satellite television channel, then webcasting service. The channel, which was owned by the Ukrainian 1+1 group and headquartered in Kyiv, presented round-the-clock news bulletins aimed ...

about the refusal of parliament to accept his resignation "It doesn't matter though, I have been working since July the same hours, with the same effort that I was before". He publicly withdraw his letter of resignation on 4 February 2016.Agriculture, health, information ministers change their mind about resigning

UNIAN The UNIAN or Ukrainian Independent Information Agency of News ( uk, Українське Незалежне Інформаційне Агентство Новин, УНІАН, translit=Ukrayins'ke Nezalezhne Informatsiyne Ahentstvo Novyn) is a ...

(4 February 2016) He did not retain his post in the Groysman Government that was installed in 14 April 2016.New Cabinet formed in Ukraine

(14 April 2016)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kvitashvili, Alexander 1970 births Tbilisi State University alumni Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service alumni Tbilisi State University faculty Healthcare managers from Georgia (country) Living people Healthcare ministers of Ukraine Health ministers of Georgia Georgian emigrants to Ukraine Naturalized citizens of Ukraine Rectors of Tbilisi State University