John-Arne Røttingen (born 27 March 1969) is a Norwegian medical scientist, research administrator and civil servant. He is currently the Chief Executive Officer of the

Wellcome Trust The Wellcome Trust is a charitable foundation focused on health research based in London, United Kingdom. It was established in 1936 with legacies from the pharmaceutical magnate Henry Wellcome (founder of Burroughs Wellcome, one of the predec ...

. Previously, he served as Ambassador for Global Health in the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and has been a special advisor to the

World Health Organization The World Health Organization (WHO) is a list of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations which coordinates responses to international public health issues and emergencies. It is headquartered in Gen ...

(WHO).

Early life

Røttingen is from

Bø, Telemark Bø is a List of former municipalities of Norway, former municipality in Telemark county, Norway. It was part of the Districts of Norway, traditional region of Midt-Telemark, but was historically regarded as part of Grenland. The municipality e ...

. He graduated as cand.med. in 1996 and dr.med. in 1999 from the

University of Oslo The University of Oslo (; ) is a public university, public research university located in Oslo, Norway. It is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation#Europe, oldest university in Norway. Originally named the Royal Frederick Univ ...

, followed by an MSc from the

University of Oxford The University of Oxford is a collegiate university, collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the List of oldest un ...

, and an MPA from

Harvard Kennedy School The John F. Kennedy School of Government, commonly referred to as Harvard Kennedy School (HKS), is the school of public policy of Harvard University, a private university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Harvard Kennedy School offers master's de ...

. He was a researcher at the University of Oslo and at the Harvard School of Public Health. His research interests have been

epidemiology Epidemiology is the study and analysis of the distribution (who, when, and where), patterns and Risk factor (epidemiology), determinants of health and disease conditions in a defined population, and application of this knowledge to prevent dise ...

and

global health Global health is the health of populations in a worldwide context; it has been defined as "the area of study, research, and practice that places a priority on improving health and achieving equity in health for all people worldwide". Problems th ...

Career

Earlier in his career, Røttingen worked as executive director of infection control and environmental health at the Norwegian Institute of Public Health (NIPH). In this capacity, he also chaired the WHO's Consultative Expert Working Group on Research and Development from 2010 until 2012. In 2018, he co-chaired a task force of

Science Europe Science Europe is an association of major research funding organisations (RFOs) and research organisation, research performing organisations (RPOs). It was established in October 2011 and is based in Brussels. The association facilitates co-opera ...

(alongside David Sweeney of

UKRI UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) is a non-departmental public body of the Government of the United Kingdom that directs research and innovation funding, funded through the science budget of the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology. ...

) which developed a specific implementation guidance on the so-called

Plan S Plan S is an initiative for open-access science publishing launched in 2018 by "cOAlition S", a consortium of national research agencies and funders from twelve European countries. The plan requires scientists and researchers who benefit from ...

principles. In January 2017, Røttingen served as interim CEO for the launch of

Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations The Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) is a foundation that takes donations from public, private, philanthropic, and civil society organisations, to finance independent research projects to develop vaccines against emerging ...

at the

World Economic Forum The World Economic Forum (WEF) is an international non-governmental organization, international advocacy non-governmental organization and think tank, based in Cologny, Canton of Geneva, Switzerland. It was founded on 24 January 1971 by German ...

in Davos. Since its inception in 2017, he has been also a member the Scientific Advisory Group of the WHO R&D Blueprint, a global strategy and preparedness plan that allows the rapid activation of research activities during epidemics, chaired by

Jeremy Farrar Sir Jeremy James Farrar (born 1 September 1961) is a British medical researcher who has served as Chief Scientist at the World Health Organization since 2023. He was previously the director of The Wellcome Trust from 2013 to 2023 and a professor ...

. In March 2017, Røttingen was appointed

CEO A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a chief executive or managing director, is the top-ranking corporate officer charged with the management of an organization, usually a company or a nonprofit organization. CEOs find roles in variou ...

of the

Research Council of Norway The Research Council (also the Research Council of Norway; ) is a Norwegian government agency that funds research and innovation projects. On behalf of the Government, the Research Council invests NOK 11,7 billion (2022) annually. The Research ...

. From 2020, Røttingen also chaired the Executive Group and the International Steering Committee of the WHO'

Solidarity trial The Solidarity trial for treatments is a multinational Phase III-IV clinical trial organized by the World Health Organization (WHO) and partners to compare four untested treatments for hospitalized people with severe COVID-19 illness. The tria ...

to compare four untested treatments for hospitalized people with severe

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. In January 2020, the disease spread worldwide, resulting in the COVID-19 pandemic. The symptoms of COVID‑19 can vary but often include fever ...

illness. In early 2021, Røttingen was appointed by the

G20 The G20 or Group of 20 is an intergovernmental forum comprising 19 sovereign countries, the European Union (EU), and the African Union (AU). It works to address major issues related to the global economy, such as international financial stabil ...

to the High Level Independent Panel (HLIP) on financing the global commons for pandemic preparedness and response, co-chaired by

Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala (; born 13 June 1954) is a Nigerian economist, who has been serving as the Director-General of the World Trade Organization since March 2021. She is the first woman and first African to lead the World Trade Organization as d ...

Tharman Shanmugaratnam Tharman Shanmugaratnam (born 25 February 1957) is a Singaporean politician and economist who has been the current and ninth President of Singapore since 2023. Prior to his presidency, Tharman served as Senior Minister of Singapore between ...

and

Lawrence Summers Lawrence Henry Summers (born November 30, 1954) is an American economist who served as United States Secretary of the Treasury from 1999 to 2001 and as the director of the National Economic Council from 2009 to 2010. He also served as presiden ...

. That same year, he was also appointed to the Pandemic Preparedness Partnership (PPP), an expert group chaired by

Patrick Vallance Patrick John Thompson Vallance, Baron Vallance of Balham (born 17 March 1960), is a British physician, scientist, life peer, and clinical pharmacologist who has served as Minister of State for Science in the Department for Science, Innovatio ...

to advise the G7 presidency held by the

government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a State (polity), state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive (government), execu ...

Prime Minister A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...

Boris Johnson Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson (born 19 June 1964) is a British politician and writer who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party (UK), Leader of the Conservative Party from 2019 to 2022. He wa ...

. From mid-2021, he was part of the

Access to COVID-19 Tools Accelerator The Access to COVID-19 Tools Accelerator (ACT Accelerator or ACT-A), or the ''Global Collaboration to Accelerate the Development, Production and Equitable Access to New COVID-19 diagnostics, therapeutics and vaccines'', is a G20 initiative annou ...

's Vaccine Manufacturing Working Group, co-chaired by Zane Dangor and Lars-Hendrik Röller.

Other activities

* Virchow Prize for Global Health, Member of the Council (since 2022) *

Gavi GAVI, officially Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance (previously the GAVI Alliance, and before that the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization) is a Public–private partnership, public–private global health partnership with the goal of incr ...

, Member of the Board *

PATH A path is a route for physical travel – see Trail. Path or PATH may also refer to: Physical paths of different types * Bicycle path * Bridle path, used by people on horseback * Course (navigation), the intended path of a vehicle * Desir ...

, Member of the Board of Directors * Visiting Fellow of Practice at the Blavatnik School of Government, University of Oxford * World Health Organization, Member of the European Advisory Committee on Health Research (EACHR)European Advisory Committee on Health Research (EACHR)

(WHO).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rottingen, John-Arne 1969 births Living people People from Bø, Telemark Norwegian epidemiologists Norwegian civil servants University of Oslo alumni Academic staff of the University of Oslo Alumni of the University of Oxford Harvard Kennedy School alumni Norwegian chief executives Members of the National Academy of Medicine

Early life

Career

Other activities

See also

References