Vlastimil Válek (born 17 May 1960) is a Czech radiologist and politician, serving as Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Health since 17 December 2021, in the cabinet of Petr Fiala. He has been a member of the

Chamber of Deputies of the Czech Republic The Chamber of Deputies, officially the Chamber of Deputies of the Parliament of the Czech Republic (, PS PČR), is the lower house of the Parliament of the Czech Republic. The chamber has 200 seats and deputies are elected for four-year terms u ...

since 2017, representing

TOP 09 TOP 09 (, ) is a liberal-conservative list of political parties in the Czech Republic, political party in the Czech Republic, led by Markéta Adamová, Markéta Pekarová Adamová. 14 of its members sit in the Chamber of Deputies of the Czech Rep ...

Early life and professional career

Válek was born in 1960 in Brno. He spent his childhood in Poštorná and

Břeclav Břeclav (; ) is a town in the South Moravian Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 25,000 inhabitants. Located at the Czech-Austrian state border and near the Czech–Slovak state border, it is an important railway hub. Administrative divis ...

, and graduated from Břeclav Gymnazium in 1979. He graduated from the Faculty of Medicine at

Masaryk University Masaryk University (MU) (; ) is the second largest university in the Czech Republic, a member of the Compostela Group and the Utrecht Network. Founded in 1919 in Brno, it now consists of ten faculties and 35,115 students. It is named after To ...

(MUNI) in 1985 with a degree in radiodiagnostics, and in the same year joined the staff of Brno University Hospital in Bohunice, where he is now head of the Department of Radiology and Nuclear Medicine, focusing on the diagnosis and treatment of abdominal tumors. Since 1993, he has also been working at the MUNI Faculty of Medicine as a professor of radiology. For the period from 2014 to 2017, he was elected chairman of the Czech Radiological Society of the Czech Medical Society JE Purkyně. He has published research in Czech and foreign medical journals, and regularly lectures at foreign conferences and universities.

Political career

In 2010, Válek was elected as a non-partisan for TOP 09 by representatives of the Brno-Líšeň City District. He subsequently joined TOP 09 in 2013 and defended his seat in the 2014 elections. In regional elections in 2012, he was elected to the South Moravian Regional Assembly. In the legislative elections in 2017, he was the leader of TOP 09 in the

South Moravian Region The South Moravian Region (; , ; ), or just South Moravia, is an Regions of the Czech Republic, administrative unit () of the Czech Republic, located in the south-western part of its historical region of Moravia. The region's capital is Brno, th ...

and was elected to the

Chamber of Deputies The chamber of deputies is the lower house in many bicameral legislatures and the sole house in some unicameral legislatures. Description Historically, French Chamber of Deputies was the lower house of the French Parliament during the Bourb ...

. In November 2019 he was elected vice-chairman of TOP 09, and in January 2021 also Chairman of the party's parliamentary group. He was re-elected to the Chamber of Deputies in 2021, and subsequently nominated as the Minister of Health in the new government of Petr Fiala. In November 2023 he was elected 1st vice-chairman of TOP 09.

Personal life

Válek is married and has four children. He lives in the Líšeň district of Brno. His interests include dulcimer music, choral singing, literature and Czech art.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Valek, Vlastimil 1960 births Living people Politicians from Brno Members of the Chamber of Deputies of the Czech Republic (2017–2021) Members of the Chamber of Deputies of the Czech Republic (2021–2025) Health ministers of the Czech Republic TOP 09 Government ministers TOP 09 MPs Masaryk University alumni