Dr Ritu Sadana is a global leader in public health who has shaped WHO’s strategies on ageing, equity, and the life course. She currently leads WHO’s coordination of the UN Decade of Healthy Ageing and work on older people. She also leads efforts to align services and systems, and gather evidence needed, to connect optimal development and healthy ageing. She is the lead author of the first WHO Framework to Implement a Life Course Approach in Practice – a forward-looking initiative that bridges child, adolescent, adult and older people’s health to improve health trajectories and reduce inequalities. As Head of Ageing and Health at WHO, Dr Sadana spearheaded the first WHO Global Strategy on Ageing and Health, conceived the United Nations Decade of Healthy Ageing 2021–2030—endorsed by the UN General Assembly—and led development of the Decade of Healthy Ageing: Baseline Report, documenting strategies to accelerate country-level progress. She also headed the Secretariat for WHO’s Council on the Economics of Health for All and coordinated a WHA resolution on aligning economies with health and well-being. Earlier in her career, Dr Sadana led a multi-disciplinary research team in Cambodia, contributed to the foundational Global Burden of Disease Study, led WHO’s research on the social determinants of health and advanced equity-focused research policy. She holds an MS in Public Health from UCLA, and a Doctor of Science from Harvard with training in economics, epidemiology and demography, bringing analytical depth to strategic global work. In 2025, UCLA honored her as a Lester Breslow Lifetime Achievement Award inductee, citing her deep, sustained commitment to science-driven policy and health for all.