Prof. Walter Ricciardi is the President of the Italian National Institute of Health (Istituto Superiore di Sanità) since September 2015.
He is Professor of Hygiene and Public Health at the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart in Rome.
Since 1993 he has held a number of key positions including President of the European Public Health Association, and has undertaken work with the World Health Organisation and the European Commission.
He has been a Fellow of the Faculty of Public Health Medicine, Royal Colleges of Physicians of the United Kingdom and a Member of the Executive Board of the National Board of Medical Examiners of the United States of America.
In 2010 he has been elected President of the European Public Health Association (2010-2012) and President of the Public Health Section of the Higher Health Council of Italy and he has been re-elected for a second term in both institutions (2012-2014).
In 2013 he has been appointed Member of the Expert Panel on Investing in Health of the European Commission (2013-2015).
He is Editor of the European Journal of Public Health, of the Oxford Handbook of Public Health Practice  and  Founding  Editor  of  the  Italian  Journal  of  Public  Health  and  of  Epidemiology Biostatistics and Public Health.