Dr. Andrzej Rys is a medical doctor specialised in radiology and public health, graduated from Jagiellonian University, Krakow, Poland. In 1991, he founded the School of Public Health at the Jagiellonian University that he ran as Director until 1997. Thereafter, from 1997 to 1999, he served as Director of the Krakow’s City Health Department. Between 1999 and 2002, he continued his career as Deputy Minister of Health in Poland where he developed a new system of emergency medical service and reformed the education system for the health professionals. At the same time, he was a member of the Polish EU accession negotiators team for the harmonisation of the Polish Health Care Law with the EU’s Acquis Communautaire.
After becoming Senior Consultant of “Health and Management Ltd” for the World Bank (WHO) and EAR in Serbia in 2002, he founded in 2003 the “Center for Innovation, Technology Transfer and University Development” (CITTRU) at the Jagiellonian University where he assumed the role of Director until 2006. From 2004 to 2005, he was also Director of Development at “Diagnostyka Ltd”.
In 2006, he became Director for Public Health and Risk Assessment at the Directorate-General for Health and Consumers (DG SANCO), in the European Commission, and from 2011 to 2014, he assumed the position of Director for Health Systems and Products in DG SANCO. Since 2014, Dr. Andrzej Rys is the Director responsible for Health Systems, Medical Products and Innovation in DG SANTE, in the European Commission in Brussels, Belgium.