Catharina Boehme

Catharina Boehme is a global health leader, physician, and the Assistant Director-General for External Relations and Governance of the World Health Organization. She previously served as WHO Chef de Cabinet, and is known for her work in developing diagnostic tests for diseases such as tuberculosis and for advocating for increased testing for the COVID-19 disease. In July 2025, she was appointed as the acting WHO Regional Director for SEARO, in place of Saima Wazed, who was placed on indefinite leave.

Early life and education Boehme graduated with a Doctor of Medicine degree in 2002 in Internal Medicine from LMU Munich. She has diplomas in Public Health from Charité and in Management & Leadership from the International Institute for Management Development at Heidelberg University.

Career Early in her career, Boehme worked at the Department of Infectious and Tropical Diseases in Munich and established a tuberculosis diagnostic research unit in Tanzania.

Boehme became the chief executive officer of Foundation for Innovative New Diagnostics (FIND) in 2013. In this capacity, she worked on a collaboration with other partners within the Access to COVID-19 Tools Accelerator to make tests for COVID-19 more broadly available.

Research Boehme's early research was on an enzyme within the parasite that causes malaria, and the development of new testing methods for the detection of tuberculosis. Boehme has written in Nature Medicine about the need for diagnostic testing as a means to prevent the spread of diseases such as COVID-19.

Other activities World Health Summit (WHS), Member of the Steering Committee

Selected publications