Helia Molina

Helia Águeda Molina Milman (born 2 April 1947) is a Chilean physician, educator, and politician. She served as Minister of Public Health in 2014, during the second government of Michelle Bachelet. She is currently a professor at the University of Santiago's Faculty of Medical Sciences.

She has worked as a consultant at the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), World Health Organization (WHO), UNICEF, Inter-American Development Bank (IADB), and other international agencies.

Professional career Helia Molina was born in Santiago on 2 April 1947. She received a degree in medical sciences at the University of Chile in 1971, and the title of surgeon at the same university in 1973. She obtained a master's degree in public health at the University of Chile in 1999.

She has been dean of the University of Santiago's Faculty of Medical Sciences since 2017, in addition to serving as an academic of that house of studies. From 1977 to 1990 she taught at the Pontifical Cateholic University (PUC) Associate Teaching Unit of Pediatrics at the . Molina has coordinated and participated in several national and international studies and projects. She is the author of numerous publications in books, technical documents, and scientific journals in the field of children and their rights, as well as public policies for early childhood development.

Between 2000 and 2004 she worked at the PAHO as a regional adviser on children's health for Latin America and the Caribbean. Back in Chile, she returned to the PUC, and in 2006 she became a member of the Children's Council created by President Michelle Bachelet in her first government. In that role, Molina joined the Ministry of Health, where she served as head of the Division of Health Policies and Promotion in the Undersecretariat of Public Health from 2006 to 2010, and from 2008 to 2010 she was executive secretary of , a public policy initiative for child protection. This sparked a controversy, which led the government to issue a communiqué stating that the minister's statements were strictly personal. On the same day, Molina presented her resignation from office, which was accepted by the president.

2016 mayoral candidacy During May 2016, Helia Molina entered the municipal primaries for mayor of Ñuñoa for the New Majority. Her campaign was officially launched on 28 May 2016, from the Plaza Villa Olímpica in Ñuñoa. In the primary election on 19 June, Molina obtained 35.17% of the votes, being nominated as candidate for mayor for the New Majority.

In the election, Molina obtained 22,373 votes (35.7%), losing to the incumbent, , who received 30,944 votes (49.4%).

Other activities Partnership for Maternal, Newborn & Child Health (PMNCH), Member of the Board

Selected publications