Pamela Rendi-Wagner

Pamela Rendi-Wagner (born Joy Pamela Wagner, 7 May 1971) is an Austrian physician and politician who is the current director of the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control, and who previously served as chairwoman of the Social Democratic Party (SPÖ) from 2018 to 2023. She was the first woman to lead the SPÖ.

From 2011 to 2017, she served as director-general for public health in the Austrian Ministry of Health. She served as minister for health and women from March to December 2017. Rendi-Wagner was elected to the National Council for the SPÖ in the 2017 election, and became parliamentary leader in October 2018. She was the SPÖ's lead candidate in the 2019 election. In June 2024, Rendi-Wagner was appointed Director of the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control. She then studied medicine at the University of Vienna and received her doctorate in 1996.

Between 2008 and 2011, Rendi-Wagner was a guest lecturer at the Department of Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine, School of Public Health, Tel Aviv University in Israel.

Political career In 2012, Rendi-Wagner joined the Association of Social Democratic University Graduates, an organization affiliated with the SPÖ. She became a member of the National Council in the election in October; due to the change in government, she left the ministry on 18 December 2017. She declined to return as an official in the Ministry of Health. Thereafter, Rendi-Wagner became the SPÖ's spokeswoman for health. She joined the joint committee as well as the committees for health, environment, economy, and foreign affairs, becoming deputy chair of the health committee.

On 28 May 2019, Rendi-Wagner was unanimously confirmed by the SPÖ executive as the party's top candidate for the 2019 federal election. In the new National Council, Rendi-Wagner became foreign policy spokeswoman for the SPÖ. She also became chairwoman of the foreign affairs committee, and joined the standing subcommittee of the joint committee. The survey was completed on 2 April, though the review of results was suspended due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The results were announced on 6 May: with a participation rate of 41.3%, Rendi-Wagner received 71.4% approval, and therefore announced that she would remain party leader. She presented a platform concept titled "New Solidarity for Austria", which sought to the strengthen the welfare state, with a focus on health and care, as well as investments in employment and tax justice.

A January 2021 poll indicated that Rendi-Wagner was the most popular politician in Austria, with 36% public approval. This was higher than Chancellor Sebastian Kurz (35%) and health minister Rudolf Anschober (32%). During the late 2021 political crisis, which saw the resignation and subsequent retirement of Kurz, Rendi-Wagner accused the government of being "preoccupied with itself" during the pandemic, and void of any mandate to continue in office. She called for new elections to be held once the fourth wave had been suppressed. Rendi-Wagner was the first SPÖ-leader to face a leadership election in mid-2023. The results of the membership election were announced on 22 May 2023 and Rendi-Wagner came in third and last place with 31.35% of the votes.

Following the results of the election, on 23 May 2023, Rendi-Wagner announced that she would not be a candidate at the extraordinary party congress on 3 June 2023 and subsequently announced her orderly resignation as party leader and parliamentary group leader. She would remain in office until a new party leader and parliamentary group leader had been elected. At the party congress on 3 June 2023 according to the first count, Babler lost with 279 votes (46.81%) against Hans Peter Doskozil who received 316 (53.02%) of the delegates' votes; however, after a recount showed that the results were incorrectly tabulated, with Babler having won the votes attributed to Doskozil, Babler was proclaimed the winner and declared new chair of the Social Democratic Party of Austria.

Personal life Rendi-Wagner's mother was a kindergarten teacher, her father is professor of social psychology. In regular contacts, her politically engaged father introduced her to political and feminist ideas. She has two half-brothers. Pamela Rendi-Wagner is married to , a former Austrian ambassador to Israel who was cabinet chief of chancellery minister Thomas Drozda (SPÖ), and has two daughters with him.