President, Global Health & Sustainability
Lutz Hegemann leads the Novartis Global Health unit and is responsible for integrating environmental, social and governance (ESG) matters into the core of the company’s business, with a special emphasis on innovation and access. The Global Health unit focuses on transforming health in low- and middle-income countries with programs targeting malaria, neglected tropical diseases, and non-communicable diseases such as sickle cell disease. It also represents the company’s business in sub-Saharan Africa.
“We are pursuing a coordinated approach to maximize our contribution to society and ensure as many patients as possible have access to our treatments, helping to build a strong foundation for the next phase of our global health and ESG journey.”
Before taking on his present role, Lutz was Group Head of Corporate Affairs and Global Health. He has held roles of increasing responsibility since joining Novartis in 2005 in the Consumer Health Division. He began his career as a public health physician and scientist.
Lutz is a Fellow of the Royal Society for Tropical Medicine & Hygiene and serves on the boards of the Novartis Foundation, the Swiss Alliance against Neglected Tropical Diseases, the Tanzania Training Centre of International Health, and PATH.
Commonwealth leaders have rallied in Rwanda behind the Kigali Declaration, a commitment to combine efforts and combat neglected tropical diseases globally.
While the world's focus has been on COVID-19, 14 million new cases of malaria emerged in 2020, and the number of cases and deaths in the new WHO malaria report are the highest since 2012.
