Dr. Florentina Ligia Furtunescu is professor of public health and management at the University of Medicine and Pharmacy “Carol Davila” Bucharest and, since 2020, she is vicerector for institutional strategy and quality at her university. She is a medical doctor as background, consultant in public health and management, having a master’s degree in management of Public Health and Health Services and a doctoral thesis in organizational management of the Romanian health system.
Dr. Furtunescu has extensive experience in developing evidence-based public policies in the health sector considering her previous work at the Ministry of Health of Romania, as director of public health and head of Public Policy Unit. During her career, she worked jointly with European Commission, World Bank, World Health Organization, Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and malaria and UNICEF. She represented the country in different international groups with mandate of public health. She is member of the Working Party of Public Health High Level of the Council of the European Union and she is also the representative of Romania in the EU4Health Steering Group.
As a researcher, she is author and co-author of over 15 books in the public health field, and over 75 publications in ISI Core Collection journals. Her main research topics relate to strategic planning, health economics and access to health services for vulnerable groups.
