Vytenis Andriukaitis
Lithuanian physician/politician / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Vytenis Povilas Andriukaitis (born 9 August 1951)[2] is WHO Special Envoy for the European region, the former European Commissioner for Health and Food Safety, a heart surgeon, a co-signatory to the 1990 Act of the Re-Establishment of the State of Lithuania.
Vytenis Andriukaitis | |
|---|---|
 | |
| WHO Special Envoy for the European region | |
| Assumed office 1 March 2020 | |
| European Commissioner for Health and Food Safety | |
| In office 1 November 2014 – 30 November 2019 | |
| President | Jean-Claude Juncker |
| Preceded by | Tonio Borg (Health) |
| Succeeded by | Stella Kyriakidou |
| Minister of Health of Lithuania | |
| In office 13 December 2012 – 14 July 2014 | |
| Prime Minister | Algirdas Butkevičius |
| Preceded by | Raimondas Šukys |
| Succeeded by | Rimantė Šalaševičiūtė |
| Member of Seimas | |
| In office 16 November 2012 – 15 September 2014 | |
| Preceded by | Vilija Aleknaitė-Abramikienė |
| Succeeded by | Šarūnas Gustainis |
| Constituency | Žirmūnai |
| In office 17 November 2008 – 15 November 2012 | |
| Constituency | Multi-member |
| In office 24 November 1992 – 27 July 2004 | |
| Preceded by | Constituency created |
| Succeeded by | Algis Čaplikas |
| Constituency | Žirmūnai |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Vytenis Povilas Andriukaitis (1951-08-09) 9 August 1951 (age 72) Kyusyur, Soviet Union (now Russia) |
| Political party | Social Democratic Party of Lithuania (1989–present; suspended since 2014)[1] |
| Spouse | Irena Meižytė |
| Children | 3 |
| Education | Lithuanian University of Health Sciences Vilnius University |
Andriukaitis' family was deported to Siberia in June 1941. He, his mother and two older brothers were allowed to return to Lithuania in 1958; his father returned in 1959.[3] After excelling at school, he enrolled at Kaunas Medical Institute, graduating in 1975. In 1976 Andriukaitis started his career in politics as a member of the underground Social Democrat movement, but later continued his studies by pursuing a degree in history at Vilnius University, graduating in 1984.
Andriukaitis was elected to the Supreme Council of the Republic of Lithuania, which preceded Seimas (Lithuanian Parliament), in 1990.[4] Andriukaitis was a member of the Lithuanian Parliament for six terms, from 1992 to 2004 and from 2008 to 2012, and was a deputy chairman of its council from 2001 to 2004.[5] He was a health minister of the Republic of Lithuania since December 2012 until the European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker appointed him to serve as an EU Commissioner in November 2014. After the term as European Commissioner for Health and Food Safety Andriukaitis became WHO Special Envoy for the European region in March 2020.