Marleen De Smedt

Marleen De Smedt, Belgium, senior civil servant, European Commission. A physician by training, Dr. De Smedt has been most recently head of unit, "health and food safety; crime" Eurostat, European Commission, where her responsibilities included managing a multi-disciplinary team in the collection and dissemination of Community statistics on public health; health and safety at work; food safety; crime, victimization, and criminal justice. During her career in the Commission, she has held a number of key positions, including head of unit, health, education and culture statistics, Eurostat, and head of section, health statistics, also Eurostat. Dr. De Smedt was educated at Katholieke Universiteit (Leuven), from which she earned her MD, and also at the University of Brussels. While at Harvard, she will conduct research on the use of health statistics in formulating, monitoring, and evaluating policies and programs which have an impact on public health, with a focus on health inequalities in the United States and in the European Union. Dr. De Smedt and her husband, Peter Smets, have three children - Mieke, Dries, and Lieselotte.