Katherine Urbáez

Katherine is the Founder and Executive Director of the Health Diplomacy Alliance. She leads the development of the organization’s vision and priorities in health diplomacy. In this role, she advocates for the integration of health into foreign policy, promoting strategic leadership at political and international levels. Additionally, it is responsible for shaping and overseeing the implementation of the Alliance’s strategic direction and the work of the Diplomatic Task Force.

A former diplomat from the Dominican Republic, she began her public service career at the Ministry of Economy, Planning, and Development. She later served as Head of the Department of Treaty Administration at the Ministry of Agriculture before joining the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Her diplomatic assignments included postings to the World Trade Organization, the Commercial Office in Hong Kong, the United Nations in Geneva, and the Embassy to the Swiss Confederation.

Throughout her career, she has played a key role in various negotiations and in designing public policies within the multilateral arena, focusing particularly on global health, human rights, and humanitarian issues. She has been appointed as a focal point for several national commissions, including those on Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures, Safeguards, and Antidumping and Countervailing Measures. Additionally, she chaired the 2016 Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) Presidency in Geneva and coordinated the Executive Board Membership at the World Health Organization.

Katherine holds a B.A. in Economics from Pontificia Universidad Católica Madre y Maestra (PUCMM) and an MSc in International Strategy and Diplomacy from the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE). Her academic background also includes studies in international business, project management, and political economy. A United Nations Disarmament Fellow, former Executive-in-Residence Fellow at the Geneva Centre for Security Policy, and has a Public Leadership Credential from the Harvard Kennedy School.