Dr. Haruka Sakamoto

Dr. Haruka Sakamoto, MD, MPH, PhD, is a primary care physician and consultant at the World Health Organization (WHO) Western Pacific Regional Office. She earned her Doctor of Medicine (MD) from Sapporo Medical University and worked as a physician at St. Luke’s International Hospital in Tokyo for several years. She later received a World Bank scholarship to pursue a Master of Public Health (MPH) at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and completed her PhD in Public Health at the University of Tokyo in 2021.

From 2011 to 2013 and again in 2016, she served in the International Cooperation Department of Japan’s Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, where she was deeply involved in national and global health policy development.

Her current research focuses on health system strengthening, health care financing, and the politics of global health. Dr. Sakamoto is currently the 26th Associate Member of the Science Council of Japan, a Visiting Associate Professor at the Graduate School of Public Health, St. Luke’s International University, and a Senior Manager at the Health and Global Policy Institute (HGPI).