Dr. Rodrigo Rodriguez-Fernandez is a physician and public health expert dedicated to improving mental health and non-communicable disease outcomes in workplaces around the world. He combines frontline medical experience with global policy insight to drive meaningful change in organizational
wellbeing.
Rodrigo Rodriguez-Fernandez is not your average global health executive—unless your idea of “average” involves advising ministries of health across five continents before breakfast, running a podcast with six-figure impressions during lunch, and debating the merits of trans-fat bans over dinner with a Michelin star–level chimichurri on the side.
Currently serving as International Advisor on Noncommunicable Diseases (NCDs) and Mental Health for the World Health Organization, Rodrigo works at the improbable intersection of policy, science, and political willpower. From the corridors of Geneva to the ministries of Latin America, he’s known for helping governments turn vague good intentions into concrete public health wins—be it childhood obesity reduction, mental health integration, or national salt-reduction legislation.
He’s also the host of The Dr Rodcast Podcast, a globally followed series that demystifies health policy and brings CEOs, scientists, and changemakers into surprisingly candid conversations. His work has been featured in The Economist, The Financial Times, and—if you’re lucky—on the back of a napkin in a London café where he’s sketching out his next big idea.
When he isn’t advising on national health plans, you’ll find him exploring food markets, obsessing over design details, or quietly mentoring the next generation of global health leaders.
Before donning the WHO badge, Rodrigo built a career at the nexus of public health strategy, global diplomacy, and real-world problem solving—the kind that happens not in policy papers, but in ministries, boardrooms, field clinics, and the occasional war zone.
Over the past decade, he has served as a trusted advisor to governments in Latin America, Africa, Europe, and Southeast Asia—designing and implementing national strategies on everything from hypertension control to tobacco legislation to corporate wellbeing initiatives. His calling card? Making health policy not only functional, but politically irresistible.
He has worked with organizations that typically require a passport, a security clearance, or both: the World Bank, USAID, the European Commission, the International SOS Foundation, and yes, the World Health Organization long before his current post. Rodrigo has led national campaigns, overhauled workplace wellbeing frameworks for multinationals, and helped shape the next generation of global health regulations—often while translating between technocrats, politicians, and private-sector CEOs (sometimes in three languages before lunch).
He’s also a seasoned academic and educator, having served as a Senior Lecturer at the University of Manchester, where he brought real-world gravitas to classrooms full of future public health leaders.
And when he’s not driving public health reform, Rodrigo is helping organizations reimagine their wellbeing strategies—whether that’s global health clinics, corporate resilience, or advising C-suite leaders on why a good wellbeing strategy is as important as a good balance sheet.
Dr. Rodriguez-Fernandez is a trained medical physician and public health practitioner. He holds
advanced degrees from the Autonomous University of Guadalajara, Harvard Medical School, Charité
University’s Institute of Tropical Medicine in Berlin, and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical
Medicine. In addition, he earned a culinary diploma from Le Cordon Bleu – reflecting a personal passion
for nutrition and wellness.