Mihály Kökény MD

Dr. Mihály Kökény (Hungary) is a medical doctor, specialist in internal medicine and cardiology.

In the 1970s, Dr Kökény was a practising physician at the National Institute of Cardiology engaged in scientific work. Later, he moved to work in civil service at various positions in state administration.

His responsibilities at the Ministry of Health covered health system management and, as Department Head at the Office of the Council of Ministers, he was in charge, among other duties, of elaborating the first ever Hungarian health promotion strategy.

In 1994, he was elected to the Hungarian Parliament and secured his seat on all of the subsequent elections. Dr Kökény was parliamentary secretary of state at the Ministry of Welfare from 1994 to 1996. In 1996, he became the Minister of Welfare until 1998. Between 1998 and 2002, he was chairman of the Parliament’s Health and Social Affairs Committee.

Between 2002 and 2004, he served again as state secretary and then as health minister. Later, he became a government commissioner for public health coordination. As of May 30th 2006, Dr Kökény is chairman of the Health Committee of the Parliament. In the last 2 decades, he was involved in many international health activities for WHO, the European Commission, OECD and the World Bank as advisor, speaker, etc. Currently, he is the Hungarian representative of the Executive Board of the World Health Organization.