Prof. Habib Benzian University of the Western Cape, South Africa
Habib Benzian, DDS PhD MScDPH, is a Professor of Epidemiology & Health Promotion at NYU Dental College and Co-Director of the only WHO Collaborating Center for oral health in the WHO region of the Americas.
With more than 25 years of global health experience, he is a leader in advocating for oral health globally and has contributed in various ways to address the neglect of oral health in the global public health discourse. As an expert in international public health, health policy, NCDs, school health, and WASH in schools, he bridges academia, policy, and practice. He advises organizations such as WHO and UNICEF, and has supported major policy processes at the global, regional, and national level, including the WHO Global Strategy and Action Plan on Oral Health (2023-2030), as well as the WHO Regional Strategies for Oral Health in Africa and Southeast Asia. He was part of the editorial team for the first-ever WHO Global Oral Health Status Report (2022) and is a Global Health Research Fellow at Stellenbosch Institute of Advanced Studies in South Africa, researching global oral health governance and political priority setting.
He is member and working group lead of the Lancet Commission on Oral health, and received the John Greenspan Distinguished Scientist in Global Health Award (2023), one of the highest awards of the International Association for Dental and Craniofacial Research (IADR).
