Andrzej Ryś

Dr Andrzej Ryś is a medical doctor, former Deputy Minister of Health of Poland, and a long-serving senior official of the European Commission. Trained as a radiologist and public health doctor, he co-founded and directed the first School of Public Health in Central and Eastern Europe at the Jagiellonian University, serving as its director and deputy director from 1991 to 1997.

In 1997 he became chief medical officer city of Krakow. Between 1999 and 2002, as Deputy Minister of Health, with responsibility foremergency medical services reform, modernization of medicaleducation, and aligning Polish health legislation with EU requirements as part of the accession negotiations.

He is a founder and first director of the Jagiellonian University’s Centre for Innovation, Technology Transfer and University Development (CITTRU), where he also co-developed Poland’s first Life Science Park and Krakow Life Science Cluster (2003-2006).

From 2006, he worked at the European Commission, first as Director for Public Health and Risk Assessment (DG SANCO), and from 2011 to 2022 as Director for Health Systems, Medical Products, and Innovation (DG SANTE). Directorates led major EU initiatives in cross-border healthcare, tobacco control, pharmaceutical and medical device regulation, health technology assessment, digital health, and global health. He played a significant role in shaping the European Health Data Space regulation (EHDS). He also served at the management boards of EMA, ECDC, IMI, and took part in the EU’s health crisis response during the H1N1 and COVID-19 pandemic.

In 2023–2024, he was an EU Fellow at St Antony’s College, University of Oxford, where he conducted research on health data, digital health, and AI in health.

He retired on 1st May 2025. From July 2025 he is a Board Member of Medical Research Agency in Poland.