The International President, Dr Christos Christou, joined MSF in 2002, where his first assignment was in Greece as a field doctor, working with migrants and refugees, before working as a doctor in an HIV/AIDS project in Zambia in 2004 and 2005. After a break from field missions for a number of years while he trained as a surgeon, from 2013 he joined MSF missions in a number of conflict zones and insecure contexts, including South Sudan, Iraq and, most recently, Cameroon, as an Emergency and Trauma surgeon.

Born in Trikala, a small town in central Greece, Dr Christou graduated from Aristotle University’s medical school in Thessaloniki, Greece, and has a PhD in Surgery from the Kapodestrian University of Athens. He holds a Masters in International Health - Health Crisis Management from the University of Athens and is member of its faculty.

Dr Christou later specialised in general and emergency surgery in the Surgical and Transplant Unit of Evangelismos Hospital in Athens. In 2013 he moved to London, working as a Senior Clinical Fellow in Colorectal surgery at King’s College Hospital, and in 2018 became Consultant of Colorectal and Emergency Surgery at North Middlesex University Hospital. In 2018 he was awarded Fellow of the European Board of Surgery in Coloproctology.

Dr Christou was first General Secretary, then Vice-President and finally President of MSF Greece Board of Directors from 2005 until his election as International President in June 2019. In 2022, Dr Christou was re-elected as International President for another three-year mandate.

Leslie Shanks is a family physician trained in public health. She joined MSF in 1994 and since then has worked in a number of countries as a physician, medical coordinator, and project coordinator. Over the years she has held various other roles in MSF including as President of MSF-Canada and as Medical Director for MSF’s operational centre in Amsterdam (OCA). In 2021, she was invited to join the OCA Council as Chair of the Medical Committee. She is currently based in Toronto where she practices family medicine. Dr Shanks became the President of MSF Netherlands in October 2024.

Oscar Bernal grew up and studied medicine in Colombia and has doctorate in public health from Spain. He has worked with MSF for more than 28 years in more than 20 countries, including Angola as a field doctor/surgeon, in Liberia (1995) as medical coordinator, Sudan (1996) as head of mission, Russia (1997) as project coordinator, and Guatemala (1999), Bolivia (2001), Indonesia (2007), and Colombia (2009) as a medical coordinator. Oscar has also worked as a technical adviser on infectious diseases from 2003 to 2009. He has participated in several MSF associations, including MSF France and MSF Spain, and was involved in the creation and development of MSF Latin America. He works as a professor and MPH coordinator in the University of Andes, Colombia. Oscar was elected to the International Board in 2023. 

Sam Bumicho is a medical and public health practitioner, with over 15 years of experience in humanitarian organisations. Sam endeavours to provide the best medical and public health approaches that put communities at the centre. He began his career with MSF in 2004 and has assisted in developing community-based strategies for our projects in Kenya. Sam is also the co-founder and executive director of Communities For Action, a Kenyan based non-governmental organisation that strives to empower communities with skills and basic resources to address their health problems with local solutions. From his home in Kenya, Sam continues to engage in discussions on equity, diversity, and inclusion through multiple international platforms as MSF’s International Vice President, a position he was elected to in 2021. He was re-elected to the board in June 2024.

Erastus Cheti gained an MsC in monitoring and evaluation in population and development, and a bachelor's degree in social sciences from The University of Nairobi. He joined MSF in Kenya in 2007 as project monitoring and evaluation lead/data manager where he stayed until 2016. He then took on the position of monitoring, evaluation, strategic information manager at PEPFAR agency in collaboration with Henry Jackson Foundation of Medical Research International. He became a board member of MSF Eastern Africa in 2019. In 2022, Erastus was elected as a member of the International Board.

Dr Ali Ouattara is a medical doctor and public health expert with over 20 years of experience in healthcare in humanitarian settings. His career has spanned organisations like the International Organization for Migration, The Alliance for International Medical Action, and MSF. With MSF, he has worked in seven African countries, first as a national staff in Côte d'Ivoire in 2003 and up until 2015 when he was the Medical Coordinator MSF’s ebola response in Côte d'Ivoire. Dr Ouattara was the Regional Humanitarian Access and Networking Advisor for Sahel and West Africa for MSF’s operational centre in Brussels until he was elected as the President of MSF’s West and Central Africa (WaCA) Board in October 2024.

Dr Ouattara has served on multiple boards across the MSF movement before becoming the President of WaCA. He was on the board of MSF France for five years and was also a co-opted member of Epicentre and Logistique before becoming the Vice President of WaCA between 2020 and 2023.

Dr Isabelle Defourny trained as doctor before joining MSF in 1999, with her first mission in Yemen. Since then she has worked in Eritrea, Burundi, Liberia and Sudan. In 2004, she joined MSF Operational Centre Paris as programme manager before becoming a member of the Association’s board of directors and finally becoming Director of Operations until March 2022. In June 2022, Dr Isabelle Defourny was elected president of MSF France during the association’s 51st General Assembly.

Paula Gil Leyva studied nursing before she joined MSF in 2003, with her first mission as a nurse in Angola. Since then she has worked in Mozambique, Central African Republic, Angola again, and more recently in Spain, during our response to the COVID-19 pandemic in the country. Over the course of her field work, she has held various positions, including field coordinator, medical coordinator, and project coordinator, before diversifying her experience and working in human resources, including as human resources coordinator. In addition to her nursing degrees, Paula holds a postgraduate degree in Gender and Equality studies from Universidad Autónoma de Barcelona. She was elected President of MSF Spain in October 2021.

Dr Saleem Kassam is a physician with a Masters in clinical epidemiology from the University of Toronto, where he also acquired a degree in adult cardiology and interventional cardiology. Saleem has worked with MSF since 1999, working in the field as a medical doctor and project coordinator in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Zambia, Kenya and Haiti, as well as serving on the MSF Canada Board as Vice President from 2015 to 2020. Saleem was elected to the International Board in 2023. 

Katrin Kisswani has a nursing background. She started working with MSF in 2005 and has since worked in different contexts, mainly conflict settings, holding various coordination positions. Between 2009 and 2013, she was part of the Emergency unit of the Operational Centre of Brussels. From 2013 to 2022, Katrin was elected and served on the board of MSF Sweden, becoming President of MSF Sweden in 2015. Katrin was elected as the President of MSF Belgium and Operational Centre Brussels in 2024, for one year.

Yvan Legris spent over 30 years at HR Consulting firm Aon Hewitt where he became the global Chief Executive of the consulting division in 2012 prior to joining MSF. Yvan is an actuary by profession and has been pursuing a Masters in Humanitarian Action at the CERAH since September 2016. He has been a volunteer advisor on HR projects to the MSF International Office since April 2016. He was born in Mauritius and lives in London. Yvan was elected to the International Board in 2022.

Yves McGale is a Senior Partner and the Leader of the Global Strategists Group at financial services company Aon. Previously he served as Aon’s Chief Administration Officer for the Retirement Practice and the company’s US West Region Retirement Practice Leader. Yves earned a Bachelor degree in Actuarial Science from Laval University in Quebec City, Quebec, Canada. He is a Fellow of the Society of Actuaries in the US. He has over 30 years’ experience working with organisations on the financial and human capital management of their retirement and overall benefit programmes, concentrating on multi-country engagements. In 2023, Yves was selected to join the International Board as International Treasurer.

Dr Micaela Serafini, President of MSF Switzerland, brings over 20 years of experience in global health and humanitarian response, with leadership roles across MSF and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). She served as Medical Director of MSF Switzerland until 2020 and, from early 2021, led the ICRC Health Unit, overseeing health services for communitiess affected by war and violence in over 80 countries. 

A specialist in internal medicine trained in Argentina, Dr Serafini has committed more than a decade to fieldwork across Africa, Asia, Latin America, and the Middle East. Her work encompasses emergency responses, outbreak control, and health system strengthening, always with a focus on addressing health needs and adapting health policies to complex humanitarian settings. Fluent in Spanish, English, and French, Dr Serafini is well-prepared to navigate the linguistic and cultural complexities of global health. She was elected President of MSF Switzerland in October 2024.

Parthesarathy (Sarathi) Rajendran studied economics and anthropology in India before joining MSF in January 2005. He first worked as an assistant field coordinator in a mental health project in southern India in the wake of the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami. Sarathi then worked in a number of roles – including in logistics, advocacy, and as Head of Mission – in countries such as South Sudan, South Africa, Ethiopia, Somalia, Malawi, Bangladesh, Indonesia and Nauru, before leaving MSF in July 2017. Today, after he received a Masters in International Health from Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg, he works at the Heidelberg Institute of Global Health, at Heidelberg University in Germany. Sarathi was elected to the International Board in June 2021 and was re-elected in June 2024.