Dr. Lubna Al-Ansary is a consultant family physician at King Saud University Medical City in Riyadh, where she is also professor at the university’s College of Medicine at the department of family and community medicine.
With over 20 years of experience in the medical field, she participated in founding the National Society for Human Rights in 2004 and the National Family Safety Program in 2006 in Saudi Arabia.
She was assistant director general for health metrics and measurement at the World Health Organization headquarters in Geneva from November 2017 to April 2019 as the first Arab woman (and the first Saudi citizen) to serve in this position.
Her mission during that period was to empower member states to use data and research evidence in policymaking to achieve universal health coverage.
Al-Ansary is a pioneer of family medicine, evidence-based healthcare and knowledge translation in Saudi Arabia and the wider region. She has collaborated with WHO’s regional office in the Eastern Mediterranean in various projects.
She established and supervised the Bahamdan Research Chair for Evidence-Based Healthcare and Knowledge Translation at King Saud University from 2008-2018. From 2010 to 2018, she was the chairperson of the clinical practice guidelines committee for university hospitals and she currently chairs the steering Committee of Clinical Practice Guidelines at King Saud University Medical City. She is a member of the scientific board of the National Evidence-Based Healthcare Centre at the Saudi Health Council.
Al-Ansary is a Cochrane author and editor, a founding member of the International Society for Evidence-based Healthcare, a member of the board of trustees of the Guidelines International Network and the MENA Health Policy Forum. Al-Ansary is also a member of the Saudi Society of Family and Community Medicine and the World Organization of Family Doctors.
In May 2017, she was seconded to the Ministry of Economy and Planning to be the secretary-general of the National Population Committee for six months. Prior to that, Al-Ansary was a member of the Consultative Council, or Majlis Al-Shura, from January 2013 to November 2016 as one of the first female members. During her term, she also represented the council at the InterParliamentary Union for two years.
Al-Ansary earned her membership in 1989 and fellowship in 1999 from The Royal College of General Practitioners in London.
She received her bachelor’s degree in medicine and surgery in 1985 , as well as a master’s degree in family medicine from King Saud University in 1988.
