Sania Nishtar SI FRCP (Urdu: ثانیہ نشتر; born 16 February 1963), is a Pakistani physician, cardiologist, senator, author and activist who was appointed CEO of Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance in 2024.

[3][4] Nishtar co-chaired WHO's High-Level Commission on Non-communicable diseases along with the Presidents of Uruguay, Finland and Sri Lanka.

Since 2014, Nishtar has been a co-chair of the WHO Commission on Ending Childhood Obesity and also serves on the board of United Nations University's Institute for Global Health.

In 2007, Nishtar founded Heartfile Health Financing, a program to protect poor patients from medical impoverishment.

At the conclusion of her term she published Handover Papers,[33][34][35] She also refused pay and perks[36] and left an unusual gift for government functionaries.

[48][49][50][51][52] In 2015, Nishtar was the Government of Pakistan's candidate to succeed António Guterres as United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees; the post eventually went to Filippo Grandi of Italy.

[54] In April 2016, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, which has 57 member states and aims to serve as the collective voice for Muslims, "welcomed" Nishtar's candidacy.

[63] She was strongly supported by humanitarians including Sir George Alleyne, Princess Dina Mired of Jordan,[64] and Musimbi Kanyoro.

Robert and Ruth Bonita explained why she was the suitable candidate outlining her NCDs and health systems credentials.

Her defeat disappointed Pakistanis[74] but her ethical conduct during the election and the prestige it brought for Pakistan was widely hailed.

[75][76][77] In May 2019, Nishtar was appointed Special Assistant on Poverty Alleviation and Social Safety Nets for Prime Minister Imran Khan.

[2] In this role, she led the roll-out of Ehsaas, a pioneering multisectoral poverty alleviation and welfare programme for Pakistan which encompassed over 130 policies.

[78] Nishtar was the chair of the health committee of the Aman ki Asha[79] initiative, a campaign for peace between India and Pakistan, for which she has convened several meetings and negotiated declarations.

[80][81] As a member of the Pakistan Chapter of the Partners for a New Beginning, Aspen Institute,[82][83] and a member of the Global Advisory Council of the Pakistan American Foundation[84] and the US-Muslim Engagement Initiative[85] she has been advocating for broader US-Pakistan engagement, towards improving social outcomes.

This was illustrated recently in the case of her stance on a spurious drug scandal,[86][87][88][89] abolition of the Ministry of Health, which was part of the Eighteenth Amendment to the Constitution of Pakistan,[89] and the country's inability to eradicate polio.

She has served as temporary advisor to the World Health Organization and other UN initiatives, including the following:[98][99] In addition, Nishtar continues to hold several board positions, including the following: Nishtar is also a member of the Lancet and Rockefeller Foundation Commission on Planetary Health[108] and the Lancet and Harvard Commission on Pain and Palliative Care.

[109] She is a member of the Steering Committee of the Emerging Markets Symposium,[110] which is an initiative of the Green Templeton College, Oxford University.