Head of the Secretariat of the WHO FCTC
Dr Adriana Blanco Marquizo, MD MA
On 1 March 2020 Dr Adriana Blanco Marquizo, from Uruguay, took office as the new Head of the Convention Secretariat for a term of office of 4 years, replacing Dr Vera da Costa e Silva.
Dr Adriana Blanco Marquizo is a medical doctor with a master’s degree in Policies to Prevent Addictions in Children and Adolescents from the Latin American Center of Human Economy (CLAEH).
She actively participated in tobacco control activities in her home country Uruguay, which contributed to Uruguay becoming the first smoke-free country in the region of the Americas.
Before joining the Convention Secretariat, Dr Blanco Marquizo worked as Chief of the Risk Factors and Nutrition Unit in the Department of Noncommunicable Diseases and Mental Health at the Pan American Health Organization.
She was appointed Head of Secretariat of the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (WHO FCTC) in March 2020.
She directs support of the Parties to the Convention and to the Protocol to Eliminate Illicit Trade in Tobacco Products, enabling them to implement their obligations under the treaties. She also supervises arrangements for the Convention’s Conference of the Parties (COP), the Protocol’s Meeting of the Parties (MOP) and translates the decisions taken into programme activities.
Over the past two decades, Dr Blanco Marquizo has worked in the region of the Americas, supporting tobacco control activities in many countries of the region.
Between 2006 and 2020, Dr Blanco Marquizo worked for the Pan American Health Organization/WHO Regional Office for the Americas, first as Tobacco Control Officer and subsequently as regional coordinator of the Bloomberg Initiative to Reduce Tobacco Use. Between 2009 and 2015 she served as Regional Advisor on Tobacco Control.
In 2016, she became the Chief of the Risk Factors and Nutrition Unit, in the Department of Noncommunicable Diseases and Mental Health, a position that she held until her appointment as Head of the Convention Secretariat.
From 1983 to 2005, Dr Blanco Marquizo worked for the Government of Montevideo, the capital city of Uruguay. In addition to her other responsibilities, she represented the local government in both the National Alliance for Tobacco Control and the Ministry of Health Advisory Commission for Tobacco Control. Before the entry into force of the national smoke-free environment regulation, the Government of Montevideo declared its facilities smoke-free.
Dr Blanco Marquizo also coordinated the development of the first tobacco cessation clinics, as part of a larger network of clinics of the Government of Montevideo, which primarily served vulnerable populations.