Germán Velásquez is, since 2010, the Special Adviser for Policy and Health of the South Centre in Geneva, Switzerland, which is an intergovernmental think tank of and for developing countries. Until May 2010, he was Director of the World Health Organization (WHO) Secretariat on Public Health, Innovation and Intellectual Property, at the Director-General’s Office, in Geneva. He is a pioneer in the new area on health, intellectual property and access to medicines, and he represented WHO at the World Trade Organization (WTO) Council for Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) from 2001 to 2010.Germán Velásquez graduated from Javeriana University, Bogotá, Colombia, with a degree in Philosophy and Humanities that was further complemented by a Master’s in Economics and a PhD in Health Economics from the Sorbonne University in Paris, France. In 2010, he received a PhD Honoris Causa on Public Health from the University of Caldas, Colombia. In October 2015, he received a Honoris Causa Doctorate from the Faculty of Medicine of the Complutense University of Madrid, Spain.Germán Velásquez is author or co-author of numerous publications on subjects such as health economics and medicines, health insurance schemes, globalisation, international trade agreements, intellectual property and access to medicines.