Dr Chieko Ikeda is Executive Officer of Blood Service Board of Management at the Japanese Red Cross Society. For over 30 years, she has been engaged in public health, including as Director General of the Bureau of International Health Cooperation at Japan’s National Center for Global Health and Medicine (2021-2023) and as Senior Assistant Minister for Global Health at Japan’s Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare (2017-2019). She also previously led the technology transfer programme at the Western Pacific Regional Office of the World Health Organization (1999-2000) and worked at the UNAIDS Southeast Asia and Pacific regional office (2000-2003). Dr Ikeda has a bachelor’s degree in medicine from Tsukuba University and master’s degrees in public health and science from the Harvard School of Public Health.