The lunch and the speech is given in English.
Ambassador Erik D. Ramanathan became
ambassador to the Kingdom of Sweden in January 2022. Previously he served as
Chairman of the Board of Heluna Health, a trailblazing public health non-profit
serving more than 80 million Americans with over 500 programs addressing
population health and community resilience issues, including maternal and child
health, nutrition, literacy, supportive housing, infectious disease, addiction,
and front-line and supportive efforts to combat the COVID-19 pandemic. He was
previously Executive Director of the Harvard Law School Center on the Legal
Profession, the world’s leading research program and think tank on the evolving
legal profession, and Board Chair at Immigration Equality, the national legal
services and advocacy organization for LGBTQ+ and HIV+ immigrants and asylees.
Prior to dedicating his career to
non-profit and public service work, Ambassador Ramanathan was Senior Vice
President – General Counsel of ImClone Systems, a Nasdaq-100 biotechnology firm
that he helped recover from intense legal and governance challenges. His
interests in health care innovation and social determinants of health were
sparked by several years in the healthcare practice at law firm Proskauer Rose
LLP.
Ambassador Ramanathan has a passionate
interest in helping others and those who may need help expressing their voice,
whether it be through health care and community wellness, human rights
advocacy, or inspiring military and civilian service veterans to start a career
in public service. He has been an LGBTQ+ community leader and change agent for
more than three decades and is the recipient of honors, including the Global
Vision Award for service to the LGBTQ+ and HIV+ immigrant and asylee
communities.
A native of rural western New York,
Ambassador Ramanathan earned a B.A. in behavioral biology at Johns Hopkins
University and a J.D. cum laude (jur. dr.) from Harvard Law School. He is
joined in Stockholm by his husband of more than 30 years and their teenage
child.
