1. Philippe Douste-Blazy previously served as French Minister for Health, Minister of Culture and as Foreign Minister in the cabinet of Dominique de Villepin.
19 Facts About Philippe Douste-Blazy
1. 2.
Philippe Douste-Blazy then worked as a cardiologist in Lourdes and Toulouse, namely in Purpan's hospital from 1986.
3.
Philippe Douste-Blazy became Professor of Medicine at Toulouse Sciences University in 1988.
4.
Philippe Douste-Blazy was elected national director of the association of research against elevations of cholesterol.
5.
Philippe Douste-Blazy was then a member of the European People's Party.
6.
In May 1994, in his capacity as minister, Philippe Douste-Blazy visited Rwanda and refugee camps in neighboring Tanzania to witness the consequences of the genocidal mass slaughter of Tutsi by members of Rwanda's Hutu majority government.
7.
Philippe Douste-Blazy stayed at the ministry until the 1995 presidential election.
8.
In May 1995, after the election of Jacques Chirac as President of France, a candidacy he was backing, Philippe Douste-Blazy was nominated Minister of Culture.
9.
Indeed, while the latter advocated the emancipation of the UDF towards its Gaullist allies, Philippe Douste-Blazy proposed the union of the right-wing parties behind President Chirac.
10.
Philippe Douste-Blazy supported Jacques Chirac in the two rounds of the 2002 presidential election, in spite of the candidacy of Francois Bayrou.
11.
Philippe Douste-Blazy was the instigator of a new reform of medical insurances.
12.
In October 2006, the French National Assembly, despite Philippe Douste-Blazy's opposition, passed a bill which if approved by the Senate and would make Armenian genocide denial a crime.
13.
Philippe Douste-Blazy left the position with the departure of Jacques Chirac from the Presidency in May 2007.
14.
Philippe Douste-Blazy did not run for a new parliamentary term in the 2007 elections.
15.
On 6 November 2007, Douste-Blazy was among the guests invited to the state dinner hosted by President George W Bush in honor of President Nicolas Sarkozy at the White House.
16.
On 19 February 2008, Philippe Douste-Blazy was appointed by United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon as Special Adviser on Innovative Financing for Development, with the rank of UN Under-Secretary-General.
17.
Philippe Douste-Blazy is the chairman of the board of the Millennium Foundation for Innovate Finance for Health.
18.
Philippe Douste-Blazy was in charge of organizing the first World Conference of Non-Governmental Donors, with a special focus on the financing for development provided by citizens, local and regional authorities, foundations, non-governmental organizations, economic and social representatives, faith groups and the private sector.
19.
Ahead of the 2012 presidential elections, Philippe Douste-Blazy announced in January 2012 that he no longer supported Nicolas Sarkozy and instead was lending his support to centrist candidate Francois Bayrou.