Michelle Bachelet
president of Chile from (2006–2010; 2014–2018)
Michelle Bachelet: medicine, government and the UN
From exile to public health
Michelle Bachelet studied medicine in Chile, but the military dictatorship interrupted her life and sent her into exile. She spent time in Australia and Germany before returning home, completing her degree and working as a pediatrician. That clinical background preceded, rather than replaced, her later work in public office.
Two presidencies in Chile
Bachelet served first as health minister and then as defense minister. She became Chile’s first woman president in 2006 and served until 2010. Voters returned her to the presidency for a second term from 2014 to 2018, making her national leadership a two-stage career rather than a single election victory.
International leadership
Between her presidential terms, Bachelet became the first executive director of UN Women, the agency created to advance gender equality. In 2018 she moved to another United Nations role, High Commissioner for Human Rights. The sequence connects her domestic health and defense portfolios with later international work on rights and equality.