Three deputy health ministers take up their posts
On Monday three Vice-Ministers of Health – prof. Laimutė Vaidelienė, who has more than 30 years of experience in medicine, professor Jelena Čelutkienė, professor of the Institute of Clinical Medicine at the Faculty of Medicine of Vilnius University (VU), Doctor of Biomedical Sciences, and Nerija Stasiulienė, a lawyer and politician, started their work in the team of Minister of Health Marija Jakubauskienė. The Vice-Minister's areas of mentoring will be clarified.
"Firstly, I am a doctor and I care about the health and well-being of patients, especially young ones. I am well aware that there are many components that need to ensure high quality and accessible healthcare services: good governance of the health system, sufficient funding, access to the latest treatment methods, high qualifications of specialists and attractive working conditions for healthcare professionals", – says L. Vaidelienė.
Prof. L. Vaidelienė studied medicine at Kaunas Medical Academy (today Lithuanian University of Health Sciences, LSMU) and later furthered her qualifications in Germany and the United Kingdom. In 2001 she defended her doctoral thesis on the clinical and diagnostic features of major allergic diseases in children. During her long academic career she has published 11 textbooks and educational books, one encyclopaedia, dozens of teaching and methodological tools and other study literature and more than half a dozen scientific articles.
Prof. L. Vaidelienė started her medical career as a paediatrician in 1993 at the Kaunas Dainava Polyclinic and since 1995 she has been working at the Children's Diseases Clinic of Kaunas Clinics of LSMU Hospital where she has been the Head of the 1st Children's Diseases Department and the Children's Pulmonology Sector as well as a paediatric allergist and a paediatric pulmonologist for the last decade. L.Vaidelienė is also a professor at LSMU and the head of the residencies in paediatric allergy and paediatric pulmonology. From 2014 to 2016 prof. Dr. L. Vaidelienė held the position of Vice-Minister of Health, responsible for personal health care, optimisation of the network of health care institutions and restructuring of health care institutions, e-health, etc.
"The desire to help people, the genuine concern that accompanied working directly with patients, led me to the development of health system policy for what I believe will be significant changes at national level. In my work, I always strive for the highest quality that can be delivered to patients and I base my decision-making on data. So I will look for ways to make the healthcare system more efficient through quality and caring for people", – says J. Čelutkienė.
J. Čelutkienė graduated from the University of Latvia in 1995 after completing her residency in general therapy and cardiology. She obtained her PhD degree in 2003 and has had numerous additional internships in Lithuania and abroad and has led or participated in dozens of biomedical studies. She is a member of the European and Lithuanian Cardiological Societies, served as President of the Lithuanian Society of Cardiology from 2020 to 2023 and was a member of the Board of the European Heart Failure Association from 2016 to 2020.
Since 2006 she has worked as an academic at the Cardiovascular Diseases Clinic of the Faculty of Medicine of Vilnius University and since 2018 she has also been a Senior Researcher at the Institute of Innovative Medicine. Her career as a cardiologist at Vilnius University Hospital Santaros Clinics has spanned more than three decades starting in 1992 and from 2022 to 2023 she was also the interim head of the Cardiovascular Centre at Šiauliai Republican Hospital.
"I am ready for a job that is all about protecting people's health and lives. That is why I have made reducing queues in medical institutions a top priority. We will achieve this through the steps set out in the Government Programme. First of all, by cutting red tape we will free up time for doctors to spend with patients", – says N. Stasiulienė.
With a law degree, Stasiulienė has 20 years experience in the Ministry of Health. She started her career at the Ministry in 1997 as a Senior Specialist and later continued her career as Deputy Head of the Legal Department, Head of the Legal Department and Director of the Legal Department. In addition to legislative and legal representation she was responsible for personnel management and for some time international cooperation.
Stasiulienė has also worked as a lawyer at Vilnius City Municipality, as a personnel officer at the Chancellery of the Government of the Republic of Lithuania and as a lecturer at the Faculty of Medicine of Vilnius University. Since 2017, she has worked at the Seimas Chancellery as an advisor to the Member of the Seimas, Julius Sabatauskas and for the last four years she has been the Senior Advisor to the Deputy Speaker of the Seimas Julius Sabatauskas. Since 17 November 2024 she has been a member of Vilnius City Council.