Henrik C. Wegener is a Master of Food Science (MSc) Master of Public Administration (MPA) and holds a Ph.D. in Veterinary Microbiology. He has been involved in food safety research since 1987.

Initially he worked seven years as a molecular microbiologist in the laboratory, then for ten years he headed surveillance and epidemiological research activities on zoonoses at the Danish Institute for Food and Veterinary Research (DFVF). He has led the successful establishment of the interagency unit the Danish Zoonosis Centre from 1994.

From 2004 he was head of the Department of Epidemiology and Risk Assessment at DFVF, and since 2006 he has been the Director of the National Food Institute, with a staff No. exceeding 400. He is Adjunct Professor of Zoonoses Epidemiology at the University of Copenhagen and Coordinator of the EU Marie Curie Early Stage Training Programme – “Training Risk Assessment in Non-human Antimicrobial Usage”. He remains involved in the establishment of the Global Foodborne Infections Network (GFN) under the auspices of the World Health Organization.

Henrik C. Wegener has received the Alliance for the Prudent Use of Antibiotics – International Leadership Award to Preserve the Power of Antibiotics. He is an associate editor of the Emerging Infectious Diseases Journal (i.f. 6,4), and has published more than 100 scientific papers and book chapters and more than 150 other publications. HCW has participated in numerous national and international committees and currently sits on the Advisory Forum of the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA).