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 from Harvard Law School. He is joined in Stockholm by his husband of more than 30 years and their teenage child.