Dr John Schoonbee
Dr John Schoonbee is a medical doctor who has been working in the insurance field for about 15 years and directly for reinsurers since 2005. John began working at Swiss Re in July 2011 and is their Global Chief Medical Officer, in addition to specifically covering the EMEA region.
He is involved in many aspects of life insurance, including product development, risk and claims assessment, as well as helping with pricing some of the more complex medical life and health products.
Dr Schoonbee graduated from the University of Cape Town in 1995, and performed his internship at Groote Schuur Hospital. After some years in private medical practice he joined the corporate world which included working at a company that specialized in corporate sick leave management, in its own right, as well as the link to future short and long term disability.
While running his own sick leave and disability consulting company he joined RGA in South Africa and became Chief Medical Officer and Head of Research.
John coordinates a team of over 20 permanent and consultant medical doctors at Swiss Re, in addition to focusing on key global health topics. He recently initiated a collaboration between Swiss Re and The BMJ to host a seminal event on reassessing Nutritional Science due to the clear link between diet and the catastrophic effect on Non Communicable Diseases.