Professor Sandra C. Buttigieg is Full Professor and Head of the Department of Health Systems Management and Leadership (HSML), Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Malta. She is also Honorary Professor at the College of Social Sciences, University of Birmingham (UK). Alongside her academic roles, she serves as Consultant in Public Health Medicine, Head of the Clinical Performance Unit, and Chair of the Patient Safety and Quality Improvement Team at Mater Dei Hospital.

Professor Buttigieg lectures in HSML, Patient Safety and Clinical Risk Management, PH, Family Medicine, Research Methodology, and Evidence-Based Health Research.

She has held prominent international leadership roles, including President of the European Health Management Association (2022 to 2024) and Global Representative-at-Large of the American Academy of Management, HCM Division (2018–2020).

A strong advocate of inter-/trans-disciplinarity in HCM research and practice, Professor Buttigieg conceptualises health system and organisational performance as a macro-level construct shaped by policies, people, and operating systems. Her research integrates clinical performance management, quality of care, patient safety, OB, SHRM, OM and research, and health policy issues, including ageism, migrant health, and One Health.

She has authored and co-authored numerous articles in peer-reviewed international journals and regularly contributes to international conferences and congresses. She serves on the editorial boards of high-impact journals in HSML, PH, OB and HR. She is Frontiers Topic Editor for collections focusing on One Health , patient safety, and HSML.

Professor Buttigieg is a Fellow of two Salzburg Global Seminar programmes on health care, led by distinguished figures including former Presidents of the Institute of Medicine, Donald Berwick and Harvey Fineberg. She has been a visiting scholar in the United States (James Madison University), the United Kingdom (University of Birmingham and Aston University), and Kuwait (Kuwait University).

Her research and policy engagement include participation in EU-funded initiatives such as Horizon 2020 (To REACH) and multiple COST Actions, where she has served in leadership, coordination, Management Committee, and working group roles across initiatives addressing evidence-based research, patient safety, cost containment, ageism, One Health, diversity, BetterCare, and LeverAge.