Ursula Gertrud von der Leyen (born Ursula Albrecht on October 8, 1958) is a German politician and physician who has served as the President of the European Commission since 2019. She is the first woman to hold this office and is a member of the centre-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and the European People's Party (EPP). Over the course of her political career, she has held several high-level positions within the German federal government, establishing herself as a prominent figure in European politics. Born in Ixelles, Brussels, Belgium, von der Leyen was raised in an international environment as her father, Ernst Albrecht, was one of the first European civil servants. She spent the first 13 years of her life in Brussels, attending the European School, which fostered her multilingual proficiency in German, French, and English. In 1971, her family relocated to the Hanover region in Germany when her father entered state politics. Von der Leyen pursued a diverse academic path, initially studying economics at the universities of Göttingen and Münster, as well as at the London School of Economics between 1977 and 1980. She subsequently shifted her focus to medicine, enrolling at the Hannover Medical School, where she qualified as a physician in 1987 and later earned a doctorate in medicine (Dr. med.) in 1991. Between 1992 and 1996, she lived in Stanford, California, with her husband, Heiko von der Leyen, whom she married in 1986, and their growing family. Following their return to Germany, she earned a Master of Public Health in 2001 and served as a faculty member at the Hannover Medical School. Her political career began in the late 1990s, after she joined the CDU in 1990. She initially became active in local politics in the Hanover region before ascending to state-level office, serving as a cabinet minister in the government of Lower Saxony from 2003 to 2005. In 2005, she joined the federal cabinet of Chancellor Angela Merkel, beginning a 14-year tenure in the federal government. She served as the Federal Minister for Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth (2005–2009), where she gained recognition for advocating for paid parental leave and the expansion of childcare facilities. She later served as the Federal Minister for Labour and Social Affairs (2009–2013) before becoming Germany's first female Federal Minister of Defence (2013–2019). In 2019, the European Council proposed von der Leyen as the candidate for the presidency of the European Commission. She was elected by the European Parliament and assumed office on December 1, 2019. Her first term was characterized by navigation of the COVID-19 pandemic, the initiation of the European Green Deal, and the European Union’s response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Her leadership saw the introduction of the NextGenerationEU recovery package and the advancement of digital and climate-focused policy agendas. In July 2024, the European Parliament re-elected her for a second five-year term, extending her leadership until 2029. Von der Leyen is a Lutheran and, alongside her husband, Heiko von der Leyen—who is also a physician—is a parent to seven children. Throughout her career, she has been recognized for her ability to manage complex ministerial portfolios and for her strategic role in shaping European integration.