Clara Hervás is associate vice president within the Edelman Global Advisory’s Brussels health and wellbeing team, where she supports clients to shape public affairs strategies and establish multi-stakeholder coalitions. Ms. Hervás joined Edelman Global Advisory after spending more than five years within the advocacy team of the European Organisation for Rare Diseases (EURORDIS).
In parallel, she was also Public Affairs lead at Rare Diseases International (RDI), the global alliance of rare disease patient organizations, and Policy Coordinator of the NGO Committee for Rare Diseases, a platform of NGOs in consultative status with the United Nations. Ms. Hervás maintained institutional relations with the UN, its Member States, and its agencies, and was instrumental in the development of campaigns that led to the inclusion of rare diseases in the 2019 UN Political Declaration on Universal Health Coverage, and the adoption of the 2021 UN General Assembly Resolution on addressing the challenges of persons living with a rare disease and their families.
Prior to her engagement within the rare disease community, she worked in the sustainable development sector as a research assistant at the World Bank in Washington D.C. and a campaign coordinator within a small-scale Belgian NGO. Ms. Hervás holds a master’s in global politics from the London School of Economics and a bachelor’s in human geography from the University of Cambridge in the UK. She is a native Spanish speaker, is fluent in English and French, and speaks basic Italian.