Charles Boelen is a medical doctor (Belgium), specialized in public health (University of Montreal), epidemiology (McGill University), health system management (Harvard and Stanford Universities) and education of health professionals (University of Paris XIII). 

At World Health Organization headquarters, regional and country offices (1972 to 2001), and afterwards as an independent consultant, he developed health workforce strategies in liaison with national health and academic authorities in several spots in the world. Today, he is president of RIFRESS - the International Francophone Network for Social Accountability in Health. He is known for: the Five-Star-Doctor model, the WHO monograph Defining and Measuring the Social Accountability of Medical Schools, the WHO strategic paper Towards Unity for Health, the WHO-UNESCO report Universities and Health of the Disadvantaged, the Global Consensus for Social Accountability of Medical Schools.

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