Dr. John Schoonbee is a medical doctor and an internationally distinguished leader in the insurance industry, with over 25 years of experience bridging clinical medicine and life and health insurance. He qualified as a medical doctor at the University of Cape Town in 1995 and began his career practicing in private medicine before transitioning to the insurance sector, where he developed deep expertise in medical underwriting, risk assessment, and health strategy.
Dr. Schoonbee joined Swiss Re, one of the world’s leading reinsurance companies, in 2011 as Chief Medical Officer for the EMEA region. He has been involved in many aspects of life insurance, including product development, risk and claims assessment, and pricing some of the more complex medical life and health products.
In 2017, he became Swiss Re’s Global Chief Medical Officer. He collaborates with a global team of more than 15 permanent and consulting medical doctors, as well as with the Life & Health (L&H) research functions across the business. For several years, he also led the research for Life Guide, Swiss Re’s industry-leading life and health underwriting manual, ensuring it reflects robust and up-to-date medical evidence for global insurance markets.
He plays a key role in Swiss Re’s medical thought leadership as a spokesperson for L&H medical topics and leads senior client discussions involving L&H medical risks and opportunities. He is passionate about his current focus on global health topics and evidence-based strategies. He initiated a strategic collaboration between Swiss Re and The BMJ to reassess nutritional science, driven by the clear link between diet and the catastrophic effects of non-communicable diseases in the context of ever-increasing obesity and diabetes rates.
The importance of metabolic health and its impact on non-communicable diseases, life expectancy, and the industry’s claims experience has become a key focus for him. His research and collaboration with world experts have led to a Metabolic Health initiative in the L&H business, which he drives with support from various teams and markets.
Based in Zurich, Switzerland with his family, Dr. Schoonbee spends much time with his family and in nature walking and mountain biking, including his almost daily trip over the Uetliberg to work (even on snowy winter days).