Ursula Gertrud von der Leyen, née Albrecht, is a German politician and physician who has been serving as President of the European Commission since December 2019. Born on October 8, 1958, in Ixelles, Belgium, to a politically influential family—her father, Ernst Albrecht, was a prominent Christian Democratic Union (CDU) politician and Minister-President of Lower Saxony—she grew up in Brussels due to her father's role in the European Commission. She studied economics at the University of Göttingen and the London School of Economics before earning her medical degree (MD) from Hannover Medical School in 1991. Initially working as a physician and raising seven children with her husband, Heiko von der Leyen (a physician and medical professor), she entered politics in the 1990s/early 2000s, joining the CDU and rising through the ranks in Lower Saxony's government before moving to federal politics. From 2005 to 2019, she held several ministerial positions in Angela Merkel's federal cabinets, including Minister for Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth (2005-2009), Minister of Labour and Social Affairs (2009-2013), and Federal Minister of Defence (2013-2019), where she oversaw significant reforms and modernization efforts in the German armed forces amid controversies over equipment shortages, readiness, and procurement scandals. As the first woman to lead the European Commission, von der Leyen has championed EU integration, green transition policies (including the European Green Deal), digital transformation, and a robust response to global challenges like the COVID-19 pandemic, the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and climate change, with initiatives like the NextGenerationEU recovery fund. A member of the centre-right CDU and the European People's Party (EPP), she was re-elected for a second term in July 2024 following her designation as the EPP's lead candidate (Spitzenkandidat) for the 2024 European Parliament elections. Von der Leyen is married to physician Heiko von der Leyen and has seven children; she is an accomplished equestrian, Lutheran of German ethnicity, and known for her international upbringing and multilingual skills. Her leadership has drawn both praise for advancing EU unity and criticism for centralizing power and handling crises. Von der Leyen's career has not been without controversy. As Defence Minister, she faced scrutiny over the Bundeswehr's state, including a 2018 parliamentary report criticizing poor equipment and leadership, and allegations of cronyism in defense contracts. In 2015, her doctoral thesis was accused of plagiarism, leading to an investigation by Hannover Medical School that ultimately cleared her in 2016, though the episode damaged her reputation temporarily. More recently, she has been embroiled in 'Pfizergate,' an ongoing investigation (as of 2023-2024) by the European Public Prosecutor's Office into allegations of corruption and conflicts of interest in the EU's negotiation of COVID-19 vaccine contracts with Pfizer, where text messages between von der Leyen and Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla were reportedly deleted, raising transparency concerns. Critics, including MEPs and journalists, have accused her of opacity, undue influence by pharmaceutical lobbies, and questions over her handling of vaccine procurement during the pandemic. She has also been criticized for her family's ties to global health organizations and the World Economic Forum, where she has spoken and engaged in influence activities. Despite these controversies, she remains a key figure in European politics, advocating for a stronger, more integrated EU with strategic autonomy in trade, technology, and defense.