Dr Kökény, a Hungarian citizen was trained for medicine, cardiology, health care management and political sciences. Having worked in various government positions, he served as minister for health twice (1996-98, 2003-4).  His international activities cover a broad field of health promotion, environment and health and health care reforms.

He assisted WHO in various fields, and was a member (2008-2011) and the chairman (2010-2011) of the Executive Board of the organization. He has worked as a senior fellow of the Global Health Centre at the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies, Geneva for 10 years, and contributed to global health diplomacy education and research and a WHO consultant on health promotion and societal well-being (2020-2022).

Currently he is a lecturer at the University of Debrecen, Faculty of Medicine, Institute of Public Health and Epidemiology in Hungary (on global health and health policy).