Maren Richter’s research focuses on the physician Maria Daelen (1903-1993). While the leading positions at the Federal Ministry of the Interior were nearly all occupied by men, Maria Daelen was the first female physician to join the ministry’s health department in 1953 to lead the international health office there. Before 1945, she had been active at Berlin’s Charité Hospital and was considered to be a modern, highly qualified, and dedicated doctor. Daelen had to flee the Gestapo towards the end of the Second World War due to her contacts in the resistance, particularly with Hans Gisevius‘ group,, and she was in fact the only person in her ministerial department with resistance experience. She reconnected West German health policy with international health and research policy and was active as a German representative to the World Health Organization. This biographical study will reflect the multifaceted life Maria Daelen led, including her work at the Ministry of the Interior and her efforts to establish a federal health policy.