electing health - webgate.ec.europa.eu

17th EuropeanHealth Forum

Gastein

Electing Health - The Europe

We Want!30.09 > 3.10.2014

Young Forum Gastein Gastein Valley, Austria

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Disclaimer: the content of this publication represents the views of the author and it is his sole responsibility; it can in no way be taken to reflect the views of the European Commission and/or the executive agency for Health and Consumers or any other body of the European Union. The European Commission and/or the executive agency do(es) not accept responsibility for any use that may be made of the information it contains.

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Gastein Valley Austria

Electing Health - The Europe

We Want!

17th European Health Forum

Gastein

30.09 > 3.10.2014

Young Forum Gastein

4 17th European Health Forum Gastein, Young Forum Gastein, 30.09 > 3.10.2014

VerónicaALONSO

SpainCarlos III Institute of Health, Spain [email protected]

Christoph ALUTTIS

Germany Maastricht University [email protected]

ChaskaARMBRUSTER

GermanyOrthopaedic Rehabilitation Centre Zicksee [email protected]

Kolia BÉNIÉ

FranceEuropean Parliament [email protected]

Christian BÖHLER

Germany European Commission, Joint Research Centre (JRC), Institute for Prospective Technological Studies (IPTS)

[email protected]

Ann Marie BORG

MaltaGeneral Secretariat of the Council of the European Union [email protected]

Bendik BRINCHMANN

Norway The Norwegian Institute of Public Health [email protected]

Hannah BRINSDEN

UKWorld Obesity Federation / City University [email protected]

EllieBROOKS

UK University of Lancaster/European Public Health Alliance [email protected]

JoyceBROWNE

The Netherlands University Medical Center Utrecht, The Netherlands [email protected]

LukBRUYNEEL

BelgiumKatholieke Universiteit Leuven [email protected]

Elżbieta BUCZAK-STEC

Poland National Institute of Public Health, Poland / Medical Uni-versity of Warsaw [email protected]

Miguel José CABRAL de PINHO

Portugal Unidade Local de Saúde da Guarda,E.P.E. [email protected]

Lucinda CASH-GIBSON

UKIESE Business School, Spain [email protected]

CarolinaCERNICIUC

MoldovaMinistry of Health, Republic of Moldova [email protected]

Laura CLOOSTERMANS

The Netherlands National Institute for Public Health and the Envi-ronment, The Netherlands [email protected]

SorinDAN Romania [email protected]

Mathilde de CALAN

FranceMinistry of Foreign Affairs, France [email protected]

YoniDEKKER

The Netherlands Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sports, The Netherlands [email protected]

MarieDELNORD

France National Institute of Health and Medical Research, France [email protected]

JorunnEVANDT

Norway Norwegian Institute of Public Health [email protected]

MagdaFILONOWICZ

Norway Norwegian Directorate of Health [email protected]

Padraic FLEMING

Ireland National University of Ireland Maynooth [email protected]

FrancescoFLORINDI

Italy European Cancer Patient Coalition [email protected]

Simona GAILIŪTĖ

Lithuania Ministry of Health of the Republic of Lithuania [email protected]

List of Participants

List of Participants 5

AnnaGALLINAT

Germany EuroHealthNet [email protected]

Sonia GARCÍA PEREZ

Spain Carlos III Institute of Health, Spain / Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness, Spain

[email protected]

Dorothy GAUCI

Malta Ministry of Health, Malta / University of Malta [email protected]

Ioana GHIGA

Romania Lund University, Sweden [email protected]

PaulGIEPMANS

The Netherlands European Health Management Association [email protected]

Josep Maria GUIU SEGURA

Spain Agency for Health Quality and Assessment of Catalonia (AQuAS) [email protected]

Svens HENKUZENS

Latvia Ministry of Health, Latvia [email protected]

Jenni HISLOP

UK Newcastle University, UK [email protected]

Elisabeth KASILINGAM

France European Multiple Sclerosis Platform [email protected]

AndriusKAVALIUNAS

Lithuania Karolinska Institutet, Sweden [email protected]

AlexanderKENTIKELENIS

Greece University of Cambridge, UK [email protected]

Lucia KOSSAROVA

Slovakia Nuffield Trust [email protected]

Alessandra LAFRANCONI

Italy Azienda Sanitaria Locale [email protected]

LiesLAMMENS

Belgium Federal Public Service Health, Food Chain Safety and Environment, Belgium

[email protected]

Anaïs LEGAND

France World Health Organization, Switzerland [email protected]

Ute LINNENKAMP

Germany International Diabetes Federation [email protected]

Olga LÖBLOVÁ

Czech Republic Central European University, Hungary [email protected]

María Rosa LÓPEZ HUERTAS

Spain National Centre of Microbiology (Carlos III Institute of Health, Spain)

[email protected]

Joreintje MACKENBACH

The Netherlands VU Medical Center Amsterdam [email protected]

Guido MARINGHINI

Italy University of Palermo, Italy [email protected]

Jochen MIKOLAJCZAK

Belgum Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport, Belgium [email protected]

Sabrina MONTANTE

Italy Brussels Office Università Cattolica del Sacro Cyuore [email protected]

Ana MORAIS

Portugual Ministry of Health, Portugal [email protected]

Martina NASCHBERGER

Austria Medical University Innsbruck, Austria [email protected]

Siobhán O'CONNOR

Ireland University College Cork, Ireland [email protected]

Tatiana PADURARU

Romania WHO / Ministry of Health of the Republic of Moldova [email protected]


Leonardo PALUMBO

Italy European Public Health Alliance [email protected]

Dimitra PANTELI Greece Berlin University of Technology, Germany [email protected]

Gabriele PASTORINO Italy European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies [email protected]

Ana PEDRO

Portugal National School of Public Health, Portugal [email protected]

Iulia Alexandra PERCA

Romania Local American Working Group (ONG) [email protected]

José PULIDO MANZANERO

Spain Biomedical Research Networking Centres (CIBER) [email protected]

WilmQUENTIN

Germany Berlin University of Technology / European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies

[email protected]

Ulrike RAUER

Germany Oxford Internet Institute [email protected]

Peter RAVN RIIS

Denmark Ministry of Health, Denmark [email protected]

SofiaRIBEIRO

Portugal ACeS Sintra, Portugal [email protected]

Yaiza RIVERO MONTESDEOCA

Spain Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Spain [email protected]

JuliaRÖTTGER

Germany Berlin University of Technology / Berlin Centre for Health Economics Research

[email protected]

RobertaSAVLI

Italy EFA (European Federation of Allergy and Airways Diseases Patients' Associations) [email protected]

LauraSCHANG

GermanyLondon School of Economics and Political Science [email protected]

AndreaSCHMIDT

Austria European Centre for Social Welfare Policy and Research, Austria [email protected]

Francesca SENESE

Italy Regional Agency for Health and Social care, Emilia - Romagna Region, Italy

[email protected]

ClemensSIGL

Austria Institute for Advanced Studies, Austria [email protected]

Wietze SIJTSMA

The Netherlands Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sports, The Netherlands [email protected]

Dimitrios SKEMPES

Greece Swiss Paraplegic Research Institute / University of Lucerne [email protected]

Laurène SOUCHET

France European Patients' Forum [email protected]

SusanSPILLANE

Ireland Health Service Executive / National Centre for Pharmacoeconomics, Ireland

[email protected]

Milda URNIKIENE

Lithuania Ministry of Health of the Republic of Lithuania [email protected]

Thomas VAN CANGH

Belgium European Centre for Disease Control [email protected]

Amalia VINOGRADOVA

Sweden Stockholm County Council, Sweden [email protected]

Tamás ZELEI

Hungary Eötvös Loránd University, Hungary [email protected]

AlexandraZIEMANN

Germany Acute Zorg Euregio, The Netherlands [email protected]

Biographies 7

Current Country of Residence: The Netherlands

Email Address: [email protected]

Profession: Researcher

Present position: PhD Candidate at Maastricht University

Educational background: MSc. Public Policy & Human Development & BSc. Health Sciences

Relevant memberships: Member of Global Health Europe, a platform for European Engagement in Global Health; Member of the European Academic Global Health Alli-ance’s sub-committee on EU global health policy

Relevant professional activities and past achievements: Research and publications on Europe’s role in global health

Key words: Global health in a European context, global health governance, health policy, foreign policy and health

Pen Portrait: Christoph is a PhD candidate at Maastricht University’s Department of International Health, a department which focuses on health issues in a European context. His PhD dissertation addresses Europe’s role in shap-ing social and health related developments in a globalised world. Chris-toph has been involved in various research projects on European public health issues, both as a researcher and in a coordination function. This includes research projects on public health capacities in the European member states, health target setting processes and citizen consultations for health in European countries. Next to his PhD research he is involved in various teaching activities in the bachelor’s and master’s programmes at Maastricht University.

Christoph ALUTTIS

Nationality: German

Verónica ALONSO

Nationality: Spanish

Current Country of Residence: Spain


Profession: Public health researcher

Present position: Researcher, Institute of Rare Diseases Research, Instituto de Salud Carlos III

Educational background: MSc, PhD in Biology

Relevant memberships: Centre for Biomedical Network Research on Rare Diseases

Relevant professional activities and past achievements: Former researcher at Complutense University of Madrid (2002-2007), La Paz Hospital (2003-2004), Príncipe de Asturias Hospital (2006), and visitor researcher at the University of Vienna (Oct-Dec 2005)

Key words: Rare diseases, public health, registry, health systems

Pen Portrait: Verónica Alonso (PhD, MSc) has been a staff member at the Institute of Rare Diseases Research (Instituto de Salud Carlos III) since 2008. She is a researcher in several international and national projects financed by the EU-FP7 Programme, International Rare Diseases Research Consor-tium (IRDiRC) or the Spanish Government. In the field of Rare Diseases (RD), she develops epidemiological studies related to morbidity and mor-tality risk of people affected by RD. She also collaborates on the Spanish National Registry of patients with RD, searching for relevant scientific information and coding diseases under the International Classification of Diseases 10th and 9th revision.

Biographies

BiographiesBiographies8 17th European Health Forum Gastein, Young Forum Gastein, 30.09 > 3.10.2014

Current Country of Residence: Austria


Profession: Psychologist

Present position: Health and Clinical Psychologist/ PhD Student, Orthopaedic Rehabilitation Centre Zicksee

Educational background: Psychology

Relevant memberships: YSA (Young Scientists Association)

Relevant professional activities and past achievements: Research about (mental) health during physical rehabilitation Psychoeducational lectures for patients about mental healthScholarship for Summer School “European Health Care and Social Sys-tems in Transition” at European Forum Alpbach 2014Scholarship for Young Forum Gastein 2014

Key words: Mental health, chronic diseases, rehabilitation, quality of life

Pen Portrait:I am currently working in an orthopaedic rehabilitation centre where I am also doing my research. I mainly work with amputees, but also with psy-chosomatic patients and patients with general needs in terms of psycho-logical counselling. The health of patients is not only impaired in terms of physical well-being but also psychological well-being as symptoms such as chronic pain or chronic diseases in many cases can lead to severe psy-chological problems which can also turn out to be chronic. All disciplines at the rehabilitation centre are working closely together, therefore I am often confronted with topics like health care management, health care provision or ageing. My PhD research is focusing on mental health and quality of life of patients during rehabilitation.

Current Country of Residence: Belgium/France


Profession: Global & EU Health Advisor

Present position: Political Advisor on Health, European Parliament

Educational background: Medical studies – University of Bordeaux

Relevant memberships: IFMSA – International Federation of Medical Students’ Association / YFJ- European Youth Forum / APYN – Alcohol Policy Youth Network / FYEG – Federation of Young European Greens

Relevant professional activities and past achievements: Campaigner for European Elections 2014 / ex-Vice-President of Public Health for French National Medical Students’ Association / Academic Papers: “Functional Anatomy of Vater’s bulb” and “Leprosis: new eradi-cation’s strategies” / Policy Papers: “Sanitary crises in France”, “Health & IT in medical education in France”

Key words: E-Health, environmental health, cancers, personalized medicine, youth health, women health, patient’s rights and information, medical devices, tobacco control, endocrine disruptors, global health

Pen Portrait: Raised between Europe and South-America, with an African background, I consider myself as a World citizen. That’s the reason why, as a health advocate, I feel extremely concerned by these topics, whether in devel-oped or less developed countries. Presently working at the European Par-liament, in my daily work I try to protect consumers and create efficient, sustainable health policies, close to citizen’s needs and aspirations.

ChaskaARMBRUSTER

Nationality: German

Kolia BÉNIÉ

Nationality: French

Biographies 9Biographies

Christian Ernst HeinrichBÖEHLER

Nationality: German



Profession: Health Economist, Joint Research Centre, European Commission

Present position: Postdoctoral Research Fellow / Scientific Officer at DG-JRC, IPTS

Educational background: PhD in Health Economics (2013), Health Economics Research Group (HERG), Brunel University, UK; MSc in Health Economics (2007), Univer-sity of York, UK; German Diploma (BSc equivalent) in Health Economics and Management (2006), University of Applied Sciences Ludwigshafen, Germany; State approved social health insurance professional (2005), BAHN-BKK, Frankfurt / Main, Germany

Relevant memberships: Health Economists’ Study Group (HESG), UK; International Society for Pharmacoeconomics and Outcomes Research (ISPOR); German National Merit Foundation (Studienstiftung des Deutschen Volkes)

Relevant professional activities and past achievements: Honorary Lecturer at the University of Sheffield, School of Health & Related Research (ScHARR) / Health Economics and Decision Sciences; Previous member of the Multidisciplinary Assessment of Technology Centre for Healthcare (MATCH) project; Acquired relevant professional experience in academia, industry, the public sector and international organisations whilst working in four European countries (Germany, UK, Hungary, Spain)

Key words: Economic evaluation of healthcare technologies, geographic transfera-bility of evidence for health policy making, decision analytic modelling & multilevel statistical modelling, e-health, active ageing

Pen Portrait: As a member of the E-Health team of the JRC-IPTS` Information Society Unit, I am primarily involved in the European Innovation Partnership on Active and Healthy Ageing (EIP on AHA) policy initiative. In this context, I am responsible for developing a monitoring an assessment framework in order to link health and economic outcomes of EIP on AHA interven-tions to the objectives of the Partnership: improving the health of Eu-ropean citizens, strengthening the sustainability of health systems and generating innovation and growth opportunities for Europe. This involves reviewing and analysing policy documents as well as health outcomes and economic data, developing indicators and economic models for quantifying health and economic impact, monitoring progress, and ulti-mately developing recommendations for European policy making.

Ann Marie BORG

Nationality: Maltese

Current Country of Residence: Belgium


Profession: European health policy specialist

Present position: N/A

Educational background: BSc/MSc European Public Health, MA European Public Affairs

Relevant memberships: Member of the European Patients’ Forum Policy Advisory Group

Relevant professional activities and past achievements: Blue book trainee at the Cabinet of European Commissioner for Health Tonio Borg; researcher and policy trainee at the Maltese Ministry for Health

Key words: The politics of EU health policy-making, cross-border healthcare and the Patients’ Rights Directive, health systems efficacy and financial sus-tainability, health inequalities, reducing the research-policy gap in public health

Pen Portrait: During the course of my studies in European public health, I conducted research on the impact of the economic crisis and austerity on health and health inequalities and also studied the phenomenon of cross-bor-der healthcare and the EU Patients’ Rights Directive including its trans-position and implementation in the Maltese context. Through my work experience at the Cabinet of Commissioner Borg, I have notably gained extensive working knowledge on EU legislative-making processes and the ins and outs of health policy-making. I am particularly intrigued by the politics of health and am eager to continue analysing what is polit-ically at stake behind legislative and non-legislative health policy deci-sions being taken across the EU and the EU inter-institutional relations involved in the process.

Biographies10 17th European Health Forum Gastein, Young Forum Gastein, 30.09 > 3.10.2014

Current Country of Residence: Norway


Profession:Medical doctor, Norwegian Institute of Public Health

Present position: PhD. student

Educational background: Medical Doctor

Relevant memberships: The Norwegian Medical AssociationNorwegian Association of Physicians in Science (NAPS)

Relevant professional activities and past achievements: 2 years part time MD in Neurology, ½ year MD resident medical ward, 1 year resident psychiatry Publication: A possible role of chitin in the pathogenesis of asthma and allergy – Brinchmann et al

Key words: Environmental medicine, inflammation, public health, air pollution, stem cells

Pen Portrait: I am a medical doctor with a special interest in inflammatory disease and trying to find an explanation for the increasing incidence of these types of illnesses. Currently I am employed by the Norwegian Institute of Public Health, working on a PhD project concerning the inflammatory potential of air pollution titled: „Inflammation by Mixtures; Exploring the funda-mentals of proinflammatory responses by complex combustion-derived pollutants”.

Current Country of Residence: United Kingdom


Profession: Public Health Nutritionist; Policy researcher

Present position: Policy & Advocacy Officer at World Obesity Federation; PT PhD candidate, City University London

Educational background: BSc Nutrition & Food Science; PhD Food Policy (“A critical analysis of what makes effective advocacy in obesity and food”)

Relevant memberships: Young Professionals Chronic Disease Network; World Public Health Nu-trition Association; Association for Nutrition; Public Health Nutrition UK; Nutrition Society Public Health Theme Team

Key words: Non-communicable disease; obesity; prevention; diet; advocacy

Pen Portrait: My interest lies in the effect that modern diets, food supply and food environments have on our health, in particular on obesity and non-com-municable diseases. Working for an NGO, a lot of my time is spent ad-vocating for better policies to improve food and challenge food industry practices which promote consumption of unhealthy diets. Specifically I work on issues around food marketing to children, formulation and pro-motion of processed foods, fiscal measures and trade agreements. Of particular concern are the policies and actions that promote market in-terests at the expense of public health. As such, my PhD is exploring the effectiveness of NGO advocacy and the opportunities that exist for challenging market power in favour of health through monitoring, bench-marking and accountability mechanisms. The organisation that I work for is in official relations with UN/WHO and we are regularly consulted and invited to provide expert advice on obesity, nutrition and food issues.

Bendik Christian BRINCHMANN

Nationality: Norwegian

Hannah BRINSDEN

Nationality: British

Biographies 11

Eleanor BROOKS




Profession: N/A

Present position: PhD Candidate, Lancaster University; Research Associate, European Pub-lic Health Alliance

Educational background: Currently PhD candidate at Lancaster University, UK. BA Honours in poli-tics and economics, MA/LLM international relations and international law and MRes in international relations.

Relevant memberships: N/A

Relevant professional activities and past achievements: N/A

Key words: Economic governance, cross-border healthcare, EU law, European inte-gration, health policy development.

Pen Portrait: As a research associate I am part of EPHA’s EU affairs and governance team, specifically focused on health in economic governance, the Euro-pean Semester, the impacts of the economic crisis on health and the role of civil society in these new mechanisms. My PhD research looks at the evolution of health governance in the EU. It traces the dynamics of health policy development from Commission-led public health initiatives, through Court-led application of internal market law in health services, to contemporary health governance in the context of macroeconomic frameworks. It asks what current trends in economic governance and the inclusion of health in these mechanisms means for the future of EU health policy, the role of health stakeholders and, ultimately, the health of Europeans. As a departmental research assistant, I am currently in-volved in projects on medical need and innovation in pharmaceuticals and the regulation of pharmaceutical advertising in the EU and China.

JoyceBROWNE

Nationality: Dutch



Profession: PhD student

Present position: PhD student, University Medical Center Utrecht, The Netherlands

Educational background: Medicine (2013), Epidemiology (2010), Liberal Arts and Sciences (2008)


Relevant professional activities and past achievements: Blogger for Dutch Royal Academy of Sciences about young researchers (www.facesofscience.nl)

Key words: Global health, maternal health, mhealth, clinical epidemiology, evi-dence-based medicine

Pen Portrait: My working field has a focus on global health, particularly maternal health. In this, I try to combine an evidence-based approach to develop and evaluate (clinical) interventions that will contribute to the reduction of maternal mortality burden, in particularly due to hypertensive disor-ders in pregnancy and postpartum haemorrhage. In addition, I am in-terested in the capacity building of health professionals and research through e-learning.





Present position: PhD student, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven

Educational background: MSc Nursing, MSc Economic Policy, MSc Statistics

Relevant memberships: European Academy of Nursing Science

Relevant professional activities and past achievements: Project manager EU FP7 RN4CAST project

Key words: Nursing science and policy, information science, biostatistics, patient safety

Pen Portrait: My current research is on crucial issues in the organisation of nursing care that are related to personnel wellbeing and quality and safety of patient care. The emphasis is on substantive research questions, yet I am also intensely passionate about applying modern methodological approach-es to finding solutions to research problems. Specialties include: proven track record in scientific writing, mentoring young colleagues (and stu-dents), maintaining good working relationships with professionals from various backgrounds, effective presentation skills, problem solving skills, providing insights from complex analyses to various audiences, passion for big data.

Current Country of Residence: Poland

Email Address: [email protected]; [email protected]

Profession: Researcher, Medical University of Warsaw

Present position: Researcher: 2010 – now: National Institute of Public Health; Department of Organization, Health Economics and Hospital Management; PhD Stu-dent, Medical University of Warsaw

Educational background: 2010 - now – Medical University of Warsaw, PhD Candidate, Institute of Social Medicine2006-2009 - University of Cologne, Germany; Healthcare Management, Statistics2002-2008 - Cracow University of Economics, Poland2004-2005 - University of Kalmar, Sweden; Socrates – Erasmus

Relevant memberships: Polish Public Health Association, Mummert Stiftung & DAAD Alumni

Relevant professional activities and past achievements: 2008 - University Hospital of Cologne, Germany; Internship, 2006-2009 - Study Scholarship - Mummert Stiftung

Key wordsHealth Economics, Health systems, Cost-effectiveness analysis, Health Financing, Health Statistics

Pen Portrait: I am currently a PhD candidate at the Medical University of Warsaw – Institute of Social Medicine. My research concentrates on the effects of introducing diagnosis related groups (DRG) in Poland. Moreover, I am working as a young researcher at the National Institute of Public Health in Poland, where I am conducting research in the field of hospital man-agement, hospital costs, and primary and specialised ambulatory health-care costs.

Luk BRUYNEEL

Nationality: Belgian

ElżbietaBUCZAK-STEC

Nationality: Polish

Biographies 13

Miguel José CABRAL DE PINHO

Nationality: Portuguese

Current Country of Residence: Portugal


Profession:Medical Doctor

Present position: Intern, Unidade Local de Saúde da Guarda, E.P.E.

Educational background: Master in Medicine (According to the Bologna Process)

Relevant memberships: World Medical Association; Portuguese’ Medical Association

Relevant professional activities and past achievements: Served for 2 years as an European Regional Coordinator in a student INGO with 117 National Members, achieving the following: (i) Represent-ed for a period of 2 years an international NGO’s region, that included 42 National Members’ Organisations towards WHO Europe, EPHA, EUHPF, EFJ, CoE and other external partners. (ii) Coordinated the organization of 2 European events that gathered about 250 medical students each from several European countries; (III) Developed several strategic documents for the region such as: Draft regulations for the work of the Region, 3 year Strategic Plan proposal, a year worth of outcome oriented agendas and other managerial templates and systems

Key words: E-Health; Management; Health Systems

Pen Portrait: I’m a young doctor about to pick a residency programme that will lead to a specialisation in Portugal, as such my expertise in medicine is still quite wide. My experience in medical NGOs has provided me with expertise in health politics, management and global health basic knowledge.

Lucinda CASH-GIBSON




Profession:Young Health Professional (Research and Practice)

Present position: Researcher, Healthcare Innovation Management, IESE Business School, Spain

Educational background: Bachelor of Science- Molecular Cell Biology, Master of Science- Repro-ductive and Sexual Health Research (Public Health)

Relevant memberships: Member of European Innovation Partnership for Active and Health Ageing External Network; Honorary Member of the ‘International Foundation for Integrated Care’

Relevant professional activities and past achievements: Previous experience in UK’s National Health Service (NHS) working on Lo-cal Cardiovascular Service Improvements across South London, support-ing clinical, public health and managerial colleagues (at Primary, Second-ary and Tertiary care level). Previous research experience with University College London- Centre for Evidence Based Child Health and Imperial College London- Department of Primary Care and Population Health

Key words: Evidence based research; integrated (health) care; social determinants of health; cross border health care; chronic diseases

Pen Portrait: I have varied experience and interests in the health sector, so I prefer to think of myself as a generalist rather than a specialist. I have experience in conducting evidence based research to inform health policy and prac-tice, in health service research and public health research. In addition, I have UK’s National Health Service project management experience in Local Service Improvement working across public health and primary to tertiary care. I currently work at IESE Business School on two European Commission projects, both producing evidence that will be translated to recommendations for future policy and practice: 1) Integrated care to manage chronic diseases in Europe, 2) Building sustainable research capacity in low and middle income countries, on social determinants of heath and health equity.


Current Country of Residence: Republic of Moldova

Email Address: [email protected], [email protected]

Profession: Public Health specialist

Present position: Head of Public Health Department, Ministry of Health of the Republic of Moldova

Educational background: State Medical University (Moldova), Master in public health (Braun School of Public Health Jerusalem, Israel) MD,MPh



Key words: Public health, NCDs, IHR 2005

Pen Portrait: My name is Carolina Cerniciuc and I am from the Republic of Moldova. After graduating in the General Medicine Department, State Medical and Pharmaceutical University “Nicolae Testemitanu” and taking a residential course in Physiopneumology, I decided to specialise in disease preven-tion. My dream was to create the necessary environment for people to make the right choice for their health in terms of buying food, consuming tobacco, alcohol, etc. In this context I decide to continue my education in the public health domain, graduating from the Braun School of Public Health and Community Medicine, Hadassah Ein Karem, Jerusalem, Israel. I began my career in the public health sector and became involved in many multidisciplinary activities in the Monitoring and Evaluation of the National Health Programme Department, Scientific and Practical Center of Public Health and Sanitary Management of the Moldovan Ministry of Health, being a head of the National Drug Observatory and simultane-ously being responsible for the M&E of the ТВ monitoring component within the M&E NHP Department. After that, I continued with the Elabo-ration of National Health Accounts, becoming a head of the department within the same institution. And from September 2013 I was selected for the position in the Ministry of Health as head of the department of public health. In my present position, I am responsible for developing national policies on areas relating to the prevention and control of communicable and non-communicable diseases.



Profession: Health Scientist

Present position: Health Intervention Advisor, National Institute for Public Health and the Environment, The Netherlands

Educational background: 2010-2011 Master Health Sciences, Public Health and Prevention, VU University, Amsterdam; 2009-2010 Premaster Health Sciences, VU University, Amsterdam; 2005-2009 Physical Therapy, Hoge School Utrecht, Utrecht


Relevant professional activities and past achievements: Publications: Dale D van, Dunnink T, Cloostermans L, Zwikker MC, ‘Leefsti-jlinterventies: van kwantiteit naar kwaliteit [Lifestyle interventions: from quantity to quality], JGZ, 45: 126-129, 2013Cloostermans L, Bekkers MB, Uiters E, Proper KI, ‘The effectiveness of interventions for ageing workers on (early) retirement, work ability, and productivity; a systematic review’, International Archives of Occupational and Environmental Health, 2014 (accepted) Cloostermans L, Picavet HSJ, Bemelmans WJE, Verschuren WMM, Proper KI, Psychological distress as a determinant of changes in body mass in-dex over a period of 10 years, 2014 (ready for submission)Cloostermans L, Wendel-Vos W, Bemelmans WJE. et al., ‘The independent and combined effects of physical activity and body mass index on the development of Type 2 Diabetes – A meta-analysis of 10 prospective cohorts’, 2014 (in progress)(International) Congresses and Presentations: 2012 International Con-gress on Obesity, attended, Lyon, France. 2012 Conference on Work Disa-bility Prevention and Integration: Healthy ageing in a working society, at-tended, Groningen, Netherlands. 2013 IUHPE World Conference on Health Promotion, Poster Presentation, Pattaya, Thailand. 2014 Several work-shop about the use of qualified health promotion interventions (NCVGZ, Rotterdam and Youth in Research, Nieuwegein). 2014 Guest lectures at Wageningen University (Master Public Health)

Key words:Health Promotion, Interventions, Youth, Quality

Pen Portrait: I work at the National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM), at the Centre for Healthy Living (CGL), as a Health Intervention Advisor. In my work at the Centre for Healthy Living, I advise on and as-sess the quality of lifestyle interventions in the field of health promotion, using a widely supported and thorough quality assessment system. We try to bridge the gap between research and practice by contributing to the use and implementation of available evidence and to increase the availability and transferability of good quality lifestyle interventions.

CarolineCERNICIUC

Nationality: Moldovan

LauraCLOOSTER-MANS

Nationality: Dutch

Biographies 15

SorinDAN

Nationality: Romanian




Present position: Doctoral researcher, Public Governance Institute, KU Leuven

Educational background: Bachelor in Economics, Universitatea Babes-Bolyai (2007); Master in Public Policy and Administration, University of Massachusetts, Amherst (2009); Doctoral candidate, Public Governance Institute, KU Leuven (ex-pected February 2015)

Relevant memberships: Netherlands Institute of Government, European Group of Public Admin-istration, Coordinating for Cohesion in the Public Sector of the Future (COCOPS)

Relevant professional activities and past achievements: Since February 2011 I have been a member of the EU FP7-funded re-search project Coordinating for Cohesion in the Public Sector of the Fu-ture (COCOPS). COCOPS comprises 11 research teams in 10 different Eu-ropean countries. My work on this project up to this moment has led to 20 output items including participation in conferences, poster presentations, reports, policy briefs and academic articles, all of which are available at (https://soc.kuleuven.be/io/english/staff/00075958) and (http://scholar.google.com/citations?user=qxWooAkAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao).

Key words: Healthcare management, hospital reform, hospital governance, coordi-nation in healthcare

Pen Portrait: The area of my specialisation is healthcare reform and policy from a management perspective. I have conducted research in these areas both in Central-Eastern and Western European countries, and have a specif-ic interest in comparative research between these regions. Within this broader field my specific interest lies in central governance of the system of public hospitals, coordination in healthcare and primary healthcare reform.

MathildeDE CALAN

Nationality: French

Current Country of Residence: France

Email Address: [email protected]: Public health expert

Present position: Health Counsellor, French Ministry of Foreign Affairs

Educational background: Midwifery degree, MPH

Relevant memberships: Board member of Roll back malaria, Board member of Global health workforce alliance (WHO)

Relevant professional activities and past achievements:Health policies and strategies linked with the France’s commitment on MDG 4,5 and 6

Key words: Health system (HRH and health financing), RMNCH, malaria, PPP

Pen Portrait: Contribution to France’s development aid strategy on the field of RM-NCH and the fight against HIV, TB and malaria: policy design, positions, representation in various multilateral organisations, monitoring of the implementation at a regional/ international level.




Profession: Policy advisor

Present position: Senior policy advisor international drug policy, Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sports, The Netherlands

Educational background: Bachelor European Law School, Masters Globalisation and Law

Relevant memberships: Young professionals Ministry of Health

Relevant professional activities and past achievements: Dutch member of the Horizontal Working Group on Drugs (EU), Respon-sible for the Dutch preparation of the United Nations General Assembly Special Session on the World Drugs problem, Responsible for the Dutch preparation of the Commission on Narcotic Drugs

Key words: Cross border health care, mental health, health systems, e-health

Pen Portrait: I am specialised in the field of drug policy, more specifically in the inter-national obligations arising out of the UN drug treaties and EU legisla-tion. Dutch drug policy is based on two pillars: reducing supply (justice approach) and reducing demand (public health approach). Reducing de-mand is the responsibility of the Ministry of Health. This means that we focus on prevention of use, treatment of use and harm reduction. Harm reduction is based on the premise that if drug users cannot be treated, it is still possible to let them use as healthy as possible and to prevent the spread of infectious diseases in the drug users population. Also, we are responsible for the assessment of new drugs, addiction care and public information and campaigns concerning drugs. Youths are a special group we focus on concerning prevention of use.



Profession: Programme manager

Present position: Programme manager, National Institute of Health and Medical Research (INSERM), France

Educational background: Child health research


Relevant professional activities and past achievements: Euro-Peristat programme manager, PhD student in epidemiology (2014-2015)

Key words: Perinatal health, cross-country comparisons, maternal health, prematuri-ty, obstetric interventions

Pen Portrait: The EURO-PERISTAT project’s goal is to monitor and evaluate maternal and child health in the perinatal period - pregnancy, childbirth and the postpartum - in Europe using valid and reliable indicators. The project began in 1999 as part of the EU’s Health Monitoring Programme and has continued into a fourth phase with the ultimate aim of routinely producing data on perinatal health in Europe. We developed a list of recommended indicators for perinatal health surveillance and published the first European Perinatal Health Report in 2008. Our second European Perinatal Health Report was published in May 2013. The project is coor-dinated in Paris but has official representation from 29 countries across Europe and a large network of contributing experts.

YoniDEKKER

Nationality: Dutch

MarieDELNORD

Nationality: French

Biographies 17

JorunnEVANDT




Profession: Research scientist, PhD Student

Present position: Research Scientist, Norwegian Institute of Public Health

Educational background: MSc Neuroscience

Relevant memberships: Norwegian Association of Epidemiology

Relevant professional activities and past achievements: Research within the field of public health

Key words: Environmental epidemiology, data analysis, traffic noise, sleep distur-bances, public health

Pen Portrait: My work tasks mainly entail data analysis for assessing the association between night-time traffic noise exposure and insomnia. Traffic noise is of growing environmental concern and has been linked to many different health outcomes. The data we use is from a questionnaire-based study regarding sleep and health in Oslo, Norway with around 13 000 respond-ents. These data are linked with modeled noise levels for each partici-pant’s home address. In addition to doing research on traffic noise and sleep, I am involved in a project where six different countries in Europe collaborate to explore how environmental exposures can affect children’s health and development. In this project, I am responsible for collection of neuropsychological data in the Norwegian part of the project.

MagdaFILONOWICZ




Profession: Health Manager and Economist

Present position: Senior Adviser, Norwegian Directorate of Health

Educational background: Health Management, Policy and Economics


Relevant professional activities and past achievements: Coordination of county governors to implement primary care policies; member of project group for patient involvement in national policy mak-ing; coordination of public grants for primary health sector of 11,5 billion NOK; member of preparedness team in Norwegian Directorate of Health; foreign patients coordinator in Oslo University Hospital (2009-2010)

Key words: Patient empowerment, health systems, national health budgets, coordi-nated care, global health

Pen Portrait: Since August 2010 I have worked as a coordinator of Division for Pri-mary Health Care Services in the Norwegian Directorate of Health. Our Division consist of five units and it currently has one hundred employees and disposes a total budget of 11.5 billion NOK. I coordinate all plan, budgetary, organizational and strategic processes across the five Units in my Division but also in cooperation with Directorate’s five remaining Divisions. I provide support to Director of the Division as well Directors of the Units in terms of holding an overview of the ongoing activities within our sector, suggesting new points of coordination, agenda setting for the meetings of directors etc. Planning, surveying the implementation and re-porting of Divisions’ annual work-plans and budgets are among my core duties. I am also in charge of maintenance of my division’s preparedness plan and I have participated in crisis management on several occasions as coordinator.


Current Country of Residence: Ireland


Profession: Health Services Researcher

Present position: Population Health and Health Services Research PhD Scholar, National University of Ireland Maynooth

Educational background: B.A. M.Sc


Relevant professional activities and past achievements: UN internship with WHO, PhD Scholarship with SPHeREFor full list of publications and conference presentations please see my entry in the Young Forum Gastein Members website.

Key words:Implementation science, health systems, individualised support, disabil-ity, cancer

Pen Portrait: I have ten years experience as a social/health researcher. My roles includ-ed United Nations intern with the World Health Organization, in Vietnam (2006), working in the Hanoi School of Public Health and more recent-ly, as research officer in the Programme Evaluation Unit of the National Cancer Screening Service in Ireland. I am currently a PhD scholar of the Structured Population Health Services Research Education (SPHeRE) pro-gramme. Based in the psychology department of the National University of Ireland, Maynooth (NUIM), the aim of my PhD research is to evaluate the implementation of “Personal Budgets” for people living with a disa-bility in Ireland, to ascertain if personal budgets are: feasible within an Irish context; and, appropriate mechanisms for supporting people with disabilities to gain independence and self-determined lives within their community. This will provide data for evidence-based decisions by policy makers and drivers around utilisation of funds from individually allocated resources.



Profession: Policy analyst, communication expert

Present position: Public Affairs Coordinator, European Cancer Patients Coalition (ECPC)

Educational background: International Relations and Diplomacy


Relevant professional activities and past achievements: • Public Affairs Coordinator – European Cancer Patients Coalition

(ECPC) - March 2014-present: nomination of ECPC within the EC Ex-pert Group on Cancer; redefinition of ECPC Communication strategy; design of the new ECPC website following a modern, patient-oriented phylosophy.

• Public Affairs Coordinator – European CanCer Organisation/European Society for Paediatric Oncology – Aug. 2013-Jan.2014: organisation of the Oncopolicy Forum 2013, creation of the twitter account @oncopolicy (managed by ECCO);

• Blue Book Trainee - European Commission – JRC;

Key words: cancer, cross boarder healthcare, e-health, EU health policy; ENVI

Pen Portrait: Merging my background in policy and diplomacy with the experience gained in the field of cancer, I am specialised in liaising between the scientific/patient communities and European policy makers, bridging be-tween the needs of the cancer community and the European varied po-litical arena. This requires me to understand the various institutions and bodies that can impact public health in Europe, with a particular focus on the European Parliament. Furthermore, I developed the capacity to com-municate clearly and effectively to/from policy makers, empowering the patient community with fundamental understanding of the EU Bubble, but also translating patients’ needs into the political jargon of the EU.

Pádraic FLEMING

Nationality: Irish

FrancescoFLORINDI

Nationality: Italian

Biographies 19

Simona GAILIŪTĖ

Nationality: Lithuanian

Current Country of Residence: Lithuania


Profession: Health Care Manager

Present position: Chief Specialist, EU Affairs and International Relations Division, Ministry of Health of the Republic of Lithuania

Educational background: Master of Science in Health Care Management, Klaipėda University, Lith-uania; Bachelor of Arts in Public Health, University of Bremen, Germany


Relevant professional activities and past achievements: WHO National Counterpart

Key words: Global health, health systems, MDG, WHO, Biobank

Pen Portrait: At the moment I am working in the EU Affairs and International Relation Division at the Ministry of Health of the Republic of Lithuania. My daily work at the Ministry is closely linked to international cooperation. The tasks of my work include coordinating cooperation with the authorities of the World Health Organization and other international institutions, preparing reports, analysing bilateral and multilateral international initi-atives, programs and projects. From October 2014 I will start working as a coordinator of the consortium Biobank-LT.

AnnaGALLINAT

Nationality: German



Profession: Health Communications

Present position: Communications Officer, EuroHealthNet

Educational background: MSc Gender, Media and Culture (London School of Economics and Po-litical Sciences, UK), BSc Health Psychology (University of Twente, the Netherlands)


Relevant professional activities and past achievements: Leading communications activities for three major EU Joint Actions in the field of chronic diseases (CHRODIS), improving quality in HIV prevention (Quality Action) and alcohol-related harm (RARHA)

Key words: Health promotion, health inequalities, EU policy making, media and com-munication, chronic diseases

Pen Portrait: I support the Health Promotion Europe (HPE) team at EuroHealthNet in delivering our communication commitments to high quality standards. In particular, I work on EU-funded Joint Actions on chronic diseases and healthy ageing (CHRODIS), improving quality in HIV prevention (Quality Action) and reducing alcohol-related harm (RARHA) and ensure maximum impact of the Joint Actions’ outcomes. My academic background con-nects the two fields of health (BSc Health Psychology) and communica-tion/media (MSc Gender and Media Studies).




Profession: Health Economist

Present position: Researcher, Spanish Agency for Health Technology Assessment (Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Madrid)

Educational background: Pharmacist, Health economics

Relevant memberships: EUnetHTA, REDISSEC, AES


Key words: HTA, costs, diabetes, quality, public health.

Pen Portrait: I am a health economist with a pharmaceutical background and I cur-rently work for the Spanish Agency for Health Technology Assessment (AETS) at Instituto de Salud Carlos III (ISCIII). We develop health technol-ogy assessment reports requested by the Ministry of Health, and we work in collaboration with the European Network of HTA (EUnetHTA) and the International Network of HTA (INAHTA). We have also participated in oth-er research projects related to policy assessment, such as the Euprime-care project, financed by the 7th framework programme, to evaluate the quality and costs of the primary care systems in Europe. At the moment, I am also working on my PhD which is about economic modelling of the future costs of diabetes.

Current Country of Residence: Malta


Profession: Epidemiologist

Present position: Statistician, Department of Health Information and Research and Re-search Support, University of Malta

Educational background: B.Psy (Hons) University of Malta, MSc. Epidemiology University of London

Relevant memberships: Fellow – RSPH; Member – IEA; Associate Member - MAPHM

Relevant professional activities and past achievements: Scholarship awardee to pursue Master’s Degree, part of traineeship pro-gramme 2012 – 2013 at EMCDDA Portugal, local organising committee member 5th EUPHA conference

Key words:NCD, epidemiology, health system research

Pen Portrait: My area of speciality is epidemiology with a focus on non-communicable diseases. I’ve had training in analytical techniques specifically related to cancer survival, demography and spatial epidemiology. Through my work I have substantive experience in population health survey method-ology. My work in government has exposed me to a wide breath of tasks beyond research such as health strategy and policy consultation, health economic planning and projections and health system performance. My University work focuses on health service management with mixed method research work on performance in the health care sector.

SoniaGARCÍA PÉREZ


Dorothy GAUCI

Nationality: Maltese

Biographies 21

IoanaGHIGA


Current Country of Residence: Sweden


Profession: Pharmacist

Present position: MPH student, Lund University, Sweden

Educational background: Bachelor degree in Pharmacy and International Affairs and European Studies, currently doing a Master in Public Health

Relevant memberships: Lund University Sweden

Relevant professional activities and past achievements: My educational background is in pharmacy and international relations and European studies and most of my professional activity has been in the field of clinical trials. Being responsible for the regulatory aspects of projects running in several European countries has been an enriching experience which strengthened my belief in the benefits of multinational collaboration in formulating policies. Working on issues such as ethical considerations and expected scientific standards with the Evidence and Information for Policy-Making Unit in the Division of Information, Evi-dence, Research and Innovation at the World Health Organization Re-gional Office for Europe as well as exploring notions of global health governance and diplomacy with the Global Health Programme at the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies in Geneva has allowed me to further explore the public health challenges we will be facing as global citizens.

Key words: Global Health Governance, Global Health Diplomacy, Antimicrobial Re-sistance, Evidence-based Policy

Pen Portrait: Currently I am pursuing a MPH at Lund University in Sweden and my main areas of interest are global health governance, global health diploma-cy, evidence-based policy, antimicrobial resistance and access to medi-cines. I am particularly interested in how structures built on multilateral engagement can be optimised in order to achieve better cross-sectoral collaborations as well as what governance issues arise from trans-border public health threats.

Paul GIEPMANS

Nationality: Dutch



Profession: Policy Analyst

Present position: Policy Analyst, European Health Management Association

Educational background: Master of Science in Public Administration, Radboud University Nijmegen



Key words: Sustainable healthcare systems, health workforce, knowledge transfer in healthcare, health management capacity building, patient safety and quality

Pen Portrait: Paul Giepmans has been involved with a wide range of project and pol-icy issues, including FP7 management, which has given him significant experience in managing multi-country initiatives and consortia. He also contributes to the dissemination work of EU-funded projects, providing expertise on and setting up the facilitation of high-level knowledge ex-change between stakeholders, target groups and the project consortium. He has particular expertise in health workforce policy and management, and a keen interest in the development of sustainable and effective healthcare services.



Email Address:[email protected]


Present position:HTA researcher, Agency for Health Quality and Assessment of Catalonia (AQuAS)

Educational background: Pharmacy

Relevant memberships: International Pharmaceutical Federation, Eunetha, Spanish society of hospital pharmacists

Relevant professional activities and past achievements: Advanced therapies researcher, hospital pharmacist

Key words: HTA, rare diseases, e-health, health-systems, health policies

Pen Portrait: My specialty areas are health technology assessment of drugs. Specifi-cally I focus in orphan drugs assessment and pharmaceutical access poli-cies. I also manage healthcare multidisciplinary teams in clinical practice guidelines development. Furthermore, I have experience in technology information and data analysis to improve drug utilisation and safety as well as the quality of pharmaceutical prescription care.



Profession: Public Health professional

Present position: Health attaché

Educational background: BSc. European Public Health; MSc. Health Care Policy Innovation and Management


Relevant professional activities and past achievements: Formerly employed as a senior official at the Ministry of Health of Latvia.

Key words:Medical devices, pharmaceuticals, cross-border health care, e-health, m-health

Pen Portrait: As a Health Attaché I am mostly involved in examination of EU law at the EU Council. I am mainly specialised in medical device and pharma-ceutical legislation as well as in public health initiatives at EU level. Apart from every day health attaché tasks, a lot of consideration is given to the preparation of the Latvian Presidency at the EU Council, which will take place in the first half of 2015. Apart from planning Presidency priorities and events, the main task for representatives of Latvia in Brussels is to ensure smooth and effective functioning of the Council legislative pipe-line and good cooperation with the EU Parliament and Commission.

Josep Maria GUIU SEGURA


SvensHENKUZENS

Nationality: Latvian

Biographies 23

JenniferHISLOP




Profession:Health Economist

Present position: Research Associate, Newcastle University, England

Educational background: M.A. (Hons), BSc (Hons), MSc

Relevant memberships: Health Economics Study Group (HESG), UK

Relevant professional activities and past achievements: Experience of working in health research from both an academic and a policy-making point of view

Key words: Evidence-based medicine (EBM), HTA, health economics, preference elic-itation, economic evaluation

Pen Portrait: I am a university-based health economist currently involved in economic evaluations including health technology assessment (which also involves the development of decision models for policy makers), determining the costs and benefits of future treatments as part of clinical trials research and also preference elicitation methods to establish how health service users value particular aspects of the care they receive.

ElisabethKASILINGAM

Nationality: French



Profession: Programme Manager

Present position: Programme Manager, European Multiple Sclerosis Platform

Educational background: B.A. in Law, Professional Master degree in Management in Public Affairs, specialised in European Affairs and NGOs


Relevant professional activities and past achievements: With a special interest in Human rights, I started my professional experi-ence with two internships within Brussels-based NGOs as Assistant Policy Officer: EUROCHILD and the EUROPEAN PATIENTS’ FORUM. Both of these positions equipped me with the required knowledge of the European po-litical environment and decision making processes. Within the European Patients’ Forum, I had the opportunity to participate in public consultations and high level events organised to promote the rights of patients across Europe. Since I joined the European Multiple Sclerosis Platform, I have successfully coordinated pan-European projects in the field of Multiple Sclerosis (MS) aimed at raising awareness among policy decision makers, the MS com-munity, academics, health professionals, etc. on the needs of the people with MS. This include the coordination of the MS Barometer (an advocacy tool develop to gather information on the situation of people with MS and the disease management in the European countries), the Multiple Scle-rosis – Information Dividend project (a pilot project to test the feasibility of a European Register for MS), followed by the European Register for MS project (EUReMS) developing an active network of participating registries collaborating in the EUReMS.In addition to the previous projects co-funded by DG Sanco, I also was involved in the development of a pan-European project called “Paving the Path to Participation” aiming at tackling the unemployment among people affected by MS in particular.I also have been involved in several high level events held in the European Parliament presenting the results of the MS Barometer and advocating actively for action and support from the policy decision makers.

Key words: Patients’ rights, chronic diseases, cross border mobility, HTA, neurodegen-erative diseases

Pen Portrait: The work-field I am involved in is focused on multiple sclerosis, a complex neurological condition for which there is currently no cure. However the disease can be managed through specialised help, starting with early diagnosis and continuing with person-centred therapies and appropriate medication. Over the past years new treatments have been developed. My work at EMSP focusses on managing projects and programmes that involve:• Exchanging and disseminating information relating to MS considering

all issues relevant for people affected by MS.• Encouraging research of all kinds that is appropriate to MS through

recognised medical and other organisations.• Acting as a focal point for liaison with the institutions of the European

Union (EU), the Council of Europe and other European organisations, in order to propose new measures to advance the rights of persons with disabilities and to ensure their full and effective participation in society.




Profession: Public Health

Present position: Postdoc, Karolinska Institute, Sweden

Educational background: PhD, MPH

Relevant memberships: International Federation of Environmental Health, European Academy of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, Stockholm International Researchers Association, Lithuanian Union of Hygienists and Epidemiologists, Young Forum Gastein Network

Relevant professional activities and past achievements: Postdoc in Neuroepidemiology with focus on Multiple Sclerosis at the Departament of Clinical Neuroscience, Karolinska Institute. Previously: Lithuanian National focal point for the Programme of Community action in the field of Health, Expert of the specific committee for health of EU 7th framework program, Co-chair of the 12th World Congress on Envi-ronmental Health “New Technologies, Healthy Human Being and Environ-ment”, 22-27 of May, 2012, Vilnius, Lithuania.

Key words:Chronic diseases, clinical epidemiology, clinical research, health systems, health economics

Pen Portrait: I am specialised in the epidemiology of non-communicable diseases. My previous projects were about the epidemiology of allergic and cardiovas-cular diseases. Currently as a postdoc in neuroepidemiology I work with one of the world´s largest longitudinal multiple sclerosis patient regis-tries for the disease´s outcomes research. This involves analysing the clinical course by taking into account baseline factors, such as sex, age at onset and genetic make-up and other risk factors and exposures such as life-style and treatment. Another task is analysis of importance of long-term effectiveness of disease modifying drug treatment and control of confounding factors. I also have experience in health policy and health systems, as I was working at the Lithuanian Ministry of Health.



Profession: Academia

Present position: Research Associate in Sociology, University of Cambridge

Educational background: Sociology, Public Health



Key words:EU health policy, infectious disease, vulnerable groups’ health, economic crisis and health policy

Pen Portrait: In broad terms, my work investigates the health consequences of eco-nomic crises and associated policy responses. What are the effects of austerity policies on population health? How do specific policies threat-en access to essential welfare services? Which groups are affected the most and how? What resources can people draw on to sustain a liveli-hood in the face of rapid socioeconomic change? I have published on the public health effects of the Greek crisis, the implications of the austerity measures on the Greek public health system, and the political and policy response to this health crisis. In addition, I maintain an active research interest in issues of global health.

AndriusKAVALIUNAS


AlexanderKENTIKELENIS

Nationality: Greek

Biographies 25

LuciaKOSSAROVA

Nationality: Slovak



Profession: Health Policy/Health Economics

Present position: Senior Research Analyst, Nuffield Trust

Educational background: 2008-2014 PhD in Social Policy (London School of Economics: LSE Health) Area of research: health system performance/ quality of care; 2001-2003 MA in Development Economics and International Development (Johns Hopkins University, SAIS, USA); 1998-2001 BA in Social Sciences (University College Utrecht, The Netherlands); 2000 Visiting student (Deakin University, Australia)


Relevant professional activities and past achievements: I have previously worked at the London School of Economics (LSE), where I had been a Teaching Fellow on different MSc courses (Cost-Effective-ness Analysis in Health Care, Financing Health Care and Measuring Health System Performance), worked as a researcher on different EU funded projects, and as Assistant Editor for Eurohealth. Before LSE, I worked at the Health, Nutrition and Population unit of the World Bank, as well as a private health care consulting company involved in health system reform and HIV/AIDS projects in Central Asia, Eastern Europe and Central Ameri-ca. I continue to be a strategic advisor for the Provida Foundation (http://www.nadaciaprovida.sk/en/) which invests and provides advice to social ventures with social impact, as well as for project Buddy that focuses on disadvantaged children in Slovakia (http://www.tvojbuddy.sk/en).

Key words:Health system performance, quality of care, health system financing, health reform, international comparison

Pen Portrait: I am currently working at the Nuffield Trust (http://www.nuffieldtrust.org.uk/) on different quality of care (http://www.qualitywatch.org.uk/) and international comparisons projects. I have over 10 years of experience in international health policy and health systems research and analysis.

AlessandraLAFRANCONI


Current Country of Residence: Italy


Profession: Resident Physician in Hygiene and Preventive Medicine

Present position: Project manager: pharmaco-vigilance in nursing houses, District of Milan (Local Health Authority, Milan)

Educational background: Medical Degree, M.Sc. Enrivonmental Health

Relevant memberships: EUPHA (European Public Health Association)SItI (Societa’ Italiana di Igiene)Doctors with Africa CUAMM

Relevant professional activities and past achievements: Home-based facilitator for FERG group, World Health Organization, 2013; Risk assessor for DG Environment, Energy & Sustainable Development, Lombardy Region, 2013-14; Recipient of ASPHER scholarship (participa-tion to Canadian PH Conference, 2014); Recipient of CMCC-ICCG scholar-ship (participation to MedAdapt Training Course, 2014)

Key words: Environmental health, risk assessment, sustainable development, food safety and nutrition

Pen Portrait: Alessandra is a third-year Resident Physician in Hygiene and Preventive Medicine, and her professional activities are mainly related to public health services planning and control. With regards to planning, she has been in charge of a public hospital programme to assess and reduce the prevalence rate of hospital acquired infections; she is now the Project Manager of a territorial programme aimed at increasing drug prescrip-tion appropriateness in nursing houses. As for controls, she is involved in risk evaluation and consequent risk-based on-site inspections and au-dits, especially in water- and food-related facilities. She teaches several courses in the field of environmental health, sustainable development and non-formal learning at the University of Milan-Bicocca.




Profession: Civil servant

Present position: Project Manager, Federal Public Service Health, Food Chain Safety and Environment, Belgium

Educational background: Master in Sociology



Key words:Socio-economic health inequalities, patient-centred care, universal health coverage

Pen Portrait: I started my career six years ago as a research associate at the Faculty of Economic and Social Sciences of the Free University of Brussels. My main topics of interest for research projects were socio-economic inequalities in health, longitudinal health information and ageing. As a trainee at the Directorate-General for Health and Consumers (DG SANCO) of the Euro-pean Commission, I assisted the Communication unit in developing com-munication strategies and plans within DG SANCO’s three main areas of activity: public health, food safety and consumer protection. Currently, I work at the Federal Public Service for Health, Food Chain Safety and Environment of Belgium. As a project manager, I coordinate and manage temporary projects related to public health. I am mostly interested in top-ics related to primary health care and international health cooperation.

Current Country of Residence: Switzerland


Profession:Public health officer specialised in epidemic diseases

Present position: World Health Organization, Director’s Office, Pandemic and Epidemic Dis-eases

Educational background: Master in political sciences from Institut d’Etudes Politiques

Relevant memberships: Red cross volunteer, first aid worker for Samaritains (Swiss NGO part of the Red Cross movement)

Relevant professional activities and past achievements: Previously working with the French Ambassador in charge of HIV/AIDS, malaria, TB and emerging diseases.

Key words: Infectious diseases, health security, knowledge sharing, network building

Pen Portrait: I’ve been working for the past 4 years on epidemic diseases that could be a threat for global health security. Preparedness, experience and knowledge sharing on various diseases (ebola, cholera, respiratory viral diseases...) as well as engaging social science expertise within outbreak preparedness and response have been my main activities. My areas of specialisation include: coordination and engagement of various fields of expertise; social mobilisation in emergencies; emerging diseases, risk perception.

LiesLAMMENS


AnaïsLEGAND

Nationality: French

Biographies 27

Ute LINNENKAMP

Nationality: German



Profession: Public Health Researcher

Present position: Administrator Public Health, International Diabetes Federation

Educational background: EUROPUBHEALTH Erasmus Mundus Master (University of Sheffield, Uni-versity of Copenhagen, EHESP Rennes), Honours degree in Governance of Health care innovations (Maastricht University), BSc European Public Health (Maastricht University)

Relevant memberships: EUROPUBHEALTH Student and Alumni Association (EPHSA), Young Lions Gesundheitsparlament

Relevant professional activities and past achievements: My role at IDF is focused on a number of epidemiology projects, the most relevant one for now being the IDF Diabetes Atlas. For the 6th Edition, re-leased on World Diabetes Day 2013, I was responsible for generating the Methodology to estimate the prevalence of Hyperglycaemia in pregnan-cy. Moreover I was involved in generating the estimates of the global bur-den of Diabetes in adults as well as in pregnancy. These estimates were also published in a peer reviewed journal (Diabetes Research and Clinical practice). Besides this work I am responsible for presenting Atlas data at international congresses such as ADA, EASD and EUPHA. In February 2014 I was elected as the head of the working group on demography of the Young Lions Health Care Parliament. The YL-Parliament was initiat-ed by Janssen to gather together young professionals that provide new ideas to enhance the performance of the German health care system.

Key words: Non-communicable diseases, epidemiology, health education, nutrition, diabetes

Pen Portrait: Having a background in European Public health I have specialised in re-search on NCDs, with a particular focus on diabetes. Even though more high-quality studies than ever before are available on the burden of NCDs, more studies are needed to describe the burden of NCDs in order contribute to an evidence base that is fundamental in driving powerful advocacy for people with NCDs.

OlgaLÖBLOVÁ

Nationality: Czech

Current Country of Residence: N/A

Email Address: [email protected]; [email protected];

Profession: Health Policy Analyst

Present position: PhD Candidate, Central European University, Hungary

Educational background: PhD studies in Public Policy, MA political science and European studies

Relevant memberships: Public Health Research Group at Central European University


Key words: HTA, priority-setting, rationing, health care governance, health care re-form

Pen Portrait: I am a PhD candidate at the Central European University in Budapest, in the Department of Public Policy. I am interested in the politics of health-care priority-setting. My doctoral project focuses on the (non) diffusion of health technology assessment (HTA) agencies in Central and Eastern Europe, comparing in-depth the history and evolution of HTA in Poland and the Czech Republic. I hold an MA degree in Political Science from Sciences Po Paris (2009), where I wrote my master’s thesis on Slovak pension and healthcare reforms, and an MA degree in European Inter-disciplinary Studies from the College of Europe in Natolin (2010). During 2011-2012 I worked as a health policy analyst at Edelman in Brussels and did an internship in the EU public affairs division of Novartis. I have taught political science related classes at the Central European Univer-sity and Sciences Po Paris, University College in Dijon. I read and write in Czech, English, French and also speak German, Polish and some Hun-garian. My geographical area of interest is Central and Eastern Europe. I am interested in the politics of health care governance. Specifically I am interested in the politics of priority-setting/rationing and the use of health technology assessment for priority-setting purposes. I focus on HTA in Central and Eastern Europe, looking primarily at the advisory or regulato-ry agencies that carry out value for money assessments. At the moment I am keenly observing the EU influence on national HTA, including the role of EUnetHTA and member state responses to the article 15 HTA network. I am also interested in the role of patient organisations in pricing and reimbursement decision-making in Central and Eastern Europe.





Present position: Postdoctoral Researcher Fellow, National Centre of Microbiology (Carlos III Institute of Health, Spain)

Educational background: PhD in Molecular Biology; MS in Food Technology and MS in Biology.

Relevant memberships: VIRHOST: Host-Virus Interactions (http://vishost.es), funded by Comunidad de Madrid (Spain); “Spanish Network for AIDS Research-RIS” (RD12/0017, http://retic-ris.onmedic.es/) funded Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness; CHAARM (http://chaarm.eu), funded by European Com-mission- Sixth Framework Programme for Research and Technological Development (FP6); EUROPRISE (www.europrise.org) funded by European Commission- Seventh Framework Programme for Research and Techno-logical Development (FP7).

Relevant professional activities and past achievements: 2012-2014 Associated teacher at “National School of Public Health” (Instituto de Salud Carlos II) and Universidad Europea de Madrid, Madrid (Spain).2008-2014 Postdoctoral Research Fellow at “AIDS Immunopathology Laboratory”, National Centre of Microbiology, Madrid (Spain) and “Translation and Viral Assembly Laboratory”, Human Virology Department, École Normale Supérieure, Lyon (France).2004-2008 Graduate Research Assistant at “AIDS Immunopathology Laboratory”, National Centre of Microbiology, Madrid (Spain).2002-2003 Graduate Research Assistant at “Respiratory Viruses Laboratory”, National Influenza Surveillance Programme (WHO), Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Madrid (Spain).Human diagnosis: implementation of molecular methods for diagnosis of respiratory viruses. (López-Huertas et al. 2005, J Virol Methods).Basic sciences: description of the importance of the second exon of Tat protein during HIV-1 replication in T cells. (López-Huertas et al. 2013, J Biol Chem; López-Huertas et al. 2010, Nucleic Acids Res).Translational research: suggestion of a new approach to treat HIV-1 infection based on using PKC theta specific inhibitors in combination with antiretroviral therapy during primary infection. (López-Huertas et a. 20011, J Biol Chem).

Key words: HIV-1, AIDS, Virology, Basic Research

Pen Portrait: The work of a basic researcher in virology consists in elucidating how such a small particle as a virus hijacks the cellular machinery of such a complicate organism as the human being in order to suggest new thera-peutic strategies. Daily work requires plenty of enthusiasm and patience. It includes finding novel ideas, searching for funding, developing the funded projects and publishing results in high impact journals so that other researchers can take advantage of the new findings. Because the calls for funding are very competitive, only the best researchers success-fully manage to finance their projects. Therefore, the establishment of long-term networks is mandatory to share knowledge, laboratory equip-ment and human resources.



Profession: PhD student

Present position: PhD student, VU Medical Center Amsterdam

Educational background: Master of Science in Public Health & Master of Science in Health Eco-nomics, Policy and Law

Relevant memberships: Member of the ISBNPA


Key words: Public health, obesity, epidemiology, equity, environmental lifestyle de-terminants

Pen Portrait: At the moment I am involved in the European SPOTLIGHT project, which aims to identify determinants of adult obesity and describe effective pre-ventive obesity interventions. The focus lies on both macro and micro physical, social, economic and political determinants of obesity. One of my special interests is the interaction between individual and environ-mental factors, given the complexity of human adiposity. Since exper-imental studies with environmental factors are often unethical or not feasible, it remains a challenge to translate findings from observational studies to input for public policy. One of these challenges is the fact that individuals are not randomly distributed among for example neighbour-hoods; people have specific interests that make them live where they live. Any associations found in observational research that does not take into account this residential self-selection may generate erratic results. Lastly, the inequitable distribution of obesity across different groups de-serves both research and policy attention.

MariaLÓPEZ HUERTAS


Joreintje Dingena MACKENBACH

Nationality: Dutch

Biographies 29

Guido MARINGHINI




Profession: Medical Doctor, Resident in Public Health

Present position: Visiting Medical Resident, Epicentre

Educational background: Medical School

Relevant memberships: Vice President EuroNet MRPH (European Network of Medical Residents in Public Health); IFMSA (International Federation of Medical Students’ Associations) alumnus

Relevant professional activities and past achievements: Consultant and Trainee at ECDC; Intern at WHO EURO; Coordinator for a survey on International Health Electives among Italian and European Medical Residents in Public Health; former General Secretary and Local Exchange Officer of Palermo’s IFMSA Committee, former Director of L’Urlo di Ippocrate (university newspaper)

Key words: Communicable diseases, Vaccines, Epidemiology, Health Communication, Public Health Training

Pen Portrait: My medical studies provided me a general understanding of many differ-ent related subjects. My interests and my skills incontrovertibly led me to Public Health and I am currently attending the last year as a Medical Res-ident in Hygiene and Preventive Medicine at the University of Palermo. Although I have been working on many different topics, I am specialised in the field of vaccines and on the epidemiology and control of infectious diseases. The diseases I have mostly been dealing with are Influenza and TB. Nevertheless, I have always been committed to Public Health training and communication, especially since I became the Vice President of the European Network for Medical Residents in Public Health.

JochenMIKOLAJCZAK




Profession: Senior policy maker

Present position: Account manager knowledge/scientific institutes, Ministry of Health, Wel-fare and Sport, Belgium

Educational background: PhD. in Psychology (Maastricht University, NL)

Relevant memberships: Young Forum Gastein alumnus

Relevant professional activities and past achievements: PhD in Psychology, researcher at the Netherlands Organisation for Ap-plied Scientific Research (www.tno.nl), researcher at the National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (www.rivm.nl).Key words: Prevention, health, well-being, policy, research

Pen Portrait: After finishing my PhD in Psychology at Maastricht University in 2007, I worked as a researcher for a number of years. First (2007-2010) at the Netherlands Organisation for Applied Scientific Research (www.tno.nl), and later (2010-2014) at the National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (www.rivm.nl). My work as a researcher focussed mainly on the application of behaviour change theory to accomplish (healthy) be-haviour change. Next to that, I also conducted research on the implemen-tation of (health promoting) innovations. Recently, since January 2014, I switched from my policy research position at RIVM to a policy making position at the Netherlands Ministry of Health, welfare and sports. In par-ticular, I manage the accounts of three scientific institutes of the Ministry (the National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (www.rivm.nl), the Netherlands Organisation for Health Research and Development (www.zonmw.nl) and The Health Council of the Netherlands (www.ge-zondheidsraad.nl).




Profession: Senior European Health Policy Expert

Present position: European Affairs and Strategic Partnership Manager, Brussels Office Uni-versità Cattolica del Sacro Cyuore

Educational background: Law Degree and Master Degree in Project and Programme Management



Key words: As a Health Policy Expert in Brussels I am specialised in the sustainabili-ty of health systems, health promotion programmes, active and healthy ageing, reducing health inequalities, enhancing health system perfor-mance, ehealth and HTA, patient centred care, patient centred outcome research, personalised medicine and gender medicine.

Pen Portrait: I am an experienced legal professional who has devoted eight years to monitoring international and European laws, policies and programmes with a focus on humanitarian assistance, public health and biomedical research, and for the support of innovative, efficient and sustainable health systems at different levels. During my work experience at UNFPA I acquired knowledge specifically in the field of reproductive health in humanitarian settings. Since the end of 2009, I have worked as a Health Policy Expert in Brussels. I am currently managing and coordinating ini-tiatives across different Schools and Departments of the highly special-ised and large Italian University “Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore” to strengthen its internationally competitive research base and to encour-age and support interdisciplinary and international collaborations in the health sector. I possess extensive project and programme management, training and communication skills developed through a Masters degree in Project and Programme Management. I am skilled in developing and maintaining professional relationships with key stakeholders to drive pro-cesses and achieve set goals.



Profession: Communication Advisor

Present position: Communication Advisor, Ministry of Health, Portugal

Educational background: International Relations Degree, Health Communication Pos Graduation and Public Health Master

Relevant memberships: European Social Marketing Association (ESMA); ePORTUGUESe Network (WHO)

Relevant professional activities and past achievements: Directorate General of Health Press Officer involved in the preparation for the Pandemic Flu (national alert and response unit and internation-al focal point for communication issues). Preparation and lunch of Por-tuguese campaign on Tobacco consumption Prevention (National TV advertisings planning and management). At the National Public Health Institute, as Head Communication was responsible for development and implementation of outreach activities regarding several target audienc-es, aimed to increase public health achievements awareness and raise scientific evidence impact on public policy. Named Portuguese focal point (2012/2013) to the WHO network: ePORTUGUESe, defined to increase the communication and training collaboration between health profes-sionals from Portuguese speaking countries.

Key words: Health communication, public health, NCDs, HIA and HiAP.

Pen Portrait: Collaboration, for more than 8 years, with several institutions from the Ministry of Health with responsibilities in communication, press relations, media tools management, public affairs, advocacy, promoting new find-ings and disseminating scientific evidence for political decisions support. Understanding the mission and activities developed in the institution al-lows the communication strategy definition, centred to increase aware-ness to public health work and impact. Communication strategies can effectively contribute to better health and well-being: aligned actions within health institutions and directed for specific target audiences will contribute to increase health in all policies, improve health literacy, joint together stakeholders, partners and community, an important tool for re-ducing health inequities and achieve better health outcomes. My work has been focused on message delivery, supported by several combina-tions of communication tools, as a contribution for a more involved and collaborative society regarding Public Health issues.

SabrinaMONTANTE


AnaMORAIS


Biographies 31

MartinaNASCHBERGER

Nationality: Austrian



Profession: Scientific researcher

Present position: Scientific employee and PhD-Candidate at the Department for Medical Biochemistry, Medical University Innsbruck

Educational background: Master in Biology & Environmental Science, English and Pedagogical sci-ence


Relevant professional activities and past achievements: Summer School on “Health Communication & Promotion” at Maastricht University, Netherlands (2014)EU Workshop on “Person-Centred Care”, Brussels (2014)EU Workshop on “The Digital Future of our Health Care System”, Brussels (2013)Grant for attending the Summer School on “Health Care & Social Sys-tems” at the European Forum Alpbach, Austria (2013)Grant for conducting a scientific project at Griffith University, Australia (2009)Grant for attending a United World College, Canada (2003-2005)

Key words:Health Systems, Health Literacy, Health Promotion, Eco- & Nutritional Biochemistry and Nutrigenomics

Pen Portrait: In recent years, I have conducted a number of scientific projects, focus-ing on immunological aspects and characteristics of cancer. My current project aims at understanding some of the most prominent mechanisms of nutrigenomics – the way in which nutrients and other bioactive com-pounds from our diet influence our genes. Moreover, I have also gained knowledge with regard to different health care systems and studied var-ious aspects in depth. Being a biologist at heart, I thrive for better com-prehension of health and the human body. Thereby, my ultimate goal is to translate the medical evidence into appropriate contexts and for specific target groups. Therefore, having built up a solid scientific base, in the years to come, I aim to apply my knowledge in the field of health communication and promotion.

SiobhanO´CONNOR

Nationality: Irish



Profession: Registered General Nurse (RGN)

Present position: PhD Candidate, University of Glasgow

Educational background: I have a background in informatics having completed a B.Sc. Business Information Systems (2000-2004) at University College Cork, Ireland. I recently finished B.Sc. Nursing at University College Cork (2009-2013) having spent several years working in the international financial services industry during which time I completed a M.A. in Healthcare Manage-ment. I am currently a first year doctoral student at the Department of General Practice & Primary Care, University of Glasgow, Scotland.

Relevant memberships: Irish Nursing & Midwifery Board, Health Informatics Society of Ireland, British Computer Society, Irish Nursing & Midwifery Organisation, Ameri-can Nursing Informatics Association, Sigma Theta Tau International, Irish Red Cross

Relevant professional activities and past achievements: I am a Registered General Nurse (RGN) and have worked in a number of clinical positions in acute gerontological and orthopaedic services in Ireland. I have also received several local and national awards including a Health Research Board (HRB) scholarship, a Special Innovation Award from the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland (RCSI), and University Col-lege Cork’s Presidents Award for Innovative Forms of Teaching & Learn-ing for my use of smartphone technology in nursing education. I recently received a TEDMED Frontline Scholarship to attend the 2014 TEDMED event in Washington DC.

Key words: EHealth, mHealth, patient empowerment, engagement strategies, imple-mentation science

Pen Portrait: I am participating in the Delivering Assisted Living Lifestyles at Scale (dallas) initiative which is a large-scale implementation of health and wellbeing technologies in the United Kingdom to support the independ-ent and assisted living sector. The University of Glasgow, where I am a doctoral student, is undertaking a service evaluation of this innovative research programme. I am examining the public engagement strategies used to recruit patients and carers to a range of digital products, systems and services being developed and rolled out by dallas. I will be comparing the effectiveness of novel engagement strategies, such as a smarthouse and a digital champion’s programme, against more traditional methods such as referring patients to an eHealth service through their family doc-tor or public health nurse. https://connect.innovateuk.org/web/dallas


Current Country of Residence: Republic of Moldova


Profession: Dermatologist

Present position: Consultant Foreign Assistance, Ministry of Health of the Republic of Mol-dova

Educational background: Tatiana Paduraru, MD, earned her medical degree Medical University in Moldova. She completed her Dermatology residency training (Medical University in Moldova) and a fellowship in the same field at the Saint Louis Hospital Paris, France and her Master degree on Health Manage-ment & Law, from the Institut Catholique de Rennes, in France. Currently is PHD Candidate at the Doctoral School within State University of Med-icine from Moldova

Relevant memberships: EHFG taskforce group member

Relevant professional activities and past achievements: Policy development and implementation legal framework in place – the MOH is the first public authority to develop the legal and implementation mechanism of the ODA coordination at the sectoral level for more than 5 years. Based on this example State Chancellery created national mecha-nism and streamlined the process. Lecturer within the summer school “European Health Care and Social Systems in Transition”, 2012, Alpbach, Tyrol, AustriaResearch activities – conducted studies on the monitoring and evaluation of the ODA provided to the health sector in the Republic of Moldova, 2011, 2012, 2013

Key words: Health systems, HTA, cancer, chronic diseases

Pen Portrait: One of my key roles is to monitor the full picture of ODA provided to the health sector, thereby highlighting priority interventions in donor assis-tance across the priorities laid down in the strategic policy documents – the National Health Policy 2007–2021 and the Healthcare System Development Strategy 2008–2017. Additional objectives include im-proving the information available for sector coordination and strategic decision-making; helping to attract additional investment and assistance in the short, medium and long term; including cross-referencing issues of health-sector strategies; health system functions; disease areas; type of support; geographical distribution of investments. Ensuring timely stra-tegically planned foreign support according to the reform agenda is one major endeavour to ensure sustainability of implemented initiatives. In my efforts to strengthen the Moldovan health system, I am also engaged to assist high level stakeholders according to their international man-dates, as well as contributing to the successful establishment of partner-ships with other countries, international organisations and civil society.



Profession: Public health advocate

Present position: Senior Policy Coordinator Health and Social Investment, EuroHealthNet

Educational background: International relations

Relevant memberships: Young Ambassador Society

Relevant professional activities and past achievements: Working at EuroHealthNet on the implementation of health in all policies and the uptake of health in the Europe 2020. Expertise in governance, economic policy, social policy, and public health. Previous experience in EPHA in smart regulation, stakeholder dialogue, trade, research policy, EU budget, and transparency policy.

Key words: advocacy, leadership, EU Affairs, health in all policies, policy coherence

Pen Portrait: Leonardo’s role is to manage and develop the European Platform for Health and Social Equity (PHASE) as an advocacy and action-oriented body for EuroHealthNet members plus a wider range of partners from relevant fields willing and able to work on addressing the wider determi-nants of health. Through active liaison, intelligence gathering and analy-sis, reporting and advocacy, the objective is to positively contribute to the achievement of the EU2020 Strategy objectives, the fight against social and health inequalities and the implementation of the Social Investment Package which provide a framework to mainstream health in other poli-cies via the development of integrated approaches.

TatianaPADURARU

Nationality: Moldovan/Romanian

Leonardo PALUMBO

Nationality: Italian/American

Biographies 33

DimitraPANTELI

Nationality: Greek

Current Country of Residence: Germany


Profession: MD

Present position: Research Fellow, Berlin University of Technology

Educational background: Medical Degree and Masters in Public Health, currently doctoral candi-date

Relevant memberships: HTAi, DNEbM (German Network for Evidence-based Medicine)

Relevant professional activities and past achievements: Member of the Editorial Team of the European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies; supervisor of the course HTA Online; recipient of the HTAcademy Scholarship awarded by Pfizer Deutschland for research on equity considerations in HTA. Alumna and past member of the govern-ing body of the European Youth Parliament.

Key words: Health systems, HTA, clinical guidelines, evidence-based medicine, chron-ic diseases, cross-border health care, quality assurance

Pen Portrait: My work at the Department of Health Care Management has two focal points: evidence-based practice (primarily health technology assess-ment (HTA)) and health systems research. HTA is a multidisciplinary form of policy-informing research aiming to support evidence-based deci-sion-making on the introduction and implementation of health technolo-gies in the health system. Our research in recent years has been focusing both on methods in HTA, including aspects such as equity, publication bias and the methodological challenges of assessing different types of technologies and on the evaluation of individual technologies. I am cur-rently also the supervisor of the Department’s online course on HTA, “HTA Online”. At the same time, I am a member of the editorial team of the European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies, contributing both to the Health Systems in Transition (HiT) series and to individual thematic studies. HiT health system reviews are country-based reports that pro-vide a detailed description of a country’s health system and of reform and policy initiatives in progress or under development.

Gabriele PASTORINO




Profession:International civil servant, Programme coordinator

Present position: Country Monitoring Programme Coordinator, European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies, WHO European Centre for Health Policy

Educational background: Health economics and management; International Organisations and Public Administration management


Relevant professional activities and past achievements: My professional experience in the health field started back in 2005 in Bocconi University, Milan, where I completed my MSC in public adminis-tration and international organizations management and specialized in health care management. I followed-up professionally focusing on pri-mary care and hospital management working first with CERGAS Bocconi (Centro di Ricerche sulla Gestione dell’Assistenza Sanitaria e Sociale) in Milan and then with IRDES (Institut de Recherche et Documentation en Economie de la Santé) in Paris. I then spent two years working as Health Economist for the European Hospital and Healthcare Federation and in 2008 I joined the European Observatory on Health systems and Policies where I worked as Technical officer/Research fellow for 3 years. In 2011 I took on a more senior role becoming the coordinator of the Observatory’s country monitoring programme.

Key words: Health systems; Health policy; Programme Coordination; Primary care; Health service delivery; Knowledge brokering

Pen Portrait: My role is to coordinate and steer technical programmes and to support the Observatory´s core management. As coordinator of the Country Mon-itoring programme I am in charge of the Health Systems in Transition Profiles (HiT), a series that cover 53 Member States of WHO Regional Office for Europe. I also lead the development and management of the Health Systems and Policy Monitor (www.hspm.org), an international net-work of leading institutions that to date bring together 44 partners world-wide selected on the strength of their health systems, health services, public health and health management research.





Present position: Research Assistant, National School of Public Health, Portugal

Educational background: Master degree in Social Policy and PhD Public Health Student.

Relevant memberships: Portuguese Health System Observatory


Key words: Health Literacy, Knowledge Translation, Health Policy; Health Information Management; Shared Decision Making and Chronic Diseases.

Pen Portrait: Rita is a Public Health PhD student, at the National School of Public Health, NOVA University of Lisbon. In 2010 she concluded her Master in Social Policy in the Technical University of Lisbon. She joined the team of research assistants from the Department of Policies and Health Admin-istration at the National School of Public Health in 2006, where she has been involved in research projects concerning health literacy, knowledge translation, patient empowerment and the development of personal health records as a literacy tool. In 2009 she started her collaboration with the Portuguese Health System Observatory. Her research interests are: Health Literacy, Knowledge Translation, Health Policy; Health Infor-mation Management; Shared Decision Making and Chronic Diseases. Concerning her Social and Human Sciences background, Rita is special-ised on research in Public Health, namely in the development of research projects about health literacy, shared decision making, knowledge trans-lation, patient empowerment and the development of personal health records as a literacy tool.

Current Country of Residence: Romania


Profession:Economist

Present position: Public Affairs & Communication Specialist (for pharmaceutical associa-tion Local American Working Group)

Educational background: International Relations

Relevant memberships: Romanian Young Pharma Network

Relevant professional activities and past achievements: Former Executive Secretary for Local American Working Group; alumni at Utrecht Summer School 2013 on Pharmaceutical Policy

Key words: Health systems, EU health policy, innovation in health treatments, phar-maceutical industry, healthy ageing

Pen Portrait: I am specialised in International Relations, with a focus on internation-al business and organisations. My previous experience includes working for the European Institute of Romania, the National Bank of Romania and the British Embassy in Bucharest. For over two and a half years I have been working for the association Local American Working Group, the Romanian branch of PhRMA, which comprises 10 R&D pharmaceuti-cal companies, mostly US based. As the Public Affairs & Communication Specialist of LAWG, I dedicate my activity to supporting public policies that encourage patients’ access to innovative medicines as well as im-proving the healthcare system in Romania.

Ana RitaPEDRO


Iulia AlexandraPERCA


Biographies 35

JoséPULIDO MANZANERO




Profession: Researcher (sociologist)

Present position: Postdoctoral Researcher, Biomedical Research Networking Centres (CI-BER)

Educational background: Sociology, PhD Epidemiology and Public Health

Relevant memberships: Spanish Society of Epidemiology (SE, Spain). Spanish Young Epidemiologists Group (Grupo EJE, Spain).

Relevant professional activities and past achievements: National coordinator in the Itinere Project, based on a cohort of cocaine users recruited in the community. Research Support Technician in the Spanish National Centre of Epidemiology. Methodological support in the design of questionnaires and implementation of field procedures. Partic-ipating as collaborator in scientific projects and writing scientific papers.

Key words: Public Health, Epidemiology, substance abuse, traffic accidents

Pen Portrait: Since November 2004, I have been working in a public health research group in the Spanish National Centre of Epidemiology. This group has broad experience on epidemiological studies regarding illegal drug use and its health consequences. I have also worked in close collaboration with a research group on epidemiology of traffic injuries, in the University of Granada. To date, I have been mainly focussed in the following lines of research:• Patterns of drug use and health problems among cocaine users.• Association between illegal drugs and accidents.• Evaluation of health policy related to drugs use and road safety.

WilmQUENTIN

Nationality: German




Present position: Senior research fellow, Berlin University of Technology / European Obser-vatory on Health Systems and Policies

Educational background: Medical Doctor, MSc Health Policy, Planning and Financing

Relevant memberships: Member of German Health Economics society

Relevant professional activities and past achievements: - Managing editor of the Journal “Health Policy”- Part of the editorial team of the WHO European Observatory’s Health Care Systems in Transition Series- One of the coordinators of the EuroDRG project

Key words: Health systems, Diagnosis Related Group (DRG) - based hospital pay-ment in Europe, Inequalities, Costing studies, Europe and Africa

Pen Portrait:I am specialised in comparative health systems and services research in Europe with a particular focus on payment systems for hospitals and physicians. I am working on Health systems in Transition (HiT) health system reviews for the European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies. I am also interested in understanding inequalities in health, and improving health systems and services in Africa. I have published articles on a broad range of topics ranging from tobacco control policies over costs of HPV vaccination in Tanzania, and inequalities in major African cities, to Diagnosis-Related Groups (DRGs) in Europe.




Profession: Management consultant (Healthcare/IT)

Present position: PhD candidate, Oxford Internet Institute, University of Oxford

Educational background: Information systems / Internet science


Relevant professional activities and past achievements: - Management consulting for health insurance companies, pharma cor-

porations and health systems in Germany and the Middle East, primari-ly on questions of data governance and business intelligence

- MSc (2010/11) and PhD (2013-16) at the Oxford Internet Institute, Uni-versity of Oxford

- Researcher for OECD project “Big Data for Advancing Dementia Re-search” (2013/14)

Key words:E-health, Internet use, health outcomes, business intelligence, data gov-ernance

Pen Portrait: Since 2009 I have been working in management consulting, specialis-ing on the intersection of healthcare and IT. My projects covered both practical aspects – such as the design of an integrated care manage-ment programme and the development of a data quality management system – to more health-system relevant and policy-focused projects, such as the greenfield setup of a health insurance company in the Middle East. Currently I am on educational leave to pursue a PhD at the Oxford Internet Institute, University of Oxford. My PhD is about the ways in which Internet use (e.g. looking up information, using online support groups) affects how people make use of health services and their subjective health perception. I am a researcher on the OECD project “Big Data for Advancing Dementia Research”, and also did research on communication in online support groups as well as patient trust in digital health records.

Current Country of Residence: Denmark


Profession: Policy Maker

Present position: Head of Section, Danish Ministry of Health

Educational background: Political Science



Key words: Health Systems, Cancer, Acute Care.

Pen Portrait: I work as a civil servant at the Danish Ministry of Health. The Ministry is in charge of the administrative functions in relation to the organisation and financing of the health care system, psychiatry and health insurance as well as the approval of pharmaceuticals and the pharmacy sector. My tasks are mainly focused on development of policies within areas such as cancer, acute care and hospital planning. Further I am involved in different analysis regarding the Danish healthcare services. I received my Master’s Degree in Political Science in 2008 and have since worked in various positions within the Danish health care sector. Through my work and studies I have obtained compressive knowledge about the Dan-ish and European health care sector. Moreover, I have experience within health care policy at all three levels of government in Denmark.

Ulrike RAUER

Nationality: German

PeterRAVN RIIS

Nationality: Danish

Biographies 37

SofiaRIBEIRO




Profession: Medical Doctor

Present position: Medical Resident in Public Health, Sintra, PortugalYoung Gastein Taskforce Member and representative to the Advisory Committee

Educational background: Medical Degree from the University of Lisbon, PortugalMSc in Public Health, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (in progress)

Relevant memberships: Young Gastein Taskforce and Young Gastein Network, Alcohol Policy Youth Network, European Network of Medical Residents in Public Health, EUPHAnxt

Relevant professional activities and past achievements: Currently I am a Medical Resident in Public Health in a Primary Health-care Unit in Sintra, Portugal. At European Level, together with the Alco-hol Policy Youth Network, I am collaborating in two projects: the Triangle Project and the Let it hAPYN project. I am also part of the Young Gastein Taskforce, and Young Gastein representative to the Advisory Committee.This year, I embraced the challenge of doing an MSc in Public Health at London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. My final project will be looking at the impact of the financial crisis in the purchase of alcohol and food in the United Kingdom.

Key words: NCDs, public health leadership, public health training

Pen Portrait: At a local level, I am fulfilling the job description of a Public Health resi-dent, which includes epidemiologic surveillance, health promotion, envi-ronmental health, research and assessment of disability, among others. At European Level, together with the Alcohol Policy Youth Network, I am collaborating in two projects: the Triangle Project, aiming towards collect-ing good practices on alcohol and the youth at national level (financed by a YiA grant) and the Let it hAPYN project, financed by the European Com-mission. I have worked mainly in alcohol policy and the youth over the past years, and currently I am also working in health promotion in prisons.

YaizaRIVERO MONTESDEOCA

Nationality: Spanish/Canadian



Profession: Medical doctor

Present position: Health economics researcher, Río Hortega Fellow, Instituto de Salud Car-los III, Spain

Educational background: Degree in Medicine, Universidad Complutense, 2005MSC in International Relations, European Institute Jean Monnet, 2008MSc in Public Health (Health Services Management stream), London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, 2009

Relevant memberships: ISPOR: International Society for Pharmacoeconomics and Outcomes Re-searchAES: Health Economics Association (Spain)SESPAS: Spanish Society of Public Health and Health Administration UNHCR: United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees

Relevant professional activities and past achievements: Coordinator of the “Guideline on HIV diagnosis in Spain”, Ministry of Health, Social Services and EqualityAwarded the Río Hortega Fellowship 2013-2015 for: “Cost-effectiveness of HIV testing in Primary Care in Spain”Specialty in Preventive Medicine and Public Health, 2012

Key words: Health Economic Evaluation, Health Policy, Health Services Management, Public Health, HIV, chronic diseases

Pen Portrait: I work at the National Epidemiology Center in Madrid, Spain. I’m part of the HIV/AIDS/STIs unit which coordinates the Spanish Cohort of HIV-in-fected Patients (CoRIS), and specialise in economic evaluation of HIV testing. I am collecting data at the moment to assess the most cost-ef-fective strategy for HIV testing in Spain, France and Estonia as part of a Project financed by the European Commission. Nevertheless, my ed-ucation and experience have trained me in statistics, epidemiology and policy writing and therefore I am also involved in other activities at the moment: pharmaceutical consultancy, coordinator of the HIV testing guideline (Ministry of Health, Social Services and Equality of Spain) etc.





Present position: Research fellow and PhD Candidate at the Department of Health Care Management and the Berlin Centre for Health Economics Research, TU Berlin

Educational background: Health Sciences, MSc


Relevant professional activities and past achievements: Research Fellow at the Department of Health Care Management and the Berlin Centre for Health Economics Research, Managing Editor of the Journal Health Policy

Key words: Health systems, performance assessment, patient/client orientation, chronic disease care, access to health care

Pen Portrait: At present, my major research focus is directed at the citizens’ perspec-tive in health system performance assessment and comparison. At the Department of Health Care Management and the Berlin Centre for Health Economics Research (both TU Berlin) I am working on the project ‘Ex-ploring health system responsiveness in ambulatory care and disease management and its relation to other dimensions of health system per-formance’. In this project, we evaluate the level of health system respon-siveness in ambulatory and chronic disease care including aspects such as access to care, respectful treatment, communication and shared de-cision-making. In addition to the level of health system responsiveness, we analyse aspects of equity in the distribution of responsiveness, while considering regional, socio-demographic and socio-economic factors. .



Profession: NGO’s employee

Present position: EU Policy Advisor, EFA (European Federation of Allergy and Airways Dis-eases Patients’ Associations)

Educational background: Political Science/International Relations/EU Law

Relevant memberships: Member of the Policy Advisory Group of the European Patients’ Forum, alternative member of the Patients’ and Consumers’ Working Party of the European Medicines Agency and member of the Executive Committee of the Health and Environment Alliance, member of the Indoor Air Quality Expert Group of the European Commission Directorate General for Health and Consumers

Relevant professional activities and past achievements: Public affairs professional with more than three years’ experience on EU health, environment and research policies, skills in advocacy, project management, relations with stakeholders, communication, public speech, capacity building and implementation of public campaigns (main dossi-ers: food information to consumers, public health programmes, clinical trials & drugs development, medical devices, environment action pro-grammes, tobacco, thematic strategy on air pollution, EFA Manifesto ahead of European Parliament 2014 elections)

Key words: Patients, chronic diseases, health determinants

Pen Portrait: I have been in charge of EFA advocacy activities for more than two years, primarily focused on EU health, environment and research policies. Prior to this position, I had the opportunity of working for the European Com-mission in the subject of reception and integration of refugees, as well as at the European Parliament in the topic of research. I have consider-able experience in communication, public speaking and implementation of public campaigns: responsible for the campaign of the EFA Manifesto at the last European elections, which was signed by around 1,000 stake-holders and more than 40 Members and candidates to the European Parliament, I have also been a panellist in several major conferences attracting more than 400 participants, such as the 2013 EU Green Week and the 2014 European Conference on Tobacco or Health.

Julia RÖTTGER

Nationality: German

Roberta SAVLI


Biographies 39

Laura SCHANG

Nationality: German




Present position: PhD Student, London School of Economics and Political Science

Educational background: BSc European Public Health, MSc International Health Policy, Honours Re-search Certificate in Governance of Health Care Innovation (Maastricht University)



Key words: Health economics, performance measurement, decision making, health service planning, resource allocation

Pen Portrait: I am a PhD Student at the London School of Economics and Political Science. My research interests focus on decision making on health ser-vice performance and methods to improve how healthcare payers plan, purchase and allocate healthcare resources for their populations. My current work is on robust ratio-based performance comparisons among Scottish Health Boards and healthcare payers’ responses to performance targets. I also work on epidemiological models of population capacity to benefit to identify treatment appropriateness – and possible overuse or underuse – in ventilation tube surgery among children with otitis media with effusion. Before joining LSE, I gained work experience with the Eu-ropean Observatory on Health Systems and Policies, the Bertelsmann Foundation and the State Institute of Public Health in North-Rhine West-phalia in Germany.

Andrea SCHMIDT




Profession: Public Policy Analyst, Socio-economist

Present position: Researcher/Policy Analyst at European Centre for Social Welfare Policy and Research (UN-affiliated)

Educational background: BA Humanities, MSc Public Policy and Human Development (Social Policy and Health Care Financing), ongoing PhD Socio-Economics

Relevant memberships: Austrian Health Economics Association (ATHEA), Austrian Economic Asso-ciation (NOeG), International Sociological Association (ÖGS Austria)

Relevant professional activities and past achievements: In the past few years I have been able to gain experience in:- managing European FP7 research projects (topics: cross-border health

care, healthy and active ageing) as well as in - consulting regional, national and EU policy-makers (topics: long-term

care economics, use of ICT, demographic change).I have authored and co-authored peer-reviewed articles, policy briefs and

book contributions on these topics.

Key words: Long-term care economics, migration of health care professionals, active ageing, ICT in long-term care, social participation

Pen Portrait: My main field of expertise lies, firstly, in pan-European analyses of eco-nomics of long-term care for older people, including consultancy on pol-icy choices (e.g. cash vs. in-kind benefits), socio-economic aspects (e.g. formal-informal care dynamics), use of ICT solutions, and questions of equity, quality and efficiency in long-term care. Secondly, active ageing and social participation in old-age have been subjects of previous works (e.g. Active Ageing Index 2012). These aim to support policy-makers in dealing with the potential and challenges resulting from demographic changes in European countries. Finally, I have a strong interest in the impact caused by migration of health and long-term care professionals in Europe and beyond. I have been involved in a large-scale EU project on cross-border care, where I was particularly interested in potential im-balances arising between countries which joined the EU in 2004 or after and other Member States.




Profession: MPH

Present position: Health Services Researcher at Regional Agency of Health and Social Care of Emilia-Romagna (Bologna, Italy)

Educational background: MPH EUROPUBHEALTH: the European Master of Public Health, speciali-zation in ‘Quantitative Assessments in health’ from the University of Co-penhagen, Denmark. Health economics and management.


Relevant professional activities and past achievements: My working experience after pursuing my Masters saw me at the WHO Regional Office for Europe, from 2008 until 2010, within the Health In-telligence Unit (HIU) as project coordinator of an e-health platform which guaranteed country team experts with strategic information regarding the Health systems of the member states. In 2010 I joined the Region-al Agency of health and social care of Emilia-Romagna (Bologna, Italy) where I’m currently working as a researcher in the field of public health and health services research.

Key words: Health systems; business analytics; health workforce planning and fore-casting; health economics

Pen Portrait: I’m currently completing my Public Health background with a MSc in Health Economics and Management and I’m professionally involved in several programmes, the latest being in collaboration with the Depart-ment of Electronics, Computer Engineering (DEI) of the University of Bo-logna in the field of Operations Research applied to Healthcare. I’m par-ticularly interested in the field of applied Health services research and, in particular, in planning and forecasting future workforce needs (matching supply-demand estimates approaching a population needs-based mod-el). As for my experience in HHR planning I’m the focal point for Emil-ia-Romagna in the activities of the EU Joint Action on Health Workforce Planning and Forecasting (2012-2016). Beside my research activity, I’m involved as an academic tutor in a post-experience Master Course of the University of Bologna.

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Profession: Health economist

Present position: Research Associate, Main Association of Austrian Social Security Organ-isations

Educational background: Master in Economics; Bachelor in Political Science

Relevant memberships: ATHEA

Relevant professional activities and past achievements: Research Associate at IHS

Key words: Primary Health Care; Outcome Measurement; Financing mechanism of care systems; Cost benefit analysis; Reform Monitoring

Pen Portrait:I am working for the Main Association of Austrian Social Security Organi-sations in the department of health economics (GÖK). The Austrian stat-utory insurance system forms the basis of the social security system in Austria, providing health, pension and accident insurance besides unem-ployment benefits and social care. The department of health economics is providing special assistance to all health insurance funds with focus on efficiency and productivity of care systems and providers, evaluations and suggestions on improvement of incentive schemes, forecasts of de-mand and supply, utilisation of resources and interdependencies of pro-vider structures, identification and evaluation of best-practice-solutions for service provision, and financing mechanism of care systems. My area of responsibility consists of identification of potential improvements of the current care system, evaluation of reform processes and outcome measurement.

FrancescaSENESE


Clemens SIGL


Biographies 41

WietzeSIJTSMA

Nationality: Dutch



Profession: Public Administrator

Present position: International Affairs Advisor, Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sports, The Netherlands

Educational background: BSc in Sociology, MA in Public Administration & Organizational Science and an Master of Advanced Studies (MSA) in Sports Administration & Technology

Relevant memberships: AISTS Alumni, Young VWS

Relevant professional activities and past achievements: Coordinating government positions on EU proposals on health, welfare and sports; Advising policy departments on EU affairs and strategy;Project team EU Presidency 2016;Reflection Process on modern, responsive and sustainable health sys-tems – secretariat for the subgroup on cost effective use of medicines;Two year government administration young professional programme

Key words: EU decision making, public health, sports, cost-effective use of medicines

Pen Portrait: As an advisor on international (EU) affairs at the Ministry of Health, I am responsible for making the bridge between the policy departments, Brussels and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. I assess EU proposals and initiatives, assist the policy experts on taking a position and a strategy for the negotiation in Brussels, advice the minister on the Dutch position and represent the ministry and policy department in the interdepartmen-tal process of getting sustained governmental position. This ranges from initiatives on drugs to nutrition and physical activity and from health-care systems to eHealth. Further, I am part of the project team that pre-pares for and coordinates the work for the Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sports, towards and during the Netherlands EU Presidency in 2016. This includes setting policy priorities, engaging the policy departments and the political level, process management, organizing conferences and meetings.

DimitriosSKEMPES

Nationality: Greek

Current Country of Residence: Switzerland



Present position: Marie Sklodowska-Curie Fellow, Swiss Paraplegic Research Institute / University of Lucerne

Educational background: BSc in Physical Therapy, Master of Public Health MPH, PGCert in Health Services Research, PhD candidate in Health Policy and Law

Relevant memberships: International Society for Physical and Rehabilitation Medicine (ISPRM), European Association for Health Law (EAHL), Swiss Society for Public Health (SSPH)

Relevant professional activities and past achievements: Dimitrios Skempes is a health professional with 5+ years of experience in health research, policy and business development. Before graduating in 2009 from the University of Crete Medical School with a Master in Public Health and Health Care Management (MPH), Mr. Skempes spent almost a year assisting in research projects and following specialized courses in Health Services Research at University College London (UCL). He then spent almost two years working for Medtronic in Greece, the premier global medical device manufacturer, as a Therapy Specialist and Field Sales Manager. During 2010 he served as a Scientific Consultant in the office of the Parliament Rapporteur for Health and Social Policy in the Greek Parliament before receiving a Marie-Sklodowska Curie Fellowship from the European Commission’s 7th Framework Programme to conduct research in Switzerland. In the frame of his research project Mr. Skempes has been seconded to the Disability and Rehabilitation Team of the World Health Organization Headquarters and contributed to the development of evidence based policy guidelines for health related rehabilitation. Con-currently with his research activities Dimitrios Skempes provides scientific assistance to the Vice Chair of the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities at the United Nations while since July 2014 he is a Jun-ior Faculty Scholar of the Human Rights in Patients’ Care programme of the Association of Schools of Public Health in Europe (ASPHER).

Key words: Disability, rehabilitation, human rights, monitoring and evaluation, health systems

Pen Portrait: My research interests revolve around issues of health systems perfor-mance and specifically the evaluation and assessment of health services and programmes for people with disabilities and chronic health condi-tions from the perspective of human rights law. More specifically my activities as part of the DREAM Marie Curie Training Network have been focused on the analysis of States’ legal obligations under the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities regarding the provision of rehabilitation services and the development of health system level indicators for the evaluation of rehabilitation services and policies at national level.




Profession: Policy Officer

Present position: Policy Officer, European Patients’ Forum

Educational background: Political Science/ European Affairs


Relevant professional activities and past achievements: I am Policy Officer at the European Patients’ Forum since January 2011. EPF is a non-for-profit, independent umbrella organisation representing patients with chronic diseases across Europe. We aim at ensuring that the patients’ community drives policies and programmes that affect patients’ lives. In parallel, I also teach an optional course on EU health policy at my former university, Science Po Lille, since 2013. I also had a previous experience in patient advocacy at the European Federation of Allergy and Airways Diseases Patients’ Association, working on health and environment topics, in 2010.

Key words: Patient empowerment, equitable access, non-discrimination, patient-cen-tred healthcare, patient involvement

Pen Portrait: I am specialised in advocating for the rights of patients in the EU with chronic conditions at European level. My role is to help ensure that the unique perspective of patients on EU health policies, legislation relat-ed to health and on other areas that affect patients’ health is heard by stakeholders and decision makers. My current areas of work include: equal treatment and policies to tackle discrimination encountered by patients in healthcare, education, and employment. Equity of access to high-quality healthcare. The revision of the medical devices regulation, where I focus on patient involvement and fostering transparency towards patients. The revision of the Data Protection legislation to ensure it em-powers patients to share data for research and public health. The rights and needs of older patients. I also do supporting work on themes like health literacy and patient empowerment, defining integrated care from the patients’ perspective, sustainability of healthcare.

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Current Country of Residence: Ireland


Profession: Pharmacist, researcher

Present position: Postdoctoral researcher, Health Service Executive Medicines Manage-ment Programme, Health Service Executive / National Centre for Phar-macoeconomics, Ireland

Educational background: Bachelor of Pharmacy, University College Cork (1H); Master of Pharmacy, Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland (1H); Diploma in Statistics (Distinction), TrinityCollege Dublin; PhD in Cancer Pharmacoepidemiology,Trinity College Dublin.

Relevant memberships: Current member of the Pharmaceutical Society of Ireland (MPSI). Current member of the International Society for Pharmacoeconomics and Out-comes Research (ISPOR). Past member of the International Society for Pharmacoepidemiology.

Relevant professional activities and past achievements: During PhD studies collaborated with the National Cancer Registry Ire-land to examine the effects on cancer outcomes of exposure to treat-ments used in type II diabetes. Completed doctoral studies in pharma-coepidemiology as an Irish Cancer Society research scholar and Health Research Board Health Services Research scholar. Previously employed as intern pharmacist in St James’s Hospital, Dublin, where gained expo-sure to clinical pharmacy services in cancer, hospice care, and care of the elderly, as well as general clinical pharmacy and dispensary services.

Key words: HTA, pharmaceuticals, cancer, real-world data, outcomes research

Pen Portrait: Susan is employed as a postdoctoral research pharmacist in the Health Service Executive’s multidisciplinary Medicines Management Programme. This newly established programme aims to promote the safe, effective and cost-effective prescribing of medicines. The initiative provides na-tional leadership on issues such as access to medicines, quality of pre-scribing, and guidance on national expenditure on medicines. Susan’s pri-mary work activities involve leading the analysis of national dispensing claims data in order to monitor national drug utilisation trends. Aims of analyses include examination of appropriateness of prescribing and de-termination of areas of increasing drug expenditure. Analyses and rele-vant literature are compiled in reports which are used to inform guidance on priority medicines management issues and medication policy. Other work activities include involvement in evaluation of health technology assessment reports as part of the National Centre for Pharmacoeconom-ics and academic research in conjunction with the Department of Phar-macology and Therapeutics at Trinity College Dublin

Laurène SOUCHET

Nationality: French

Susan SPILLANE

Nationality: Irish

Biographies 43

MildaURNIKIENE


Current Country of Residence: Lithuania


Profession: Civil servant

Present position: Chief Specialist, Health Insurance Division, Health Economics Depart-ment, Ministry of Health of the Republic of Lithuania

Educational background: Bachelor of Management and Business Administration; Master of Inter-national Trade; Master of Dentistry (ongoing)


Relevant professional activities and past achievements: Chief Officer of Strategic Planning Division at the Ministry of Health of the Republic of Lithuania; Autumn School on Health Information and Ev-idence for Policy Making

Key words: Health insurance, health care system reform, health financing, sustaina-ble health systems, financial crisis and austerity

Pen Portrait: At the moment I am working in the Health Economics Department at the Ministry of Health of the Republic of Lithuania. My main responsi-bilities are to participate in the preparation and improvement of laws and other legal acts on health insurance, assess the implementation of the Compulsory Health Insurance Fund budget and analyse the financial statements of health care institutions. I was designated as a represent-ative (as an expert in the field of health economics) for the Lithuanian Presidency of the Council of the European Union (in 2013), so my ac-tivities includes playing an active role during and after the Presidency. The sustainability and efficiency of health systems was one of the key priorities of the Lithuanian Presidency in the area of health policy and is still the relevant topic afterwards that I deal with in my daily work. Since one year I’ve started to study dentistry at university.

Thomas VAN CANGH




Profession: EU civil servant

Present position: Expert, Public Health Preparedness, European Centre for Disease Control

Educational background: MBA, MA (European Economics), MPH

Relevant memberships: Platform for International Cooperation on Undocumented Migrants (PI-CUM)

Relevant professional activities and past achievements: After graduating from the College of Europe, Thomas started his ca-reer for a consulting company conducting draft impact assessments of planned EU legislation for the European Commission. He then joined the United Nations Development Programme in Mozambique where he pro-vided support for a pilot initiative aiming at enhancing the coherence of the UN system in the country. Since 2010, he works for the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control, first as International Relations Officer (2010-2013) and at present as an expert in preparedness for cross-border health emergencies.

Key words: Infectious diseases, health information, international relations, health di-plomacy, public health emergency preparedness

Pen Portrait: From the very beginning, my career in public health has combined ele-ments of international relations (with an EU-focus) and crisis manage-ment. This is what led me to work for the UN in an emergency-prone country such as Mozambique. And this is also why I joined last year a section of the ECDC dedicated to supporting EU Member States and the European Commission to strengthen their preparedness to cross-border health threats.




Profession: Policy officer

Present position: Policy officer, Stockholm County Council, Sweden

Educational background: MSc in Business and Economics (with specialization in International Busi-ness).



Key words: Non-profit organisations within the healthcare area, public health devel-opment

Pen Portrait: I currently hold a position as a policy officer at the Department of Devel-opment at the Stockholm County Council. My main fields of work are in public health development at the regional level, non-profit organisations within the health area and internationalisation.

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Current Country of Residence: Hungary


Profession:Medical Doctor

Present position: PhD Student in health economics, Eötvös Loránd University, Hungary

Educational background: Medical doctor (MSc), Business Administration and Management (BA)

Relevant memberships: Member of Social Science Working Group of the Hungarian Society of Personalised Medicine

Relevant professional activities and past achievements: Relevant professional activities and past achievements: Independent lec-turer at ELTE University, Publication in IME (Hungary) 2014/June (Health economic aspects of personalized medicine, namely do the personalized technologies reduce the healthcare costs?)

Key words: HTA, rare diseases, orphan drugs, economic modelling

Pen Portrait: All across the developed countries special attention is given to rare dis-eases. This is mainly due to the growing number of orphan drugs and other high-cost innovative technologies. Although the diseases are one by one rare, based on the calculation of the European Commission there are more than 29 million people in the European Union who are suffering from a rare disease. Nowadays, this area is a public health priority across the developed world. The European Union assigned the second three year programme (EUROPLAN II.) that is responsible for the coordination of common actions across the member countries. My research topic is on evidence based decisions in the field of rare diseases. There is an existing desire for a new evaluation process which can handle these sometimes extremely expensive technologies. In the future a more significant role needs to be given to evidence based decisions in this field.

AmaliaVINOGRADOVA

Nationality: Swedish

Tamás ZELEI

Nationality: Hungarian

Biographies 45

AlexandraZIEMANN

Nationality: German



Profession: Public health and social science

Present position: Policy Advisor, Acute Zorg Euregio, The Netherlands

Educational background: Diploma in Human Geography (MSc equivalent), currently: PhD pro-gramme in European Public Health

Relevant memberships: German Society of Social Medicine and Prevention, European Public Health Association sections on public health monitoring and reporting, public health practice and policy and health services research

Relevant professional activities and past achievements: Since 2014: Policy advisor at Acute Zorg Euregio, Enschede, The Neth-

erlands, responsible for organising cross-border emergency care between Germany and the Netherland

Since 2009: PhD candidate focusing on novel public health surveillance approaches in Europe at the Department of International Health, CAPHRI School of Public Health and Primary Care, Faculty of Health, Medicine and Life Sciences, Maastricht University, Maastricht, The Netherlands

2010-2014: Researcher at the Department of International Health, CAPHRI School of Public Health and Primary Care, Faculty of Health, Medicine and Life Sciences, Maastricht University, Maastricht, The Netherlands, responsible as project officer for various (European) projects focusing on health services research and health surveillance

2007-2010: Researcher and authorised representative at GEOMED Re-search Forschungsgesellschaft mbH, Bad Honnef, Germany, responsible as project officer for various (European) pro-jects focusing on health services research and health sur-veillance

Key words: Knowledge translation, health policy, health systems, cross border health care, health information

Pen Portrait: I am specialised in applied research on emergency medical services and public health surveillance in Europe. Over the last decade, I was involved in European projects focusing on benchmarking emergency care delivery and system design in cross-country comparisons. These analyses were based on routinely collected data on the emergency patient, the treat-ment and logistics. Such routine information from patient records, but also medication sales or Twitter messages are a novel source of sur-veillance information for rapidly assessing the health impact of various threats, from the influenza pandemic or a heat wave to the influx of Af-rican migrants or the financial crisis. This approach, called syndromic sur-veillance, is the topic of recent European research projects I was involved in and of my PhD. In my current position as policy advisor for cross-border emergency care between Germany and the Netherlands, I can tap into expertise gained on emergency care and European collaboration.


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Creating a better future for health in Europe

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