SPEAKERS

A Lithuanian physician, politician, and signatory of the 1990 Act of the Re-Establishment of the State of Lithuania. He enrolled in medical school in Kaunas, graduating in 1975. Since 1969 he was active participant in the anti-Soviet underground and studied in the underground Antanas Strazdelis humanitarian thought and self- education University. V. P. Andriukaitis entered politics in 1976 as a Social Democrat, going on to receive a degree in history from Vilnius University in 1984.

He was elected to the Supreme Council of the Republic of Lithuania in 1990. Vytenis Povilas Andriukaitis was one of the authors of Constitution of the Republic of Lithuania adopted in 1992. He served in Seimas from 1992 to 2004, and was its deputy chairman of its board from 2001 to 2004. During the period of 2008 – 2012 V. P. Andriukaitis became the deputy chairman of Lithuanian Parliament of the Republic Committee on European Affairs, the member of Foreign Affairs Committee and Vice-Chairman LSDP, the Social Democratic Party of Lithuania. Now V.P. Andriukaitis is a member of Seimas and the Minister of Health of the Republic of Lithuania.

 

Full Professor of Health Economics at the medical Faculties of Ghent University and Brussels University. He was President of the International Society for Pharmaco-Economics and Outcomes Research, and is member of the Flemish Health Council. He is author of the book “Health economics for non-economists” and of the report “towards valuable innovation in the EU”. He published >160 peer-reviewed papers, >300 posters/papers, and has given >500 lectures on health economics, health care systems and & health technology assessment (HTA).

 

From March 2003 to January 2007 Head of the Cabinet of the former Minister of Health, Mrs. Maria Rauch-Kallat, and since September 2005 Director-General at the Federal Ministry of Health, responsible for the health system ( health care planning, funding and quality) and general management (staff and budget). One of the key areas of his strategic work is eHealth, the„ electronic health record“(ELGA) in Austria. Being the coordinator of the EU-eHealth Governance Initiative Dr. Auer is responsible for the strategic orientation of the Member States´ joint eHealth policy. Since 2003 he has been playing a central role at all stages of the Austrian health care reform process (inter alia drug reimbursement, organizational and funding reforms, establishing and expanding a new agency for the marketing authorization of drugs, reforms in the area of social health insurance et cetera).

 

Jūras Banys is Acting Rector of Vilnius University. He graduated from Vilnius University in 1985, obtained PhD in 1979 and  the second degree (doctor habilitatus) in 2000. Between 1988 and 1989, he was at Oxford University, UK, as a PhD student under the supervision of Prof. A. M. Glazer. He was awarded Humboldt Research Fellowship for post-doctoral scholars and spent the period of 1993–1995 at Leipzig University, Germany.  J. Banys has published a book and over 200 scientific papers. Currently his research group has been working on Relaxor Ferroelectrics and multiferoic materials. These investigations include single crystals, ceramics, thin films.

J. Banys won the Lithuanian National Prize for Science 2002. In 2003 he received P. Brazdžiūnas Award in the field of Experimental Physics of the Lithuanian Academy of Sciences. He is a member of the Lithuanian Physical Society, a member of the Lithuanian Materials Research Society, and Member of the Lithuanian Academy of Sciences, member of the international advisory board of ECAPD (European Conference on Applications of Polar Dielectrics), member of the international advisory board of EMF (European Meeting on Ferroelectrics). J. Banys has contributed to numerous Lithuanian national and international conferences as a Chair and Organizing or Program Committee Member.

 

Her research activities focus on the impact of European integration on national healthcare systems and on their social character. Her research topics include themes such as patient and professional mobility in the EU; healthcare services in the internal market; the impact of EU economic governance on health systems; EU pharmaceutical policies and EU-level co-operation in the field of healthcare.

She is work leader for the OSE contribution to EU research projects such as ECAB (2010-2013) and “Europe for patients" (2004-2007). Both projects address cross border care and are financed by the European Commission under its Framework Programmes for Research. Rita Baeten advises the Belgian federal authorities on EU policy developments with a potential impact on healthcare in Belgium. She also coordinated the scientific preparation and follow-up of several international and ministerial conferences on these topics.

 

Richard Bergstrom is a pharmacist by training. He received his MScPharm degree from the University of Uppsala, Sweden in 1988. Until 1992 he worked at the Medical Products Agency as Assistant Head of Registration. He moved to Switzerland where he worked for nine years in regulatory affairs at Roche and Novartis. Before returning to Sweden in 2002, he was Director, EU Regulatory Strategy at Roche Basel. For nine years he was Director-General of LIF, the Swedish Association of the Pharmaceutical Industry. During this time he was member of the Board of EFPIA and the Council of IFPMA, the international association based in Geneva. In Sweden he had several government appointments, incl. as vice chairman of the Board of the Karolinska Institute. He also served on the Board of IMM, the Swedish Institute against Corruption. Since 2006 he is an advisor to the WHO on Good Governance in Medicine. Since April 2011 he is Director General of EFPIA, the European association for the research-based industry. In this capacity he also serves on the Board of IMI - the joint research undertaking between EFPIA and the European Commission.

 

Ms. Bohatyr’ova was appointed for the position of Minister of Health of Ukraine on the 24th December 2012.

Before the appointment for the position of Minister of Health of Ukraine, Ms. Bohatyr’ova served as Vice Prime Minister of Ukraine - Minister of Health of Ukraine.

Between December 2007 and February 2012 Ms. Bohatyr’ova served as Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine.

Ms. Bohatyr’ova was first elected to the Parliament of Ukraine and served as a Member of Parliament of Ukraine between1990 and 1994 accordingly.

During the period of 1994 – 2000 Ms. Bohatyr’ova hold the government positions of Deputy Minister, First Deputy Minister, Minister of Health of Ukraine.

In 2000 Ms. Bohatyr’ova hold state appointment of Academic Advisor of the President of Ukraine.
Since 2000 Ms. Bohatyr’ova was elected again to the Parliament of Ukraine as a Member of Parliament. At the Parliament of Ukraine during the period of 2002 – 2006 Ms. Bohatyr’ova led the faction “Regions of Ukraine” of Party of Regions at Parliament of Ukraine as a Chairman.

Between 2006 and 2007 Ms. Bohatyr’ova served as a Chairman of the faction of Party of Regions, Coordinator of Anti-Crisis Coalition, Coalition of the National Unity of Parliament Factions at Parliament Ukraine.

Ms. Bohatyr’ova began her career in 1970 – 1971 at Kramatorsk garment factory and worked there as a sewing machine operator until 1971.

Her professional career in the field of medical care has started in 1977 at Hospital № 2 of Gorlivka town, there she served as a internship doctor until 1979.

During the period of 1979and 1991 Ms. Bohatyr’ova became the obstetrician–gynecologist, Head of trade union committee, Deputy Chief Physician at Kramatorsk Central City Hospital.

Ms. Bohatyr’ova holds Medical Doctor’s Degree from the Kharkiv Medical Institute (Specialty: General Medicine).

In 1996 Ms. Bohatyr’ova graduated from Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv. Specialty: Law; Qualification: Lawyer.

Ms. Bohatyr’ova has a degree of Doctor of Medicine, Professor and Associate Member of the National Academy of Medical Sciences of Ukraine.

During the period of 1997 and 2003 Ms. Bohatyr’ova hold the post of Secretary of the Supervisory Board of the National Fund for Social Protection of Mothers and Children “Ukraine to children”.
Ms. Bohatyr’ova has the official national awards and state decorations such as Order of Princess Olga of III Class, Order of Prince Yaroslav the Wise of V Class. Ms. Bohatyr’ova is Laureate of the State Prize of Ukraine in the field of Science and Technology.

 

Tonio Borg; originally from Malta, is the European Commissioner for Health since 2012. Borg got involved from an early age with the youth branch of the Nationalist Party (PN), becoming its president at one point. During his work as a lawyer he specialised in human rights and from 1990 and 1995 he was a member of the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture.

He was first elected to the Maltese Parliament in 1992 and between 1995 and 1996 served as Minister of Home Affairs, a portfolio that he retook in 1998. In 2004 he was elected deputy leader of the PN and was named as Deputy Prime Minister. In 2008 he left the Home Affairs Ministry after big appointed Minister of Foreign Affairs while still Deputy PM until his election as European Commissioner.

 

Helmut Brand is Jean Monnet Professor of European Public Health and head of the Department of International Health at Maastricht University, The Netherlands. He studied Medicine in Düsseldorf and Zürich and earned a Master in Community Medicine from London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and London School of Economics. Prof. Brand is a specialist in Public Health Medicine. After working in several Health Authorities and Ministries of Health in Germany he was director of the Public Health Institute of North Rhine Westphalia. Since then European Integration in Health is the main topic of his work. He is president of the Association of Schools of Public Health in the European region (ASPHER) and president of the European Health Forum Gastein (EHFG). As policy advisor he serves on the European Advisory Committee on Health Research (EACHR) of WHO Europe and on the Expert Panel on “Investing in Health” for the European Commission.

 

Reinhard Busse is professor and department head for health care management at Technische Universität Berlin. Besides being one the Observatory's Associate Head of Research Policy and Head of the Berlin hub, he is a member of several scientific advisory boards (e.g. for the Federal Association of Company-based Sickness Funds, the German Agency for Health Technology Assessment, and the Federal Physicians' Chamber) and a regular consultant for WHO, the EU Commission, OECD and other international organizations within Europe and beyond as well as national health and research institutions.

His research focuses on both the methods and the contents of comparative health system analysis (with a particular emphasis on the reforms in Germany, other social health insurance countries and central and eastern Europe, role of EU), health services research including cost-effectiveness analyses, health targets, and health technology assessment (HTA).

 

He is also a Professor at the Department of Economics, Faculty of Economics and Finance Management, Mykolas Romeris University, Vilnius, Lithuania. He graduated from Vilnius State University, School of Economics, with Master’s degree in Economics in 1980. In 1983-1986 he studied at Lithuanian Academy of Science, Institute of Economics and in 1987 obtained Ph.D. in Economics, Specialisation in Public Administration and Health. In 2008 he was a Vice-minister and later on – Minister of Health of the Republic of Lithuania. In 2007-2008 he was an adviser to the Prime Minister on health care organization, strategy and reforms implementation.

 

He has obtained a master of law and a master of criminology from the Catholic University of Louvain, where he started his professional experience as a research assistant on the Institute of Social Security on the Faculty of Law (1977-1983). He continued his career by joining the Center for political, economical and social studies where he was researcher and political advisor. From the mid eighties until the beginning of the nineties he worked as a deputy director and counselor of social affairs in the office of the Belgian Prime Minister (1985-1993). Later on he filled the position of adjunct general administrator of the National Social Security Office (1993-1995).

 

Nicole Denjoy is the COCIR Secretary General since 2005.

Nicole has gathered 30 years of experience in the medical technology industry, working with companies including L’air Liquide, Ohmeda, Boston Scientific and Baxter. Nicole has a Masters in Organisation and Change Management.

icole represents COCIR in a variety of influential fora such as the eHealth Governance Initiative and eHealth Stakeholder Group. Since May 2010, Nicole is Chair of the BIAC Task Force on Health Care Policy representing the private business sector to the OECD Health Committee. Since January 2013, Nicole is also Chair of DITTA, the Global Trade Association representing Medical Imaging, Radiation Therapy and Healthcare IT Industry (www.globalditta.org).

 

He is also head of the WHO European Centre on Health Policy in Brussels. In addition to WHO, he has served other major multilateral organizations such as the European Commission and the World Bank. He is a member of several advisory and editorial boards and has served as advisor in more than forty countries within the European region and beyond. He is member of APHEA board of accreditation; honorary fellow of the UK faculty of public health medicine, has twice been awarded the EHMA prize, and in 2006 received the Andrija Stampar Medal. He was head of the MSc in Health Services Management at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine and he is currently visiting professor at Imperial College, London. His research focuses on comparative health system and policy analysis and is editor of the European Observatory series published by Open University Press. He has published several volumes in this field, the last two: Health systems, health and wealth: assessing the case for investing in health systems (2012) and Health professional mobility and health systems (2011).

 

Born 1946 in Reykjavík, Iceland. She completed her general practice training in 1979 (United Kingdom) after receiving her Medical Degree from the University of Iceland in 1973.

She has been a family physician at Efstaleiti Health Centre since 1980. She was the assistant Reykjavík City Medical Officer 1979-1980. Her political, social and civic activities are as follows: Member of Reykjavík City Council 1982-1994, member of the City Executive Council 1986-1994, Chairman of the Icelandic College of Family Physicians 1995-1999, Member of Board of the Icelandic Medical Association 1997-1999, Head of the Icelandic delegation to CPME since 2000, elected internal auditor for the CPME in April 2001, re-elected 2003, elected CPME Vice President for 2006-2007, re-elected for 2008-2009 and elected treasurer 2010-2012. Member of Althingi for the Reykjavík constituency 1999-2003, Deputy parliamentarian 1995-1999 and 2003-2007, Member of the Standing Committee on Judicial and Ecclesiastical Affairs 1999-2003, Member of the Standing Committee on Health and Social Security 1999-2003, Member of the Standing Committee on the Environment 1999-2003, Substitute member of the Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs 1999-2003.

Vice-Chairman of the Icelandic Delegation to the Western European Union Assembly 1999- 2003, Substitute member of the Icelandic EFTA-delegation since 1999-2003, Member of the Icelandic parliamentary delegation to the United Nations General Assembly in 1999 and 2000, Member of the Icelandic delegation to the U.N. conference on sustainable development in Johannesburg S-Africa in 2002.

 

Nick Fahy has over fifteen years of experience at senior level in European health policy, including ten years in the Health and Consumers Directorate-General of the European Commission, most recently as head of unit for health information. He has led the development of major European initiatives such as the multi-stakeholder European Partnership for Action Against Cancer, and represented the European Union in international forums such as the World Health Assembly. He has a particular interest in the contribution of psychology to public policy, and he is currently a member of the expert group on measurement of and target-setting for well-being advising the World Health Organisation's Regional Office for Europe. Before the Commission, Mr Fahy worked on issues such as European affairs and pharmaceutical policy at the UK Department of Health, as well as being private secretary to both John Horam MP, junior minister for the National Health Service, and Tessa Jowell MP, the first Minister of State for Public Health. Nick also contributes to academic work, both through his own PhD research at Queen Mary University of London and as a visiting lecturer at Maastricht University and at Management Centre Innsbruck.

 

He received his Medical degree in 1966 from Kaunas University of Medicine. Between 1978 and 1986 he was working for the World Health Organization (WHO) starting as a Medical Officer and completing his assignment as Director of Division of Non-communicable Diseases (NCD), Geneva, Switzerland. Upon return from WHO, he continued his research in NCD prevention (Director, CINDI-Lithuania), was actively involved in the formulation of national health policy in Lithuania, served as a chair of newly established National Board of Health. Internationally he continued active collaboration with and through WHO in different capacities (Chair of the Standing Committee of the Regional Committee for Europe, Member of the Global WHO Executive Board, Chair of the WHO/EURO CINDI Programme Management Committee). He served more than eleven years as a Rector, Kaunas University of Medicine, later on continuing as a Chancellor as well as a Head, Department of Preventive Medicine. Currently he is Chancellor of Medical Academy of newly developed Lithuanian University of Health Sciences and a Chair of the Senate. In 2011 he was elected as a President of the Health Forum. Prof. V. J. Grabauskas is an honorary member of Polish Academy of Medicine, full-member of A. Sweitzer World Academy of Humanistic Medicine, Member of Scan-Balt Medical Academy. He has published more than 300 publications, mainly on NCD prevention, health policy, health system management.

 

Dr. Stanimir Hasurdjiev is one of the founders and current Chairperson of the Bulgarian National Patients’ Organization (NPO) – the biggest patients’ umbrella organization in Bulgaria. NPO has more than 80 member organizations representing patients with different socially significant diseases.

Dr. Hasurdjiev has devoted himself to the work in the patients’ advocacy sector and in defense of patients’ rights. In 2011, he represented the Bulgarian patients in the Supervisory Board of the National Health Insurance Fund. He is the Executive Director of the European Liver Patients’ Association (ELPA), a member of several regional and international organizations and networks, e.g. World Hepatitis Alliance, European Community Advisory Board, International Capacity Building Alliance and others. He has many Bulgarian and international awards, such as the Best Media Award for the World Hepatitis Day campaign in 2008 “Am I number 12”. In 2011 National Patients’ Organization was awarded a prize by Effie Worldwide Awards for its campaign “If the healthcare system doesn’t hear you”.

He has been an editor of the health radiocast “Investment for Health” on the National Darik radio and host of the TV reality health show on bTV – “Realno”. He is an author of many health projects for socially important diseases – program “Protection”, “High cholesterol kills”, antiabortion program “It’s up to you”, cervix cancer campaign “Tell someone”, “A few kilograms younger”, “Treat osteoporosis!” and many others.

In 2013 Dr. Hasurdjiev became a Board member of the European Patients’ Forum.

 

After several research stays in the U.S. and his successful habilitation in Marburg, he took over the Department of Finance at the University of Hannover, part of the Department of Economics, in 1976. Since 1995, he has held the Chair of Public Finance and Health Economics at the Technical University of Berlin. Prof. Dr. Henke has been a member of the Scientific Advisory Board of the German Federal Ministry of Finance since 1984.

From 1987 to 1998, he was a member in the National Expert Panel for Concerted Action in Health Care and from 1993 to 1998, the Chairman of the panel. Since 2004, he has been a spokesman for the Centre for Innovative Health Technologies (ZiG) at the TU Berlin. Prof. Henke works mainly in the fields of health economics, social security, European integration and on accounting and controlling issues. As part of the scientific advisory board, it is the job of Professor Henke to evaluate the quality of research in the above-mentioned areas.

 

The National Institute for Quality- and Organizational Development in Healthcare and Medicines (Hungary) is the main methodological centre for organizational and system development, quality management and pharmaceuticals in Hungary. It was established in 2011 to support the implementation of health care reform in Hungary. The EU Project Directorate of the Institute is in charge of planning, implementing and monitoring health development EU and other international projects and programmes. Dóra Horváth was the coordinator of Subgroup 2 (Defining success factors for the effective use of Structural Funds) of the EU Reflection Process on modern, responsive and sustainable health systems between 2012-2013.

 

Gary is the Health Advisory Leader for EY in the UK and a member of the Global Health Executive. Gary has worked in Healthcare consulting for over 24 years with a strong track record across all parts of healthcare finance, healthcare performance improvement and supply chain transformation working with both the public and private sector. Gary leads the practice as a strong practitioner and still spends a great deal of his time supporting clients in real delivery projects.

A qualified accountant and statistician, Gary is well respected as an innovator and has been responsible for the development of many of the solutions we have pioneered with our clients over his time with EY. Gary is currently helping to lead the development of the EY Global Healthcare practice and has put together a team of people with a wealth of experience and a mission to bring the best delivery experience across the Globe to help our clients solve the greatest challenges we face in health care today. In the UK, Gary is respected as one of, if not the leading, cost reduction and service improvement specialists in the market. Outside of the UK, Gary has a strong performance improvement and finance CV in many parts of Western Europe and has played an important part of the development of our practices in Australia and the Middle East.

As an inspiring leader, with a real focus on delivery of sustainable benefit, Gary is dedicated to working with clients and alliance partners to broker new solutions and partnerships, and bring real value to clients.

 

Zsuzsanna took up her duties as Regional Director on 1 February 2010. Before her election as Regional Director, Ms Jakab served as the founding Director of the European Union's European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) in Stockholm, Sweden.

Between 2002 and 2005, Ms Jakab was State Secretary at the Hungarian Ministry of Health, Social and Family Affairs. She played a key role in the negotiations leading up to the Fourth WHO Ministerial Conference on Environment and Health, held in Budapest in June 2004. Between 1991 and 2002, Zsuzsanna Jakab worked at the WHO/Europe in a range of senior management roles.

Mrs Jakab holds a Master’s degree from the Faculty of Humanities, Eötvös Lóránd University, Budapest; a postgraduate degree from the University of Political Sciences, Budapest; a diploma in public health from the Nordic School of Public Health, Gothenburg, Sweden; and a postgraduate diploma from the National Institute of Public Administration and Management, Hungary. She began her career in Hungary’s Ministry of Health and Social Welfare in 1975, being responsible for external affairs, including relations with WHO.

 

The history of her life covers various qualifications, as medical doctor pediatric surgeon working for 22 years in Vilnius university children’s hospital, more than a decade working In the various leading positions at the Ministry of health, including State secretary, Viceminister, Advisor to the Minister, she was a director of Health reform management bureau and Independent agency of health technology assessment, she has international expertise working in various projects at WHO and European Commission, also she has academic and scientific qualifications at Vilniaus and Mykolas Romeris university, where she is working for the last 8 years.

Prof. dr. Danguolė Jankauskienė is an expert of health policy and health management, she is involved in various national and international scientific and practical projects of health system’s development also is teaching health policy course for master degree students at the university and leads PhD students.

 

She is responsible for coordinating EAPN policy work and advocacy strategy amongst its 30 national networks and 23 European organisations, with a particular focus on supporting the development of rights-based, integrated anti-poverty and social inclusion strategies, within the context of Europe 2020. Ensuring affordable access to quality health services and tackling poverty as a key social determinant of health inequalities have been a growing concern. Prior to this, she worked as a Senior Advisor on social policy for the Wales European Centre in Brussels and as a consultant for the Council of Europe, on youth and exclusion in disadvantaged areas. She has extensive grass-roots experience in rural and urban settings, in Spain and London, designing and managing ESF projects supporting inclusive local development. She holds a first degree in History and a Masters in Social Policy and Administration.

 

Before joining the SSE in 1990 he was professor at Linköping University, Department of Health and Society, 1982-1990. He was director of the Swedish Institute for Health Economics (IHE) in Lund from 1979 to 1982, and a member of the IHE Board until 2004. He is now chair of IHE scientific advisory board. He is also a member of the European Academy of Cancer Sciences, and of the EU Expert Panel on effective ways of Investing in health. He has been a member of the Karolinska University Hospital Board, and the Scientific Advisory Board, National Board of Health and Welfare, Sweden. He was also Chair of the Expert Group to the Committee on Funding and Organisation of Health Services and Medical Care in Sweden (HSU 2000), and a member of the National Social Insurance Board from 1992 to 1994, and of SBU (The Swedish Council on Technology Assessment in Health Care), Scientific Advisory Board 1988-2004.

Professor Jönsson is a member of the editorial boards of several journals, including the Journal of Cancer Policy, European Journal of Health Economics, and International Journal of Technology Assessment in Health Care. He has also been a temporary adviser to the WHO and a consultant to OECD and UNIDO. Professor Jönsson's extensive publications in the field of health economics include over 200 papers, reports, and book chapters. Presently he is president of the SHEA, the Swedish Health Economics Association and past president of iHEA, the international Health Economists Association.

 

She is also president of Lithuanian Public Health Association, member of the Board of Directors and expert of the European Agency for Public Health Education Accreditation. For several years, she has chaired the Peer Review Committee of the Association of Schools of Public Health of European Region (ASPHER), was member of the Board of ASPHER, WHO expert for human resource development in public health and inequalities in health, currently she is a member of Scientific Committee of European Public Health Association. Since 2004, she was an expert for developing schools of Public Health in the European region, and took part in the assessment and development of the schools of Public Health in Russia, Georgia, Moldova, Macedonia, Kazakhstan, Bulgaria and Syria. She worked as adjunct professor at the Nordic School of Public Health in 2001-2003, was a member of the National Board of Health and expert of Health Committee at the Parliament of Lithuania in 2004-2008. Scientific interests: social and demographic inequalities in health and health care, epidemiology of external causes of death in Lithuania. Prof. R. Kalediene is an author or co-author of more than 290 scientific publications on related issues.

 

Marina Karanikolos (MPH) is a research fellow at the European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. Her main work areas involve the impact of the global financial crisis on population health and health systems performance assessment. She is a member of the editorial team of the Observatory's Health Systems in Transition (HiT) profiles. Prior to jointing the Observatory in 2010 Marina worked as a health intelligence analyst for England's NHS.

 

Barbara Kerstiëns, MD, MPH is the head of the Public Health Section within the unit of Infectious Diseases and Public health in the Health Directorate of the Directorate-General for Research and Innovation at the European Commission.

She has a long experience in international public health, working for Médecins Sans Frontières, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public health and DG Development and Cooperation of the European Commission. She joined DG Research and Innovation in 2012. Her main interests lie in health services organisation and management.

 

Monika Kosinska is the Secretary-General of the European Public Health Alliance (EPHA), a non-governmental organisation committed to bringing about change to national and European Union policy that impacts on health, social justice and equity. Recent areas of work include global complexity theory, emerging social and technological changes, rethinking corporate and economic governance and co-operative approaches to delivering social and economic change. Ms. Kosinska was appointed as Secretary-General in recognition for her strong leadership and management in the public and private sector, working towards improving public policy to achieve better health outcomes. She was previously acting Executive Director of a Think Tank working in the United States, France and the United Kingdom to develop new thinking on future population challenges to health, International Corporate Affairs Manager at a global retailer working globally with senior company executives to improve understanding and relations with national authorities and local stakeholders, and a founder and Co-Chair of EUREGHA, bringing together local and regional authorities from across Europe working on health. Her experience in high-level and strategic representation includes being a board member for the Health and Environmental Alliance, the Civil Society Contact Group, the European Bachelor and Master in Public Health programme at Maastricht University, and former Chair of the Action for Global Health network.

 

Dr Hans Kluge is a Belgian-trained medical doctor with a master’s degree in public health. Having worked in Somalia, Liberia and Siberia (in the prison system), and been based in the WHO Country Office in Myanmar and in the WHO Office of the Special Representative of the Director-General in the Russian Federation, Dr Kluge has a broad background in health systems, public health and infectious diseases.

He moved to WHO/Europe in 2009, beginning as unit head for country policies and systems and has since worked as the Special Representative of the Regional Director to prevent and combat M/XDR-TB in the WHO European Region and most recently as Director, Division of Health Systems and Public Health.

 

Taavi Lai, MD, PhD (1974) is a long-time researcher in Department of Public Health, the Univeristy of Tartu, Estonia. His research topics span from health related quality of life and burden of disease to modelling of disease epidemiology on one hand and from health impact analysis to health system organisation on the other. However, the common denominators of his research have always been a quest for improvement of population health and support to evidence based health policy. He has also been a Senior Health Analyst in the Ministry of Social Affairs in Estonia where he led the creation of current Estonian national health policy „National Health Plan 2009-2020“ and framework for monitroing and assessment of health system performance. He has also actively contributed to many EC, WHO and other working groups, projects and publications as well as provided support to evidence based policy development in several countries other than his own.

 

His research interests are in social epidemiology, medical demography, and health policy. He has (co-)authored more than 500 papers in international, peer-reviewed scientific journals, as well as a number of books. He is a former editor-in-chief of the European Journal of Public Health. He is actively engaged in exchanges between research and policy, among others as a member of the Health Council of the Netherlands and the Council for Public Health and Health Care. He is also a member of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences, and honorary professor at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.

 

A political scientist and graduate of Trinity College Dublin, Peggy has been working in the health sector at national and European level for over twenty years highlighting that gender/sex are important determinants of health and that there is a need to reduce health inequalities, in particular due to gender, age and socio-economic status. She has served as a member of many expert groups including the EU Commission's External Advisory Group on Ageing and Disability and EU Commission's advisory group on gender in FP6 and the WHO Expert Group on gender mainstreaming, the Women's Health Council (Ireland) and a member of the We Can Quit advisory Group.

 

Zetta Makri is the daughter of Dora and Michalis Makris, a former MP of Grevena representing the party of Nea Dimokratia. She is the mother of two children, Michalis who is currently employed in London and Konstantinos, a postgraduate student at the University of Sheffield.

She graduated from the Greek-French High School of Volos and received a scholarship to study at the Law School of the University of Athens, from which she graduated with distinction. She got further educated in European and Community Law at the University of Cambridge. She is a Supreme Court attorney of law and speaks English, French and German.
Whilst being a university student she was an active member of DAP-NDFK, a university political party adjacent to Nea Dimokratia. In 1984 she got elected in the newly-formed District Council of Metamorphosis in Volos and was the head of the scientific sector of the Prefectural Council of Nea Dimokratia.

During her early professional career she became heavily involved in Volos Lawyer Association Bar activities and was elected time and time again, first in votes as Administrative Councillor to the Lawyer Association of Volos. She also held the position of the Secretary of the Lawyer Association of Volos during the period 1996-1999.

At the 2000 and 2004 national elections she was elected Member of Parliament for the constituency of Magnesia representing the party of Nea Dimokratia. In parallel, she was the President of the Commission of Public Service, Public Order and Justice. She was also a member of the Commission of Educational Affairs of the Greek Parliament, of the Parliamentary Assembly of OSCE and of the Investigation Committee for the Armaments Programmes TORMI I.

In December 2009 she was appointed by the President of Nea Dimokratia, Mr. Antonis Samaras, as the Deputy Secretary of the Agricultural Sector of Nea Dimokratia. In January 2011 she was assigned Deputy Secretary of Political Programming until the national elections in 2012.

She was a candidate Mayor for Volos in the municipal elections in November 2010, leading the political combination “New Municipality, New Start” and from January 2011 till June 2013 she has been the head of the majority opposition in the Municipality of Volos. From August 2012 till April 1st 2013 she held the position of the Secretary for Gender Equality in the Ministry of Interior.
She also occupied the parliament seat of Nea Dimokratia on April 2013 and in June 2013 she was appointed Deputy Minister in the Ministry of Health.

She has developed an important social activity. Amongst others, she is a member of the Council for the Protection of Abused and Neglected Persons, of the “Friends of Love”, of the “Friends of Achillopoulio Hospital of Volos”, of the “Soroptimistic Club”, and of the “ZONTA Club”. In June 5th, 2008 she announced the launch of the Environmental Association “Silence is not Ecological”.

Through her interviews she has supported her political and social positions and the positions of her party. Numerous articles of Mrs Zetta Makri have been published in the Greek Press.

 

Current projects cover regional growth, urban development, regional governance issues, and the eterminants of health expenditures. He was former Head of the Structural Economic Statistics Division, focusing on Trade & Globalisation indicators, Productivity measurement and Business statistics. Previously, he was Senior Economist at the Economics Department heading projects on the Economics of Education, Ageing and Growth, and Health Systems. He was also Head of Desk for emerging markets, where he was in charge of the first Economic Surveys of Brazil, Chile and several transition countries. Other OECD monographs focused on Competition, Regulation and Performance and Policy Response to the Threat of Global Warming. He was also Research Fellow at the CEPII (Centre d’Etudes Prospectives et d’Informations Internationales, Paris). He is Associate Professor at the University of Paris-Dauphine. He holds a PhD in Economics from the University of Paris-I, Panthéon-Sorbonne.

 

Mr. Anders Olauson is founder, chairman and chief executive officer of the Agrenska Centre in Sweden. His vision behind setting up the Agrenska Centre in 1989 was his profound concern for children affected by rare conditions and their families and the need to move towards a fairer society that embraces and nurtures young patients rather than excludes and isolates them. In September 2008, Mr. Olauson was appointed by the Swedish government to be a member of the Advisory Council at The National Board of Health and Welfare. Throughout his career, Mr. Olauson has been recognised for his work with children affected by rare conditions and their families and his commitment to patients' rights. He also works closely with representatives of hospitals, education and trade unions as well as other key players in the field of rare diseases. Mr. Olauson was instrumental in setting up the European Patients' Forum in 2003, and has been its President since 2005. EPF is an umbrella organisation of 42 European and national coalitions of patients and collectively representing their voice in EU policy debates. Mr Olauson received HM The King of Sweden's Medal for his valuable contributions in the field of patients' rights in January 2010.

 

Marianne Olsson is currently serving as president of the European Healthcare Management Association (EHMA) after having been on the board of the same organisation for several periods. In Sweden Marianne works for the County Council of Sörmland, as a process director. She also runs a consulting firm (Mofirm) dealing with management and improvement issues, mainly in the health care sector and is employed as an expert on health care equity by SALAR (Swedish Association of Local Authorities and Regions).

Ms Olsson was the project manager of an exciting health project, building a new hospital in a multi-cultural setting in Göteborg, the second city of Sweden. The project aims at improving the health of the population, creating processes for integrated care and serving as an experimental environment where the county council of the West Region can gather new experiences on how to develop the health-care of tomorrow.

Ms Olsson formerly worked as Director of Quality Improvement at Sahlgrenska University Hospital (SU). SU is the largest hospital in Sweden and one of the largest in northern Europe with 18 000 employees and 2 400 beds. Before SU, Ms Olsson worked for the Federation of Swedish County Councils, first as a Project Director and then as Director of the Department of Quality Improvement in health care. Marianne Olsson was the president of the Swedish Society for Quality in Health Care for several periods, and a board member for many years. She has been a member of the board of the Swedish Standards Institute (SIS.)

 

He is also the Head of the Department of Preventive Medicine and Dean for International Relations and Study Center at Lithuanian University of Health Sciences.

In 1990 Žilvinas Padaiga graduated as pediatrician from Kaunas Academy of Medicine. In the period of 1993-1994 he studied in Finland University of Kuopio and received degree of master in Public Health. For several years he worked as a researcher at the Institute of Edocrinology, Kaunas Medical University. In 1999 Žilvinas Padaiga finished PhD studies and in 2000 was granted a degree of professor at Kaunas University of Medicine (now Lithuanian University of Health Sciences).

Professor has participated as a supervisor or consultant in a number of various projects and research studies. Ž.Padaiga worked as an expert of the Ministry of Health and in 2004-2006 was appointed as a Minister of Health of the Republic of Lithuania.

He is author and co-author of 215 publications regarding health system management and health policy, healthcare resources planning, children diabetes.

 

Fabio is Professor of economics and management at IMT Institute for Advanced Studies (www.imtlucca.it). As the Founding Director of the Institute, from 2004 till November 2012 he presided over its establishment as an international graduate school, institute of technology, and institute for advanced studies. He coordinates the research unit Axes (Analysis of compleX Economic Systems) and Crisis Lab, a ‘national interest’ project in collaboration with the National Council of Research. Fabio is the President of the CERM Foundation (www.cermlab.it) and he is the director of the Switch Project, on the future of welfare and health systems (www.theswitchproject.eu). Fabio combines different methodologies to cover a variety of topics in economics of science and innovation, industrial economics, the economics of health and pensions, and network analysis of large socio-economic systems. He is a leading expert in the economic analysis of biotechnology and pharmaceuticals. He has served as a member of committees and as an advisor of Governments, Associations, and Companies, on welfare sustainability, innovation, and competition policy and strategies. He is currently writing a book on growth and instability in economic systems and a book on innovation and competition in the international pharmaceutical industry. He has published in journals such as: Science, Nature Reviews, Nature Physics, The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (one cover article), The Journal of the European Economics Association, The International Journal of Industrial Organization, Management Science, Revue d’Economie Industrielle, Research Policy, Health Affairs, R&D Management, E. Journal of Health Economics, Economics Letters.

 

In 1984 he graduated from the Lithuanian University of Health Sciences [former Kaunas Medical Institute] with the qualification of a medical doctor. He continued his studies in the clinical residency in Moscow Research Institute of Proctology and later completed post-graduate studies in Moscow Research Institute of Proctology and Lithuanian University of Health Sciences. He has published over 280 scientific papers, and is a co-author of two textbooks. He has supervised or advised doctoral students on their dissertations. He has given over 70 presentations and lectures at international events; he has been a guest lecturer on more than 30 occasions. Prof. Pavalkis has been a visiting professor at universities in Athens, London, and Prague. He is a member of various international medical organisations. He is also a member of the editorial boards of Lithuanian and foreign medical journals. He is a member of the Labour Party.

 

In 1974 he graduated from the Law Faculty of Vilnius University. In 1979 he defended his doctoral law dissertation. In 1984 he was awarded the title of Associate Professor and in 1993 became a Professor. Up to 1982 he worked as a laboratory assistant in Vilnius University‘s Law Faculty, as a lecturer in the Government Law Department, as a Senior Lecturer and as an Associate Professor. From 1982 he began to work in the Interior Ministry’s Vilnius Faculty of Minsk Higher Education School as an assistant to the Chief in charge of learning and research. In 1990, with creation of the Lithuanian Police Academy, Alvydas Pumputis was appointed its chief and in 1991 was elected rector. Later, in 1998, Professor Alvydas Pumputs was elected Rector of the Lithuanian Law Academy. In 2003, after a competition, he became Rector of the Lithuanian Law University. In 2004, Professor Alvydas Pumputis was appointed temporarily to head the Mykolas Romeris University and undertake functions of the rector. That same year he was elected the University’s Rector. Mykolas Romeris University's Council January 19th, 2010, in an open competition unanimously voted to elect Professor Alvydas Pumputis Rector of the University.

Professor A. Pumputis actively takes part in conferences abroad, as well as in Lithuania, and lectures. He is a Council member of the International Association of Universities (IAU).
On June 15th, 1995, by presidential decree Nr. 669 of Lithuanian President Algirdas Brazauskas, Professor Alvydas Pumputis was presented with the Award of the Order of the Great Lithuanian Duke Gediminas for his outstanding service to Lithuania.

In December of 2007, the Lithuanian weekly, “Veidas” magazine selected Professor Alvydas Pumputis as the Year’s Most Successful.

 

His current research exploits policy variations within and between countries in order to examine the impact of government interventions on health outcomes. This stream of work explores the impact of the recession and austerity on health across Europe and North America. He has published on mental health during the recession, the political economy of healthcare, and patterns of physical activity. Prior to his time at Oxford he worked briefly at the University of Cambridge and completed his PhD in Applied Social & Economic Research with the Institute for Social and Economic Research, University of Essex.

 

A graduate in chemistry and pharmaceutical technology, Mr. Seychell specialized in Chemical analysis. He has held important positions on several government boards and commissions in Malta, including the Food Safety Commission and the Pesticides Board. Mr Seychell occupied the post of Head of Directorate at the Malta Standards Authority between 2001 and 2006. He has been responsible for the implementation of a number of EU directives in the areas of risk assessment, food safety, chemicals and cosmetic products legislation, and has actively participated in negotiations on major technical proposals such as the new chemicals legislation, REACH, and in screening processes in the areas of free movement of goods, environment and agriculture during the process leading to Malta's accession to the EU. He held the post of Director of Environment in Malta between 2006 and 2011. As Director, he was responsible for a broad range of functions arising from the Maltese Environment Protection Act. He was appointed Deputy Director General for Health and Consumers at the European Commission in March 2011.

 

He is a health economist who has written many academic papers on the financing and efficiency of health systems, and is with Sherry Glied joint editor of the Oxford Handbook of Health Economics. Particular research interests include health system performance assessment, value for money, financial protection and the equitable financing of health services. Smith has advised many government ministries and international agencies on health reforms, including the World Health Organization, the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank, the European Commission and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.

 

Rolf was born in Cologne, Germany and studied business administration at the University of Cologne. From 1997 to 2012, he was the Managing Director of the German Pension Insurance for miners (“Deutsche Rentenversicherung Knappschaft-Bahn-See”) with responsibility for health insurance. He previously worked as a research assistant at the “Konrad Adenauer Foundation” and held various positions in the Federal Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs (1988-1997). His last was position in the Ministry was Head of the Budget Division. Currently, he is retired but continues to special tasks, inter alia, representing the Knappschaft as a Member of the AIM (“Association Internationale de la Mutualité”), a European organization for health protection bodies, in Brussels.

 

Currently heading the Health Economics Unit and acting as Course Director of the MSc in Health Economics. Prior to joining UEA in 2008 he has worked for more than 5 years as an economist with the WHO European Office for Investment for Health and Development (Venice), where he was responsible for the research on the economics of health, and on social determinants and inequalities in health. Prior to WHO he has held a number of research positions in international organisations and academia, including the UNICEF Innocenti Research Centre (Florence), Hamburg University, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (London), the Centre for European Policy Studies (Brussels), the European Commission (Brussels), and the Hamburg Institute for International Economics.

 

Chris holds German and Canadian nationalities. He is a graduate of the Queens University (Ontario - Canada) and trained as a certified public accountant. Since December 2008, he has held the position of Chief Executive Officer, Sanofi and is a Board member, in addition to being a member of the Strategy Committee. He is also Chairman of Genzyme, which Sanofi acquired in February 2011.

Christopher Viehbacher started his career in finance at PriceWaterhouseCoopers before joining GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) in 1988. Throughout the next 20 years with the company, he acquired broad international experience in Europe, in the United States and in Canada. His previous position, before joining Sanofi was President of Pharmaceutical Operations North America. He was also a member of the Board and Co-Chairman of the Portfolio Management Board.

Christopher Viehbacher has been the Chairman of PhRMA in the United States (December 2010 - April 2012) and since February 2011 is Chair of the CEO Roundtable on Cancer. This association brings together employers across the United States to develop and implement workplace initiatives that reduce the risk of cancer, enable early diagnosis, facilitate better access to best-available treatments and hasten the discovery of novel and more effective diagnostic tools and anti-cancer therapies. Over 120 organizations are now members, covering 3 million employees.

In 2003, the French government acknowledged his commitment to public health and business by making him a knight of the French Legion of Honor. In 2012 he received the prestigious Pasteur Foundation Award, recognizing his leadership role within the pharmaceutical industry’s support of research & development and improving health of the 7 billion people around the world.

Amongst other commitments, Christopher Viehbacher is also a member of International Business Council (WEF).

 

ŽALIŪNAS REMIGIJUS, M.D., Ph.D., D.Sc. habil. (Biomedical Sciences, Medicine), Professor of Cardiology, Head of the Department of Cardiology in Medical Academy at the Lithuanian University of Health Sciences, Former President of the Lithuanian Society of Cardiology, Chairman of the Kaunas Region Society of Cardiology; a member of the Lithuanian Heart Association, the Lithuanian Union of Physicians, the European Society of Cardiology, the International Society of Cardiology and Federation, the American Society of Cardiology, the European Association of Universities; a board member of the Nordic-Baltic Society of Cardiology, a member of the Lithuanian Academy of Sciences; Rector of the Lithuanian University of Health Sciences; and a Former President of the Conference of Rectors of Lithuanian Universities.

Professor Žaliūnas is engaged in specialized diagnosing and treatment of cardiovascular diseases, in counseling cardiologists and is a permanent participant in consultations. He delivers a course of lectures The Topical Issues of Ischaemic Heart Disease; Cardiac Arrhythmias and Disorders of Conduction for the medical undergraduate and postgraduate students, doctors cardiologists, and internists improving their skills in Clinical Cardiology. He is also a co-author of the textbooks Basics of Cardiology; Internal Medicine; and Cardiac Diseases.