SPEAKERS 2023
Plenary speakers
Prof Sandra C. Buttigieg
Prof Sandra C. Buttigieg is a Professor and Head of the Department of Health Services Management (HSM), Faculty of Health Sciences, UOM. She is a Consultant in Public Health Medicine, Head-Clinical Performance Unit, and Chair-Patient Safety and Quality Improvement Team, at Mater Dei Hospital. She is the outgoing Global-Representative-at-large of the American Academy of Management-HCM Division. She is President of the European Health Management Association and a member of the EHMA Scientific Advisory Committee. She lectures in HSM, Public Health, Family Medicine, Research Methodology and Evidence-based Health Research (EVBRES).
She authored/co-authored several articles in peer-reviewed international journals, and widely participated in international conferences, and congresses. She is on the Editorial Boards of PloS One, Health Services Management Research, International Journal of Human Resources Management, Journal of Health Organization and Management, and Frontiers Public Health. She is Frontiers Topic Editor: “Network for Evaluation of One Health (NEOH) Case Studies”; “Patient Safety: Delivering Cost-Contained, High Quality, Person-Centered, and Safe Healthcare” and “Health Service Management and Leadership: COVID-Style”.
She is a Fellow of two programmes of the Salzburg Global Seminar, related to health care, which were led by amongst others, past presidents of the Institute of Medicine, namely, Donald Berwick and Harvey Fineberg.
Professor Buttigieg has been visiting scholar in the US (JMU -Harrisonburg, VA), UK -University of Birmingham and Aston University, Birmingham, and Kuwait (Faculty of Allied Health Sciences, Kuwait University).
Prof Americo Cicchetti
Prof Americo Cicchetti has served as a Professor of Management at Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Faculty of Economics, Rome since 2006. He is also currently the Director of the Graduate School of Health Economics and Management at Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore. In addition to his academic experience, Dr Cicchetti was a member of the Price and Reimbursement Committee of the Italian National Drug Agency from 2009 to 2015. He is a member of the European Network of Health Technology Assessment; Member of the Innovation Steering Group of the National HTA Program for Medical Devices (Ministry of Health, Italy); Member of the National Immunisation Technical Advisory Group at the Ministry of Health, Italy since 2019; Member of the Health and Research Commission of the Rome Foundation since 2007; and a Member of the Board of Directors of the Health and Research Foundation since 2017.
Furthermore, Prof Cicchetti is the Chief Executive Officer and Director for Molipharma, whose core business is the research and development of new drugs and diagnostics aimed at predicting, detecting and treating female oncological diseases. He also serves as an independent board member for Foundation Health and Research, and Leonida SICAF, a fixed capital investment company. He obtained his PhD in Management from the University of Bologna, and his B.A. from the University of Rome.
Prof Antonio Gasbarrini
Antonio Gasbarrini is Full Professor of Internal Medicine and Director of Postgraduate School in Gastroenterology at the Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Chairman of the Medical and Surgical Sciences Department and Director of Internal Medicine and Gastroenterology Unit at the Fondazione Policlinico Universitario Gemelli IRCCS. He obtained his Medical Degree and specialties in Internal Medicine and Gastroenterology at the University of Bologna. He completed his training at the University of Pittsburgh (USA). His fields of interests are: Gut Microbiome and Metabolome, Irritable Bowel Syndrome, Inflammatory Bowel Disease, Liver insufficiency, viral hepatitis, hepatocellular carcinoma, Liver transplantation, celiac disease and intestinal malabsorption. Author of more than 800 scientific publications (H-index = 85).
Prof Scott L. Greer
Prof Scott L. Greer is a Professor of Health Management and Policy, Global Public Health, and Political Science (by courtesy) at the University of Michigan and is also a Senior Expert Advisor on Health Governance for the European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies.
He researches the politics of health policies, with a special focus on the politics and policies of the European Union and the impact of federalism on health care. Before coming to Michigan, he taught at University College London. He has published over a hundred book chapters and articles in journals including the Lancet, British Medical Journal, Milbank Quarterly, American Journal of Public Health, Social Science and Medicine, Journal of European Public Policy, Journal of European Social Policy, and Journal of Health Politics, Policy and Law. His most recent books include Everything you always wanted to know about European Union health policies but were afraid to ask (2014, second edition 2019, third edition forthcoming), Strengthening health system governance: better policies, stronger performance (2015), Federalism and Decentralization in European Health and Social Care (2013), European Union Public Health Policies (2013), Civil Society and Health (2017), Federalism and Social Policy (2019), The European Union after Brexit (2020), The Populist Radical Right and Health (2021) and Coronavirus Politics (2021).
Dr Rabia Sucu
Dr Rabia Sucu is Principal Technical Advisor for Pharmaceutical Governance in the SAFEMed project, in Kyiv Ukraine since October 2018. SAFEMed project is a USAID (U.S. Agency for International Development) funded and MSH (Management Sciences for Health) led project that supports the Ukrainian government. SAFEMed applies health system strengthening best practices to create evidence-based interventions and strengthen Ukraine’s pharmaceutical system. Her area of responsibility is to support priority setting and Health Technology Assessment (HTA), including and beyond capacity building and HTA institutionalisation in Ukraine. Ukraine sets an excellent example of a LMIC with a recent rapid HTA institutionalisation along with the legislative introductions of mandatory HTA and development of MEA (Managed Entry Agreements). Dr Sucu has been an active member of the Health Technology Assessment international (HTAi) for many years and served in the Board of Directors as ex officio (2013-2014), Director (2014-2017) and re-elected Director (2017-2020).
An academic and medical doctor by background, with a degree in HTA, she authored over 150 peer-reviewed articles, 8 books and delivered over 300 presentations in international meetings on HTA.
Prof Catherine Keller
Prof Catherine Keller is a hospital director and doctor in health law. She has held various positions in public health establishments (Medicine, Surgery, Obstetrics and Mental Health). She led a large inter-hospital cooperation project. Before joining the EHESP to teach hospital law, she also worked as an administrative magistrate, in charge of hospital litigation.
Dr Iga Lipska, MD
Iga Lipska is a Medical Doctor by education with Master of Science in public health. She graduated from the University of Utrecht in the Netherlands, where she defended her PhD thesis on health technology assessment of new medicines. Iga has broad international and Polish experience in the healthcare sector, with a main focus on HTA at national and hospital level, drug pricing and reimbursement, health insurance, public health and evidence-based decision making process in health care. She contributed her efforts significantly to the role of HTA in evidence based decision making processes on pharmaceutical reimbursement in Poland. She played a major role in HTA capacity building in Poland supporting the establishment of Polish national HTA Agency. She also contributed her leadership and networking skills to the implementation of HTA in Central Eastern Europe and internationally advising in e.g. Croatia, Moldovia, Bulgaria, Turkey.
She served in variety of managerial roles in public and private sector supporting evidence based decision making in health care in Poland and abroad. She was the Director of Drug Policy and Pharmacy Department at Ministry of Health, the Director of HTA Department at Polish HTA Agency and the Director of Control Department at National Health Fund (public payer in Poland). She negotiated pharmaceutical reimbursement prices and Risk Sharing Schemes on behalf of Minister of Health while being the Economic Committee Member. She supported the establishment of global HTA benchmarking program at Center for Innovation in Regulatory Science in London, UK.
She has been co-chairing ISPOR HTA Roundtable Europe for 3 years’ term (from 2019 to the end of 2022).
Starting June 2022 she has been co-chairing HB-HTA Interest Group at Health Technology Assessment international for 3 years’ term.
Recently she has been affiliated to Medical University of Gdańsk which is also her Alma Mater. She has just been nominated the Chairwoman of the Board at Health Policy Institute in Poland with her main role to contribute to evidence based policy in health care and build capacity in that area based on her international and national experience.
Dr Marco Marchetti
Marco Marchetti is Head of the Operational Unit of Health Technology Assessment, National Agency for Regional Health Services (Agenas). He has been appointed Co-Chair of the Member State Coordination Group on Health Technology Assessment (Htacg).
Ms Lucy Nugent
Lucy Nugent joined Tallaght University Hospital (TUH) as Chief Operations Officer in 2014, moved to the role of Deputy CEO in 2016 and was appointed CEO in January 2019. Prior to joining TUH she worked in the Acute Hospitals Division as Head of Quality Assurance & Risk Management, Clinical & Patient Services Manager in the Children’s University Hospital Temple Street. Prior to that she worked in a number of nursing roles as a registered general and children’s nurse. In addition to her nursing qualifications Ms Nugent has an MSc in Healthcare Management (TCD), BSc Nursing Studies (DCU), a Diploma in Infection Control (RCSI), a Diploma in Leadership & Quality in Healthcare (RCPI) and is a recent graduate of the IESE Business School Advanced Management Programme. She is a Past President of the Health Management Institute of Ireland and has represented it on several committees of the European Association of Hospital Managers and the International Hospital Federation. She is President of the European Association of Hospital Managers and is the first female to hold this position in its 52 year history.
Prof Antonella Occhino
Prof Antonella Occhino is the Dean of the Faculty of Economics at Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore since 2020 and Full Professor of Labour Law since 2014. She graduated in Law in 1995 from the Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore and in 2000 obtained her PhD in Labour Law and Industrial Relations from the University of Pavia. She is the author of several scientific publications in fields as Employment Relationships, Labour Contracts and Social Security, including books on Rights and Expectations in Labour and Social Law, Working Time, Employment in Outsourcing Operations, Volunteering as Labour Activities and the Law.
Dr Dimitra Panteli
Dr Dimitra Panteli joined the Senior Management Team of the European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies in October 2020. Prior she spent more than a decade at the Department of Health Care Management at Berlin University of Technology, where she was a Senior Research Fellow, the Department’s research coordinator (2017-2020) and a frequent contributor of the Observatory’s research.
Dimitra’s work focuses on evidence- based decision-making in healthcare, primarily health technology assessment, and health systems research, for example on pharmaceutical regulation and quality assurance. She regularly collaborates with diverse stakeholders, including Ministries of Health, regulatory institutions, insurers, national institutes for public health and quality assurance, health technology assessment agencies, and professional associations.
She received her doctorate in public health from Berlin University of Technology, her Master in Science – Public Health from the Charité Medical University in Berlin (as a scholar of the German Academic Exchange Service) and her Medical Degree from the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (Greece).
She spent the 2016–2017 academic year as a Commonwealth Fund Harkness Fellow in Washington, DC.
Dr Laura Sampietro-Colom, MD
Dr Laura Sampietro-Colom is the Deputy Director of Innovation and Head of the Health Technology Assessment (HTA) Unit at the Hospital Clinic of Barcelona, a high-tech hospital and a reference for health care, research and medical training in Spain. She is also a mentor in CaixaImpulse (a capital risk&foundation program from a bank) aimed to coach reserchers to bring their product to market. She is also co-founder of the start up Mangrana Ventures S.L.
Prior to this, Dr Sampietro-Colom was the General Director of Information Systems, Projects and Evaluation of the Catalan Health Institute, the leading provider of public health services in the Region of Catalonia (8 Hospitals and 238 Primary Care Centres) and the Director of the Strategic Planning Unit of Health Services within the Planning and Evaluation Directorate of the Ministry of Health of Catalonia.
Laura has over 25 years of experience in evaluative research, specifically in HTA and was one of the founders of the Catalan Agency for Health Technology Assessment. She was the Founding member of the International Society for Health Technology Assessment (HTAi), serving on its Board of Directors since its foundation, including three years as Secretary of the Executive Committee, two years as Vice-President and two years as President. Responsible for the development of one of the research lines of the first international project conducted by the International Network of Agencies for Health Technology Assessment (INAHTA). She is past-Chair of both the HTAi Global Policy Forum and Latam Policy Forum.
Laura is a trained Medical Doctor specialising in Preventive Medicine and Public Health (University of Barcelona) and holds a PhD in Medicine and Surgery by the Autonomous University of Barcelona, and a Master of Science in Public Health by the Rolling School of Public Health (Emory University, Atlanta, USA). She also holds an Executive Master in Management of Science and Innovation by the University Pompeu Fabra
Prof Orazio Schillaci
Prof Orazio Schillaci is the Minister of Health of Italy. In 1990 he graduated in medicine at the ‘La Sapienza’ University of Rome, and specialised in nuclear medicine in 1994. Since 2001 he has been Director of the nuclear medicine unit (UOC) of the Tor Vergata policlinic hospital, where he also obtained a specialisation in radio-diagnostics. He became Dean of the Faculty of Medicine at the Tor Vergata University in 2013 and Rector in November 2019. He is member of the editorial board of the two most prestigious international journals in the nuclear medicine sector, the European journal of nuclear medicine and molecular imaging and the Journal of nuclear medicine. He is the author of over 350 publications and articles on ‘PubMed’. From 2006 to 2009 Prof Schillaci was appointed to the Italian National Institute of Health (Istituto Superiore di Sanità – ISS) and then became Member of the scientific committee from 2020.
Ms Valentina Strammiello
Ms Valentina Strammiello works as Director of Programmes and oversees the EPF project portfolio. She represents EPF in HTA-related activities.
She is member of the Scientific Advisory Board of the Vall d’Hebron Institute of Research and of the HTAi Patient and Citizen Involvement Interest Group Steering Committee.
Dr Miklós Szócska
Dr Miklós Szócska graduated at the Semmelweis University (SU) of Medicine in 1989. He holds a Master of Public Administration degree from the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University (1998), and a PhD from the SU in the field of change management (2003). After his graduation from the SU, he and his colleagues initiated the creation of the Health Services Management Training Centre (officially established in 1995). Between 1995 and 2000 he was serving as the deputy director and in 2000 he was appointed to be the director of the Centre. Between 2010-2014 Dr Szócska served as the Minister of State for Health of the Hungarian Government. Since 2014, he serves again as the Director of Health Services Management Training Centre and became responsible for the Institute of Digital Health Sciences at SU.
Prof Dr Wilfried von Eiff
Prof. Wilfried von Eiff is Academic Director of the Center for Health Care Management and Regulation at HHL Leipzig Graduate School of Management and Head of the Center for Hospital Management, a research institute linked to the University of Münster (Germany).
He is a licensed INSIGHTS MDI Trainer as well as an EFQM (European Foundation of Quality Management) Assessor.
Prof. Wilfried von Eiff is a consultant in Health Economics at the International Institute for Health Economics. His main responsibility is to assess the medical and economic value of new technologies, and to test how they can contribute to greater added value and better results for patients. Acknowledging that the healthcare system is chronically underfunded, Prof. von Eiff strives to achieve greater quality and efficiency at the same level of, or indeed reduced, costs.
He holds a PhD degree from the faculty of business administration (University of Tuebingen) and a PhD degree from the faculty of medicine (University of Giessen) and he achieved habilitation from the faculty of economics, University of Wuerzburg.
Prof Michael West
Michael West CBE is Senior Visiting Fellow at The King’s Fund, London and Professor of Organisational Psychology at Lancaster University, Visiting Professor at University College, Dublin, and Emeritus Professor at Aston University, where he was formerly Executive Dean of Aston Business School.
He graduated from the University of Wales in 1973 and was awarded a PhD in 1977 for research on the psychology of meditation. He has authored, edited and co-edited 20 books and has published more than 200 articles in scientific and practitioner publications on teamwork, innovation, leadership, and culture, particularly in healthcare. He is a Fellow of the British Psychological Society, the American Psychological Association (APA), the APA Society for Industrial/Organisational Psychology, the Academy of Social Sciences, the International Association of Applied Psychologists and the British Academy of Management. He is an Honorary Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow and an Honorary Fellow of Royal College of Surgeons of Ireland, Faculty of Nursing and Midwifery.
He led the English Department of Health Policy Research Programme into cultures of quality and safety. He also led the NHS National Staff Survey development and initial implementation. He assisted in developing the national framework on improvement and leadership development in England (Developing People, Improving Care – 2016) and in Northern Ireland in developing the Collective Leadership Strategy for Health and Social Care (2017). He is supporting Health Education and Improvement Wales to develop the national health and care compassionate leadership strategy in Wales. He co-chaired with Dame Denise Coia, the two-year inquiry on behalf of the UK General Medical Council into the mental health and well-being of doctors Caring for Doctors, Caring for Patients (2019). He led the review for The King’s Fund (commissioned by the RCN Foundation) into the mental health and well-being of nurses and midwives across the UK, The Courage of Compassion: Supporting Nurses and Midwives to Deliver High Quality Care (2020). His latest book (2021) is Compassionate leadership: Sustaining wisdom, humanity and presence in health and social care (London: Swirling Leaf Press).
He was appointed a CBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours List 2020 for services to compassion and innovation in healthcare.
Dr Matthias Wismar
Dr Matthias Wismar is a Programme Manager at the European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies based in Brussels. His work focuses on health policy, politics and governance, the health workforce, European integration and intersectoral action and the Sustainable Development Goals. He is developing studies, policy briefs, rapid responses and face-to-face dissemination and knowledge brokering formats, including policy dialogues, evidence briefings and webinars. Dr Matthias Wismar holds a PhD in Political Science from Goethe University Frankfurt, Germany.
Focus session speakers
Dr Kostas Athanasakis
Dr Kostas Athanasakis, a health economist by training, is a Researcher at the University of West Attica, a Visiting Assistant Professor in Health Economics/Public Health Policy at the European University of Cyprus and a Visiting Lecturer in Health Economics at the Medical School of the University of Nicosia. Kostas focuses his research and teaching efforts in the fields of Economic Evaluation of Pharmaceuticals, Health Technology Assessment and Pharmaceutical Policy, having published over 200 papers and abstracts, as well as 12 books, during the last years. Kostas is currently the Director General of the Institute for Health Economics (based in Athens, Greece), and has served twice as Chairman of the Research Review Committee of the Annual European Congress of the International Society for Pharmacoeconomics and Outcomes Research (ISPOR).
Prof Dr Ronald Batenburg
Prof Dr Ronald Batenburg is trained as a Sociologist and obtained his Masters at Utrecht University and his PhD at Groningen University, the Netherlands. How job structures evolve within economies, sectors and organisations, and how these determine the quality of work of professionals are the central questions he worked on at different universities and research institutes. As of 2009, he is Program Leader at the Netherlands Institute for Health Services Research (Nivel) and specialised in the area of human resources for health. The main projects he leads concern the labour market, work and education in health. This includes how institutional reforms, organisational development, task delegation and substitution change job structures and the work of healthcare professionals. From a policy perspective, he evaluates how healthcare policy and management – in particular (strategic) health workforce planning – can improve the alignment between healthcare demands and the critical supply of human resources for health. Since 2017, Ronald is Endowed Professor in health workforce and organisation studies at Radboud University Nijmegen, Department of Sociology.
Dr Michelle Falkenbach
Dr Michelle Falkenbach is a Technical Officer at the European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies. Her work focuses on health policy, health politics, governance, the health workforce, intersectoral action and the Sustainable Development Goals. She supports the Observatory’s analytical pillar on governance and contributes to knowledge-brokering through a range of activities including reports, policy briefs and webinars.
Michelle holds a PhD in public health with an emphasis on health politics from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. Michelle is an honorary research fellow at Cornell University in the department of Public and Ecosystem health where she was a post doctoral associate.
Prof Scott L. Greer
Prof Scott L. Greer is a Professor of Health Management and Policy, Global Public Health, and Political Science (by courtesy) at the University of Michigan and is also a Senior Expert Advisor on Health Governance for the European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies.
He researches the politics of health policies, with a special focus on the politics and policies of the European Union and the impact of federalism on health care. Before coming to Michigan, he taught at University College London. He has published over a hundred book chapters and articles in journals including the Lancet, British Medical Journal, Milbank Quarterly, American Journal of Public Health, Social Science and Medicine, Journal of European Public Policy, Journal of European Social Policy, and Journal of Health Politics, Policy and Law. His most recent books include Everything you always wanted to know about European Union health policies but were afraid to ask (2014, second edition 2019, third edition forthcoming), Strengthening health system governance: better policies, stronger performance (2015), Federalism and Decentralization in European Health and Social Care (2013), European Union Public Health Policies (2013), Civil Society and Health (2017), Federalism and Social Policy (2019), The European Union after Brexit (2020), The Populist Radical Right and Health (2021) and Coronavirus Politics (2021).
Prof Todorka Kostadinova
Prof Todorka Kostadinova was born on 20 October 1960 in Dobrich, where she graduated from ‘Geo Milev’ Language High School, German and English Language Teaching. She has two Master’s degrees from the University of Economics – Varna (Economics and Pedagogics) and a PhD from the University of National and World Economy, Sofia (2001). The title of her dissertation thesis is ‘Opportunities for Portfolio Management of Medical Institutions’.
Her academic career has been further developed by successive appointments as an Extraordinary Associate Professor at the Department of Economics and Health Care Management at MU-Varna (2002), Associate Professor of the same Department (2003) and Professor – in 2012 in the scientific speciality ‘Organisation and Management outside the Sphere of Material Production’. She has two specialities in the field of healthcare: ‘Health Economics’ (2005) and ‘Medical Informatics and Health Management’ (2006).
She delivered lectures as a guest lecturer in a Master’s Programme in Health Management at the University in Bern, Switzerland (2005 – 2006) and Medical University – Vienna (2009-2011). From 2008 to 2011 she was a member of an international research team at Berkeley University, after specialising in Leadership in healthcare at the same University (Global Health Leadership Forum at Berkeley, www.ghlf.org).
She has specialised in the following areas: Hospital Management at the University Hospitals in Zurich and Bern, Switzerland, Restructuring and Organisation of University Education in Health Management at the University of Maastricht, the Netherlands and the University of Manchester, the UK; Health Policy, Financing and Management in Healthcare at George Washington University and Georgetown University, the USA (2003-2004). After her specialisation, she was elected member of the academic staff of the Department of Global Health at the University of George Washington (2004-2009).
Within the period 2009 – 2013, Prof Kostadinova combines academic work with management positions at various levels as a parliamentary secretary at the Ministry of Health (2009), Deputy Minister of Health (2009 – 2010), a member of the Control Board (2009) and Supervisory Board (2010) of the National Health insurance Fund (NHIF), Sofia, a coordinator for Bulgaria of the International Network for Health in South-Eastern Europe (2009-2010), a member of the National Commissions and Committees on European Politics – at the Foreign Ministry of the Republic of Bulgaria, on ethnic issues – at the Ministry of Interior Affairs, Chairman of the National Council on Food Safety at the Ministry of Health (2009-2010), Deputy Minister for International Cooperation, Public Health, including work with the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Malaria and Tuberculosis, European programmes and projects, Electronic Healthcare.
In March 2011, she was elected Dean of the Faculty of Public Health at MU-Varna and remained in this position for a year, and since March 2012 she has been a Vice-Rector for International Cooperation, Accreditation and Quality.
Ms Nicoletta Luppi
Nicoletta Luppi, Chairwoman and Managing Director of MSD Italia, graduated in Foreign Modern Languages and Literatures with honours and, later, obtained a Master’s Degree in Business Administration from the LUISS School of Management of Rome.
In 1993, she joined MSD and, over time, held offices of increasing responsibility until reaching the direction of the Cardiovascular-Metabolic Business Unit of MSD and Schering Plough, as well as two group companies (2003 -2010) and, in 2011, created and was at the head of the Market Access & Commercial Operations Direction, always reporting to the Managing Director.
In September 2012, she became Chairwoman and Managing Director of Sanofi Pasteur MSD and, afterwards, she was appointed as Chairwoman of the Vaccine Group of Farmindustria for the two-year period 2015-2016. Since July 2015, she is Chairwoman and Managing Director of MSD Italia and, since 2016, Chairwoman of the LUISS Business School Alumni Association.
In March 2017, she was chosen by AMREF as a testimonial for the Social Campaign against female genital mutilation. In the same year, she was awarded the “Premio Minerva-Donna D’Eccellenza” by FederManager, a prestigious prize to a leadership supporting an environment that may encourage work-life balance and diversity.
Nicoletta Luppi was nominated “Businessperson of the Year 2019” in the Pharma category by Fortune Italia.
In January 2020, she joined the Board of Vaccine Europe and the Advisory Board of Kotler Impact Italy.
Ms Zoi Mylona
Zoi works as a Programme Manager at the European Health Management Association delivering a portfolio of policy, projects, and engagement activities that support excellent health management across Europe, primarily through the management of a range of EU-funded projects. She holds a BSc in international and European affairs from Panteion University of Social & Political Sciences and an MSc in translation from UMons. Zoi is a licensed mental health counsellor (member of HAC and EAC) and she studies to become a Psychologist at the Open University UK.
Dr Dimitra Panteli
Dr Dimitra Panteli joined the Senior Management Team of the European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies in October 2020. Prior she spent more than a decade at the Department of Health Care Management at Berlin University of Technology, where she was a Senior Research Fellow, the Department’s research coordinator (2017-2020) and a frequent contributor of the Observatory’s research.
Dimitra’s work focuses on evidence- based decision-making in healthcare, primarily health technology assessment, and health systems research, for example on pharmaceutical regulation and quality assurance. She regularly collaborates with diverse stakeholders, including Ministries of Health, regulatory institutions, insurers, national institutes for public health and quality assurance, health technology assessment agencies, and professional associations.
She received her doctorate in public health from Berlin University of Technology, her Master in Science – Public Health from the Charité Medical University in Berlin (as a scholar of the German Academic Exchange Service) and her Medical Degree from the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (Greece).
She spent the 2016–2017 academic year as a Commonwealth Fund Harkness Fellow in Washington, DC.
Ms Francesca Patarnello
Ms Francesca Patarnello has worked as VP Market Access & Government Affairs at AstraZeneca since 2017. Prior to this role, she served as HTA & Clinical Safety Director at GlaxoSmithKline, holding in the same entity also the role of Payer and Evidence Solution Director. She holds a degree in Statistics from the University of Padua.
Dr Tudor Pitulac
Dr Tudor Pitulac is project manager, manager of research projects at OpenSky Data Systems since 2019. His work is focused on management and on project management.
He is Professor at the Petre Andrei University where he started as a teaching assistant, following the academic career steps. He has taught courses and seminars in Sociology, Political Science, and Project Management both at undergraduate and graduate levels. He obtained a PhD in Philosophy in 2004. He served as General Chancellor, Scientific Secretary of the Senate, Vice-Rector, University President, and Rector. Since March 2014, he is Full University Professor.
Ms Daniela Quaggia
Daniela Quaggia is Senior Project Manager of the Active Citizenship Network at Cittadinanzattiva, where she contributes to promoting citizens’ activism to protect fundamental human rights. She has been working in Cittadinanzattiva for 4 years in the institutional Relations office; since January 2010 she is a member of the EU branch of Cittadinanzattiva, ActiveCitizenship Network (ACN), staff and project manager of EU projects related to health and patients & citizens’ engagement. She is also responsible for the networking activities among the almost 200 EU partners of ACN, working for an exchange of information, experiences and good practices, involvement in the project and political activities.
She graduated in Communication Science with a 2nd level Master’s degree in Institutional Communication.
Prof Walter Ricciardi
Walter Ricciardi is Professor of Hygiene and Public Health at Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Rome, Italy. He serves as Scientific Advisor to the Italian Minister of Health for the coronavirus pandemic. He is President of the World Federation of Public Health Associations (WFPHA) and President of Mission Board for Cancer at the European Commission. In the past, he served as Italian Representative in the Executive Board of the World Health Organisation. He covered the position of President of Istituto Superiore di Sanità (Italian National Institute of Health) from 2015 to 2018. Since 2014 he is Past President of the European Public Health Association (EUPHA). He manages several undergraduate and postgraduate teaching activities. He is Editor of European Journal of Public Health, of Oxford Handbook of Public Health Practice and
Founding Editor of Italian Journal of Public Health and of Epidemiology, Biostatistics and Public Health.
Ms Anett Ruszanov
Ms Anett Ruszanov is the Programme and Policy Director at EHMA. Anett is a committed professional with eighteen years’ work experience in Brussels. Her special expertise lies in project acquisition and management, stakeholder engagement, co-creation with stakeholders, event organisation, community management, moderation, and producing evidence-based policy recommendations. She has a proven track record in research and innovation policy, particularly in the healthcare field. Anett has extensive experience with member-based networks: designing and providing services to members and managing membership relations.
She has a background in European studies and project management. Before EHMA, Anett worked for the European Society of Cardiology (ESC), was managing projects at the European Regions Research and Innovation Network (ERRIN) for 11 years, and was heading a regional office and worked for Business Hungary for 4 years.
Dr Andrea Siddu
Andrea Siddu is a Medical Director specialised in Hygiene and Preventive Medicine, He is also a specialist in Pharmacology. From 2020 to date, he holds the position of Medical Director at the Italian Ministry of Health – Directorate-General for Prevention.
Andrea Siddu pursued specialisation in Pharmacology at the University of Cagliari, Italy. He then specialised in Hygiene and Preventive Medicine at the same university.
He has held various positions in different healthcare institutions. He served as a Medical Director at the Prevention Department of several Italian local health authorities. From 2019 to 2020, he was assigned to the Superior Institute of Health (ISS) in Rome, specifically to the Department of Infectious Diseases.
Throughout his career, Andrea Siddu has been involved in scientific research and has contributed to several articles and publications in his field. He has also participated in conferences and courses related to vaccinations, public health, and communication in the healthcare sector.
Dr João Silveira Botelho
Following a successful career in the public and private sectors, Dr João Silveira Botelho was appointed a member of the Board of Directors of the Champalimaud Foundation in 2005.
Dr Silveira Botelho has a degree in law from the University of Lisbon. Throughout his professional career, he has been involved in numerous international projects of high projection. In the first ten years of his career, he held important public positions in the Portuguese Government, namely in the Offices of the Secretary of State for Social Security and the Ministry of Health.
He was a member of the board of directors of the largest Portuguese construction company where he was part of the board of directors of one of the largest real estate and construction projects in Europe; in the area of hospital management, he was Chairman of the Board of Directors of Hospitalia and in the area of tourism he was a member of the Board of Directors of the Belver Hotel hotel group. Internationally, he has been a member of numerous boards of directors, namely in several successful projects promoted by the entrepreneur Stanley Ho linked to the biofuels industry.
MSc Emmanouil Tsiasiotis
MSc Emmanouil Tsiasiotis works as a Research Project Manager at the Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore in Rome. Prior to this role, he worked as Project Engineer and Managing Director – Engineering Consultant. He holds a Master in Public Health from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.
Mr George Valiotis
Mr George Valiotis is the Executive Director of the European Health Management Association (EHMA).
He has worked in executive roles specialising in health policy, research, systems thinking, management, human rights, education, and training.
Before joining EHMA, he worked as Chief Executive Officer of HIV Scotland for seven years, managing multiple strategic policy and education collaborations with pharmaceutical companies, researchers, policymakers, insurers, health services, community members, and professional medical bodies. Earlier he was an education specialist for the International AIDS Society, developing global initiatives for pre and post-doctoral researchers in prevention, clinical and biomedical research. He also served on the Board of Diabetes Australia and as an Advisor on its Medical Education and Science Council. In these roles, he helped govern the National Diabetes Services Scheme which was a €65 million government contract to supply medical products, education, and services.
Mr Peter Vullinghs
Peter is leading Philips Europe, which is comprised of all countries within the Benelux, Central Eastern Europe, Germany, Austria and Switzerland (DACH), France, Iberia, Italy Israel Greece, Nordics, the UK and Ireland. Philips Europe brings together the diverse strengths of a multi-country network to execute on a shared commercial vision, whilst creating outstanding value to meet the unique local needs and circumstances of customers. Peter is also a member of the Philips International Region Leadership Team. In his career at Philips, he has held senior positions across India, South-East Asia, Russia and Europe.
From 1999 to 2009, he worked for Philips in Asia, holding various positions in India and Singapore until he became Chief Financial Officer of the Video Systems Business Group in Singapore. Subsequently, he was CFO and COO for the Philips Consumer Business Growth region (BRIC countries), first in Hong Kong and then operating from Singapore.
At the end of 2009, he moved to Moscow for five years and was first responsible as General Manager for the Consumer business in Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Kazakhstan, and Central Asia. In 2013, he was appointed CEO of Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Kazakhstan, and Central Asia for the entire Philips organization.
From 2015 to 2020, he was Chairman and CEO for Philips in the DACH market, responsible for Germany, Austria and Switzerland. In 2017, he also took over the (operational) leadership for the DACH Health Systems.
He studied Economic Finance Management at Tilburg University and the University of Amsterdam.
Dr Gemma Williams
Gemma Williams is a member of the Observatory’s London hub and is based at the London School of Economics and Political Science.
Before joining the Observatory, Gemma worked as a Research Officer at LSE Health and as an ODI Fellow Health Economist in the Rwandan Ministry of Health.
Dr Matthias Wismar
Dr Matthias Wismar is a Programme Manager at the European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies based in Brussels. His work focuses on health policy, politics and governance, the health workforce, European integration and intersectoral action and the Sustainable Development Goals. He is developing studies, policy briefs, rapid responses and face-to-face dissemination and knowledge brokering formats, including policy dialogues, evidence briefings and webinars. Dr Matthias Wismar holds a PhD in Political Science from Goethe University Frankfurt, Germany.
Workshop speakers
Ms Rossana Alessandrello
Rossana Alessandrello is the Value Based Procurement Director of the Agència de Qualitat i Avaluació Sanitàries de Catalunya (AQuAS), coordinator of the Value Based Procurement Subcommittee of the Catalonian Department of Health Innovation and Transformation Commission, co-creator and Scientific Manager of iRaise, the very first Education Programme on high value care innovation adoption and semi-finalist of the European Innovation Procurement Leadership Award 2022 from the European Innovation Council, coordinator of its I3A (iRaise Institutional and Industry Innovation Alliance), co-creator of PiPPi, community of practice around public procurements of innovation aimed to improve health outcomes. She coordinated DECIPHER, the very first cross-border pre-commercial procurement in mHealth co-funded by the European Commission (EC) and, since then, she either coordinates or contributes to several EC co-funded pre-commercial procurements, public procurements of innovation and innovation actions, as EcoQUIP+ and as RITMOCORE PPI. RITMOCORE PPI won the European Innovation Procurement Strategy Award 2022 from the European Innovation Council. She acted previously for DG CNECT and acts now for HADEA as innovation expert during the proposals evaluation and the actions monitoring. She is invited lecturer to different courses and masters including the Master of Advanced Public Procurement of the University of Barcelona. She is member of the VPH Institute Board of Director, the In Silico World Multi-stakeholder Advisory Board, the European DTx Policy Coalition Group and the EIT Health High Value Care (HVC) Educate Task Force.
Dr Michael Anderson, MD
Dr Michael Anderson, MD is a research fellow and a practicing general practitioner (GP) with an interest in health policy and public health. His published work has a broad focus, ranging from strengthening policy responses to antimicrobial resistance, workforce planning, promoting the economic benefits of primary care, and health technology assessment. He was also the research lead for the LSE-Lancet Commission titled ‘The Future of the NHS’.
He has previously worked as a consultant for the World Health Organisation. He is currently a PhD candidate at the London School of Economics, working towards a thesis focusing on measures of healthcare quality, having previously been awarded a distinction in a joint masters in Health Policy, Planning & Financing from the London School of Economics and the London School for Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.
Prof Dr Ronald Batenburg
Prof Dr Ronald Batenburg is trained as a Sociologist and obtained his Masters at Utrecht University and his PhD at Groningen University, the Netherlands. How job structures evolve within economies, sectors and organisations, and how these determine the quality of work of professionals are the central questions he worked on at different universities and research institutes. As of 2009, he is Program Leader at the Netherlands Institute for Health Services Research (Nivel) and specialised in the area of human resources for health. The main projects he leads concern the labour market, work and education in health. This includes how institutional reforms, organisational development, task delegation and substitution change job structures and the work of healthcare professionals. From a policy perspective, he evaluates how healthcare policy and management – in particular (strategic) health workforce planning – can improve the alignment between healthcare demands and the critical supply of human resources for health. Since 2017, Ronald is Endowed Professor in health workforce and organisation studies at Radboud University Nijmegen, Department of Sociology.
Prof Sergio Bernardini, MD
Professor Sergio Bernardini, (MD, PhD), is a full professor of Clinical Biochemistry and Clinical Molecular Biology at the Department of Internal Medicine of The University of Rome Tor Vergata, and the head physician of the Clinical Molecular Biology Unit at the Tor Vergata University Hospital.
He received his degree in Medicine in 1986 and the PhD in Paediatric Sciences in 1995. He has specialized in Paediatrics (1990) and in Clinical Chemistry and Biochemistry (1998).
As a professor he has several teaching responsibilities including a Bachelor’s course in diagnostic laboratory techniques in the medical field, degree courses in medicine, medical biotechnologies, movement sciences and postgraduate courses in Clinical Biochemistry, Gastroenterology, Neurology, Medical Genetics, Allergology and Immunology, and Paediatrics. Professor Bernardini’s research interests are diverse in nature and have included work in paediatric endocrinology with particular interest in growth hormone and insulin like growth factors and their binding proteins. He has also worked on apoptotic pathways in oncology, in particular neuroblastoma, as well as on glutathione transferases, a family of enzymes involved in cell detoxification and in the control of the programmed cell death. Also, he has collaborated in the application of molecular biology and proteomic methods and techniques in research applied to neurodegenerative diseases, oncology and pharmacogenetics. Since 2009 he has collaborated in the application of molecular biology and biochemical methods to monitoring of sport training and performance.
Prof Sandra C. Buttigieg
Prof Sandra C. Buttigieg is a Professor and Head of the Department of Health Services Management (HSM), Faculty of Health Sciences, UOM. She is a Consultant in Public Health Medicine, Head-Clinical Performance Unit, and Chair-Patient Safety and Quality Improvement Team, at Mater Dei Hospital. She is the outgoing Global-Representative-at-large of the American Academy of Management-HCM Division. She is President of the European Health Management Association and a member of the EHMA Scientific Advisory Committee. She lectures in HSM, Public Health, Family Medicine, Research Methodology and Evidence-based Health Research (EVBRES).
She authored/co-authored several articles in peer-reviewed international journals, and widely participated in international conferences, and congresses. She is on the Editorial Boards of PloS One, Health Services Management Research, International Journal of Human Resources Management, Journal of Health Organization and Management, and Frontiers Public Health. She is Frontiers Topic Editor: “Network for Evaluation of One Health (NEOH) Case Studies”; “Patient Safety: Delivering Cost-Contained, High Quality, Person-Centered, and Safe Healthcare” and “Health Service Management and Leadership: COVID-Style”.
She is a Fellow of two programmes of the Salzburg Global Seminar, related to health care, which were led by amongst others, past presidents of the Institute of Medicine, namely, Donald Berwick and Harvey Fineberg.
Professor Buttigieg has been visiting scholar in the US (JMU -Harrisonburg, VA), UK -University of Birmingham and Aston University, Birmingham, and Kuwait (Faculty of Allied Health Sciences, Kuwait University).
Dr Chiara Cadeddu
Chiara Cadeddu is Assistant Professor of Hygiene and Public Health at the Department of Life Sciences and Public Health at Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Rome, Italy. She serves as Scientific Coordinator of the Italian Institute for Planetary Health (IIPH). Her main areas of experience include vaccines, planetary health, healthcare education and training. She held the position of Researcher at the Scientific Secretariat of the Presidency of the Italian National Institutes of Health until December 2018, then at the National Centre for Health Technology Assessment.
She holds a PhD in Basic biomedical sciences and public health from Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore.
Dr Andrea Cambieri, MD
Dr Andrea Cambieri graduated in Medicine at the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart of Rome and specialised in Hygiene and Preventive Medicine and in Gastroenterology and Digestive Endoscopy. In 1984 he joined the Health Department of the Fondazione Policlinico Universitario Agostino Gemelli IRCCS, of which since 1999 he has been Medical Director of the Presidium and since 2007 Corporate Health Director.
He is Adjunct Professor in the Course ‘Medicine in English’ and in the interfaculty course in Economics and Management of Companies and Health Services and in various masters and specialisation courses at the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart. He is author or co-author of about 200 monographs, publications and technical-scientific reports in the field of health organisation and hygiene and hospital technology.
He has specific professional interest in hospital construction, a field in which he is directly active as a hygiene consultant in the design of hospital structures of national importance; in the organisation of the operating blocks; in the development of clinical governance and clinical risk management; in the optimisation of patient logistic paths and materials.
Dr Paola Capellini
Dr Paola Capellini is Medical Director at ASST S. Pietro e Carlo with a speciality in clinical pharmacology and toxicology. Prior she was Medical Director at SerT 2 Milano, SerT Ponte San Pietro, SerT Scandicci. She received her degree in Medicine from the University of Milan.
Dr Fabrizio Carinci
Dr Fabrizio Carinci is Executive Analyst and the Coordinator of the Italian National Portal for the Transparency of Health Services at the National Agency for Regional Health Services (AGENAS). He is a statistical and economical sciences graduate from the University of Bologna with over 25 years of international experience using biostatistics for health research and policy. He worked extensively throughout Europe, US, UK and Australia.
In 1997, he was consultant of Centre for Biostatistics in AIDS Research (CBAR), Harvard School of Public Health, for the development of specialised regression tree software for the analysis of AIDS clinical trial. Between 2000-2003, he was Associate Professor and Director of the Centre for Health Systems Research at the Monash Institute for Health Services Research led by Chris Silagy, inaugural Director of the Australasian Cochrane Centre, Monash University, Australia. Between 2015-2017 he has worked as a Full Professor and Lead for International at the School of Health Sciences, University of Surrey, UK. In this position, he has been an associated partner of the EU Bridge-Health project and an international expert for the Department of Health Policy and Planning of the Italian Ministry of Health, which he has supported in OECD data collections to produce various reports, including Health at a Glance 2015. He joined the University of Bologna as an Adjunct Professor in February 2017.
Dr Ana María Carriazo, MD
Dr Carriazo is currently Senior Advisor at the Regional Ministry of Health and Consumer Affairs of Andalusia since 2008 in charge of International relationships particularly with European Union and its institutions. She participates in different European and International networks, being member of the Executive Board of the Active and Healthy Ageing Reference Sites Collaborative Network (since 2017) and EIT Health Spain; as well as in EU projects, (JADECARE, ADVANTAGE Joint Action, CHRODIS Plus JA, VIGOUR, or PALANTE project among others).
Before, she worked at the Andalusian Health Service for more than 19 years (health information systems, e-health, healthcare basket of services among others).She got her Degree in Medicine (1986) and her PhD in Public Health (1997) at the University of Seville, and epidemiology training at University of Michigan (1986-87). She also holds a Degree in Statistics of the Autonomous University of Barcelona (2001). She is specialist in Preventive Medicine and Public Health (2003).
Dr Zoltán Cserháti, MD
Dr Zoltan Cserhati is Executive Trainer at the Semmelweis University Health Services Management Training Centre in Budapest. He served as Deputy Director General at the National Institute of Pharmacy and Nutrition, Directorate General of Food and Nutrition Science. He worked as Advisor at the National Institute for Health Development in Hungary. Between 2012 and 2015, he worked as the Head of Department for Health sector Human Resources Strategy in the Ministry of Human Capacities with responsibilities for health workforce strategy, monitoring and planning, regulations on health care employment, education and training. He has contributed to various national and European projects in health care, including the EU Joint Action on Health Workforce Planning and Forecasting. Former lecturer at the Institute of Behavioural Sciences of Semmelweis University in the field of doctor-patient communication, contribution to the establishment of the University Career Center. Dr Zoltan Cserhati is a Medical doctor with specialisation in Family Medicine and has a MA in Economics.
Prof Fausto Di Vincenzo
Prof Fausto Di Vincenzo is Associate Professor of Business Organisation at the University ‘G. d’Annunzio’. He obtained a PhD in Economics and management of health organisation from the Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore with the thesis ‘Toward a relational approach to measure hospital competition: Some evidences from the Italian medical arms race’. His research interests focus on social capital, innovation, project-based organising and learning, network ties and patterns of competition in the healthcare markets.
Dr Katalin Dózsa, MD
Dr Katalin Dózsa is a family physician, diabetologist, and GP-cluster Head-GP. She is Senior research fellow at Semmelweis University – Healthcare Management Training Centre, Board Member of the Primary Care Working Group of the Hungarian Diabetes Association, and Member of the Hungarian Research Organisation of Family Physicians.
Between 2012-2014 she worked as political advisor of the Minister of State for Health on the HR management and monitoring system, coordinating the salary negotiations of the healthcare sector in 2012. She elaborated the strategic development plan of the primary healthcare system in 2014, and contributed to the elaboration of earmarking taxation of unhealthy food products and tobacco products in Hungary.
From 2015 until 2017 she worked as the operative coordinator of the health political evaluation of the (SH 8/1) Swiss-Hungarian Primary Health Care Development Programme at Semmelweis University, between 2018 and 2020 she was a senior expert, then the responsible professional leader of the EFOP 1.8.0. subprogram B of the Methodological Development Programme of Primary Health Care System of Hungary, which coordinated the preventive services of 51 GP clusters and elaborated the primary care standards of 18 chronic diseases in cooperation with several member organisations of the Association of Hungarian Medical Societies.
Dr Michelle Falkenbach
Dr Michelle Falkenbach is a Technical Officer at the European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies. Her work focuses on health policy, health politics, governance, the health workforce, intersectoral action and the Sustainable Development Goals. She supports the Observatory’s analytical pillar on governance and contributes to knowledge-brokering through a range of activities including reports, policy briefs and webinars.
Michelle holds a PhD in public health with an emphasis on health politics from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. Michelle is an honorary research fellow at Cornell University in the department of Public and Ecosystem health where she was a post doctoral associate.
Dr Gillie Gabay
Dr Gillie Gabay is a systems science expert. She is a senior lecturer at the Achva Academic College in Israel and serves as a visiting professor in the department of health economics at Cattolica University, Rome. She obtained her PhD at Portland State University, USA.
Dr Gabay specialises in multi-disciplinary research. She studies psychological, behavioural, human capital and managerial processes in simple and complex systems, in various organisations and industries such as healthcare, including very large hospitals. She focuses on both the person to person level and the organisational level.
Dr Gabay has applied the science of Mind-Genomics, mapping communication messaging by mindsets to promote strategy implementation in healthcare, social capital, and patient-doctor relationships. Her research appeared in a good variety of Q1 rated academic journals focusing on the macro-level, the meso-level and the micro-level. She has also published three books on the experiences of individuals from various levels of organizations such as patients, doctors, and hospital directors.
Her current international research examines processes that top executives manage, as they look ahead towards the complex future in healthcare, such as assuring the resilience of human capital, optimising strategy effectiveness, designing organisational structures, and creating value for all stakeholders, and integrating innovation into the delivery of healthcare. Dr Gabay is an experienced consultant who led managements through systemic changes to implement strategies, including strategies of patient-centred care.
Dr Irene Gabutti
Dr Irene Gabutti is Adjunct Professor in Organisational theory and Human Resource Management at the Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore in Rome and is a Senior Researcher at ALTEMS. She is the Coordinator of ALTEMS’ International Master in Management of healthcare and life science organisations. Her research interests include hospital organizational models, management of healthcare competencies and career ladders in the healthcare industry.
Prof Paul Gemmel
Prof Paul Gemmel is Full Professor of Service and Healthcare Management at the Faculty of Economics and Business administration of the Ghent University and the Incoming Dean of the Faculty of Economics and Business Administration at Ghent University from 1 October 2023. From 2018 till 2022, he was Head of the department Marketing, Innovation and Organisation of the Faculty of Economics and Business Administration of the Ghent University.
He is also associated member of the department of Public Health and Primary Care of the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, where he is the program director of the Master of Science in Management and Policy of Healthcare. He is Research Fellow at the Vlerick Business School, and Co-founder of the Center of Service Intelligence (CSI) and the Curama Health Care Management Research Center, both of the Ghent University, and of the MINOZ research center for Hospital Management at the Vlerick Business School. He is Member of the daily board and the steering committee of Steunpunt Welzijn, Volksgezondheid en Gezin since 2016.
Prof Mara Gorli
Dr Mara Gorli is Associate Professor of Work and organisational psychology and Director of the Master in Patient Advocacy Management at the Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore. She holds a PhD in Social and Developmental Psychology obtained in 2005 from the Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore of Milan.
She had research experience at the Tavistock Institute of Human Relations in London from 2001 and 2003, and she was Research Fellow at the Department of Psychology, Catholic University of Milan in 2007-2008. From 2008 to 2015 she was a Researcher at the Faculty of Education Sciences and from 2015 to 2019 at the Faculty of Economics of the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart of Milan. Since 2015 she is also a Collaborator of the Center for Research and Studies in Healthcare Management (CERISMAS) – Leadership and Organizational Culture .
Prof Dr Damien Gruson
Prof Dr Damien Gruson, Pharm. Biol., Eur. Specialist in Laboratory Medicine, worked from 2008 as a specialist in Laboratory Medicine at Cliniques Universitaires Saint-Luc, an academic hospital in Brussels, Belgium. He is currently the Chief of the Department of Laboratory Medicine of the Cliniques Universitaires Saint Luc and a member of the research unit on Endocrinology Diabetes and Nutrition of the Catholic University of Louvain. He has published numerous articles in several international peer-reviewed journals. He is a member of the executive committee of the division on Emerging Technology of the International Federation of Clinical Chemistry and Laboratory Medicine. Prof. Gruson is also a member of the working group on cardiac markers of the European Federation of Laboratory Medicine. Pr. D. Gruson is also actively participating in the activities of the European Society of Cardiology as a fellow, and of the Belgian Thyroid Club, as a board member.
Ms Yhasmine Hamu Azcarate
Ms Yhasmine Hamu is an European Project Manager at Kronikgune. With experience in Health & Pharma Consultancy she holds a degree in Business Administration with an Executive Development Program in Deusto Business School (2018) and a partial Medicine Degree at the University of the Basque Country (2014). In 2020, she obtained the Course of Good clinical Practices of the Autonomous University of Madrid. She has experience in the implementation of health services in national and European project context. Since 2018 she works as Project Manager at Kronikgune, where she has been involved in various EU funded projects. Actually, she is in charge of JADECARE Join Action, coordinated at European level by Kronikgune.
Prof Dr Marija Jevtic
Prof Dr Marija Jevtic is a full professor at the University of Novi Sad, Faculty of Medicine, specialist in Hygiene (Public Health) at the Institute of Public Health of Vojvodina with sub specialisation in medical ecology; research collaborator at the Université Libre de Bruxelles, Research Centre on Environmental and Occupational Health, School of Public Health; associate member of the Academy of Medical Sciences Serbian Medical Society; group analytic therapist and System Psychodynamic Organizational Consultant; EU Climate Pact Ambassador.
She has 25 years of experience in the research and education process and advocacy in public health and environment and health. Field of interest and work: public health, environment and health, SDGs, climate change, disaster and health, migration, mental health, school health, food safety, nutrition, health management, reproductive and sexual health, group psychotherapy, organizational consulting. As a university professor, she has been involved in different curricula development in the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Novi Sad in the field of Public Health, Nursing, Disaster medicine, Nutrition, Medical ecology, and Hygiene. She is also a professor at the Faculty of Technical Sciences University of Novi Sad (undergraduate and postgraduate studies) in the field of disaster and vulnerability, public health and emergencies, mental health and psychosocial support in emergencies).
She has been Director of the Institute of Public Health of Vojvodina; Head of the Department of Hygiene at the Faculty of Medicine, University of Novi Sad; Assistant minister Ministry of Health RS.
Prof Niek Klazinga
Prof Niek Klazinga is Coordinator of the Healthcare Quality Indicator program at the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), a position he has held since 2006. Alongside his work at OECD, he is a Professor of Social Medicine at the Academic Medical Centre at the University of Amsterdam. He also teaches at the Corvinus University in Budapest and the University of Toronto. In addition, he serves as an advisor to the World Health Organization/Euro and to the Canadian Institute for Health Informatics. He is a member of the board of trustees of the Isala Clinics (Zwolle, a large teaching hospital in The Netherlands) and Arkin (Amsterdam, one of the largest mental health care institutes in The Netherlands). Prof Klazinga has been involved over the past 30 years in numerous health services research projects and policy debates on quality of care, and has published widely on the subject. To date, Prof Klazinga has (co)authored around 200 articles in peer-reviewed journals and completed the supervision of 36 PhD trajectories.
Dr Ellen Kuhlmann
Dr Ellen Kuhlmann is the President of the EUPHA section on Health Workforce Research, and Senior Researcher at the Hannover Medical School in Germany.
She has many years of international experience, most recently in 2019 as guest professor at Aarhus University, Denmark. Dr Kuhlmann’s research focuses on four areas with a particular interest in international comparison and global health: (1) healthcare systems, policy and governance, (2) health workforce governance and professions, (3) organization and management, (4) gender and public health. Her research interests reflect her own professional background and education as a registered nurse specialised in intensive care/anaesthesiology, Master Public Health, and Ph.D. and post-doc qualification (Habilitation) in sociology.
Dr Ruperta Lichtenecker
Ruperta Lichtenecker PhD has been Head of Department of the Competence Center Climate and Health at Gesundheit Österreich GmbH since March 2022.
Ruperta Lichtenecker has more than 30 years of activity and experience as an economist, researcher, manager and supervisor in the fields of science, administration, economics and politics with a focus on: environmental economics and policy, climate change mitigation, research, innovation, public health, health economics, health promotion, technology assessment, foresight, digitalisation, energy economics and policy, economics, COVID-19 management and crisis management. She is lecturer at the Johannes Kepler University Linz and at the Federal Academy of Administration. She holds a master’s degree and PhD in macroeconomics from the Johannes Kepler University Linz.
Prof Teresa Magalhaes
Teresa Magalhães, PhD in Public Health from NOVA University of Lisbon (UNL), is a Professor at UNL’s National School of Public Health (NSPH). Her primary research interests lie in digital health, information management, and hospital resource efficiency. She has worked on various projects related to predictive models, telehealth, telepharmacy, teleconsultation, telerehabilitation, telemonitorisation, and evaluation of health information systems. She has also been involved in the development and implementation of a Digital Health course at NSPH. Additionally, she served as a hospital administrator in different capacities, including CEO of the Portuguese Red Cross Hospital and various roles at Centro Hospitalar Universitário de Lisboa Norte (CHULN) and Centro Hospitalar de Setúbal (CHS). Prior to her work in the healthcare sector, she worked as a consultant at Accenture, specialising in information systems strategy.
Teresa Magalhães is actively engaged in various professional associations and research centers, including the Information Management Working Group at the Associacao Portuguesa de Administradores Hospitalares (APAH), Comprehensive Health Research Center (CHRC) at NOVA University of Lisbon, and the European Health Management Association (EHMA) Scientific Advisory Committee. Over the past five years, she has participated in numerous conferences as a speaker, moderator, and abstract presenter. She has published articles and edited a book on digital transformation in health.
Dr Pamela Mazzocato
Dr Pamela Mazzocato co-leads the Medical Management Centre of Karolinska Institutet.
She has a PhD in Medical Management from Karolinska Institutet. Her research focusses on how to design clinical processes and organisational structures that meet the needs of patients and healthcare professionals. Her expertise lies in the analysis of complex interventions rooted in operations management theory and the ability to isolate and display key components using a mixed methods approach and the use of statistical process control charts.
Since 2012, she is co-directing and running courses in Healthcare Management for master students in Health Economics, Policy and Management at Karolinska Institutet. Between 2013 and 2015 she was a visiting lecturer in the course Quality and Operations Management for the International Master of Healthcare Management, Economics and Policy (MIHMEP), and course director for the course Operations Management in Healthcare for the Master in Healthcare Management (MIMS), Bocconi University, Italy. Between 2011-12, she was lecturer and course director for the course Organization, Learning and Leadership for nursing students, Karolinska Institutet.
Ellen McCourt, MD
Ellen McCourt =is a British trade unionist and was a representative for junior doctors at the British Medical Association.
In 2006 Ellen McCourt gained a Bachelor of Science in medical science from the University of St Andrews. In 2009 she gained a Bachelor of Medicine and Surgery from the University of Manchester. She has recently completed a Master of Science in global health with global surgery at King’s College London (KCL).
Ms Sofia Moreno-Pérez
Sofía Moreno is from the South of Spain and she is engineer and MBA. Her professional career has always been related to technology and research from different perspectives, as a researcher, launching and managing a start-up, as consultant on patient experience or about social impact of technology. During the last decade her work has focused on innovative public procurement in healthcare as consultant. As director of VALDE Innova she has been procurement coordinator of 2 PPIs (STOPandGO and RITMOCORE) and three PCPs still in execution (ROSIA, TIQUE and CRANE).
Prof Bjørn Erik Mørk
Prof Bjørn Erik Mørk is Professor in Innovation at Department of Strategy and Entrepreneurship, BI Norwegian Business School, Norway, and Program Director for Healthcare Management. He is also Research Centre Leader for Healthcare Management. His research activities are part of several research projects funded by the Research Council of Norway where we study topics such as innovation, development and introduction of new technologies, learning, collaboration, boundary work, power and change within the healthcare sector.
Prof Mørk has a PhD in organisational sociology (UiO) with a thesis on challenges with changing practices in hospitals. He has been a visiting scholar at UC Berkeley twice (Fulbright Visiting Scholar in 2012, and visiting scholar in 2005), and with the IKON research centre at Warwick Business School (2014 and 2006). From 2012 he has been an Associate Fellow at WBS, and from September 2017 Honorary Associate Professor.
In addition to his academic roles, Prof Mørk has a part-time position as Associate Partner for EY (Ernst & Young), and is part of People Advisory Services.
Mr Simone Mortara
Simone Mortara is Head of Global Health of the Human Capital and Procurement Directorate of Eni, where his responsibilities include ensuring the definition of policies, standards and operating models with regard to preventative medicine public health; ensuring the definition of implementation models for global health initiatives; ensuring the consolidation and representation of programs and results of community health initiatives; carrying out studies and analysis guaranteeing the dissemination and updating of methodologies, know-how and best practices; encouraging the development of efficient methods of Impact Assessment and Impact Management.
He holds a Master’s in International Healthcare Management, Economics and Policies from CERGAS Bocconi Centre of Research on Health and Social Care Management, Italy.
He has edited publications on health impact assessment.
Ms Zoi Mylona
Zoi works as a Programme Manager at the European Health Management Association delivering a portfolio of policy, projects, and engagement activities that support excellent health management across Europe, primarily through the management of a range of EU-funded projects. She holds a BSc in international and European affairs from Panteion University of Social & Political Sciences and an MSc in translation from UMons. Zoi is a licensed mental health counsellor (member of HAC and EAC) and she studies to become a Psychologist at the Open University UK.
Mr Denis Oprešnik
Denis Opresnik, MA in Cultural Anthropology, with experience in Joint Actions CARE4DIABETES and JADECARE, coleading work packages on sustainability and integration in policies, and in JA CHRODIS PLUS as the coordinator of Slovenian pilot action. He has been involved in several diabetes-related national projects, and in national projects addressing health inequalities and vulnerable groups by developing community approach involving social research and interventions.
Dr Dimitra Panteli
Dr Dimitra Panteli joined the Senior Management Team of the European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies in October 2020. Prior she spent more than a decade at the Department of Health Care Management at Berlin University of Technology, where she was a Senior Research Fellow, the Department’s research coordinator (2017-2020) and a frequent contributor of the Observatory’s research.
Dimitra’s work focuses on evidence- based decision-making in healthcare, primarily health technology assessment, and health systems research, for example on pharmaceutical regulation and quality assurance. She regularly collaborates with diverse stakeholders, including Ministries of Health, regulatory institutions, insurers, national institutes for public health and quality assurance, health technology assessment agencies, and professional associations.
She received her doctorate in public health from Berlin University of Technology, her Master in Science – Public Health from the Charité Medical University in Berlin (as a scholar of the German Academic Exchange Service) and her Medical Degree from the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (Greece).
She spent the 2016–2017 academic year as a Commonwealth Fund Harkness Fellow in Washington, DC.
Prof Diego Ponte
Prof Diego Ponte is Associate Professor at the Department of Economics and Management, University of Trento (Italy). He has been Visiting Scholar at ERCIS, the European Research Center for Information Systems, University of Münster from 2012 to 2013.
Dr Martina Rimmele
Dr Martina Rimmele has been Senior Researcher at Bavarian Health and Food Safety Authority, Health Services Research, Coordination Office E-Health since July 2020. From 2017 to June 2020 she was Project Coordinator of clinical trial “Improvement of transitional care from hospital to home for older patients – the TIGER study“ at the University Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU). Prior to that, she held the position of Senior Researcher Nutrition Medicine and Oncology at University Clinic Erlangen, Team Lead Medical Marketing at Bionorica SE, Head of Aptamer development at RiNA RNA Technologien GmbH in Berlin. Trained as Molecular Biologist with PhD in Microbiology, with a post-doctoral research residency at Harvard Medical School, Boston, and NYU Medical Center, NYC.
At Bavarian Health and Food Safety Authority she is engaged in Health Services Research with a focus on E-Health. Currently she is also an active consortium member of JADECARE (Joint Action on implementation of Digitally Enabled integrated person-centred CARE), organising events, identifying and involving relevant stakeholders in Stakeholder Forums, disseminating JADECARE results on scientific conferences, as well as supporting knowledge building, exchange and transfer of the project.
Ms Anett Ruszanov
Ms Anett Ruszanov is the Programme and Policy Director at EHMA. Anett is a committed professional with eighteen years’ work experience in Brussels. Her special expertise lies in project acquisition and management, stakeholder engagement, co-creation with stakeholders, event organisation, community management, moderation, and producing evidence-based policy recommendations. She has a proven track record in research and innovation policy, particularly in the healthcare field. Anett has extensive experience with member-based networks: designing and providing services to members and managing membership relations.
She has a background in European studies and project management. Before EHMA, Anett worked for the European Society of Cardiology (ESC), was managing projects at the European Regions Research and Innovation Network (ERRIN) for 11 years, and was heading a regional office and worked for Business Hungary for 4 years.
Dr Laura Sampietro-Colom, MD
Dr Laura Sampietro-Colom is the Deputy Director of Innovation and Head of the Health Technology Assessment (HTA) Unit at the Hospital Clinic of Barcelona, a high-tech hospital and a reference for health care, research and medical training in Spain. She is also a mentor in CaixaImpulse (a capital risk&foundation program from a bank) aimed to coach reserchers to bring their product to market. She is also co-founder of the start up Mangrana Ventures S.L.
Prior to this, Dr Sampietro-Colom was the General Director of Information Systems, Projects and Evaluation of the Catalan Health Institute, the leading provider of public health services in the Region of Catalonia (8 Hospitals and 238 Primary Care Centres) and the Director of the Strategic Planning Unit of Health Services within the Planning and Evaluation Directorate of the Ministry of Health of Catalonia.
Laura has over 25 years of experience in evaluative research, specifically in HTA and was one of the founders of the Catalan Agency for Health Technology Assessment. She was the Founding member of the International Society for Health Technology Assessment (HTAi), serving on its Board of Directors since its foundation, including three years as Secretary of the Executive Committee, two years as Vice-President and two years as President. Responsible for the development of one of the research lines of the first international project conducted by the International Network of Agencies for Health Technology Assessment (INAHTA). She is past-Chair of both the HTAi Global Policy Forum and Latam Policy Forum.
Laura is a trained Medical Doctor specialising in Preventive Medicine and Public Health (University of Barcelona) and holds a PhD in Medicine and Surgery by the Autonomous University of Barcelona, and a Master of Science in Public Health by the Rolling School of Public Health (Emory University, Atlanta, USA). She also holds an Executive Master in Management of Science and Innovation by the University Pompeu Fabra
Prof Giuseppe Scaratti
Prof Giuseppe Scaratti is Full Professor of Work and organisational psychology at the Department of Human and social sciences at the University of Bergamo, after a long experience at the Faculty of Economics at the Catholic University of Milan. He is also Coordinator of the Leadership and Organisational Cultures Area at CERISMAS – Centre for Research and Studies in Health Care Management, and a founding member of the TRAILab (Transformative Actions Interdisciplinary Laboratory).
Mr Bruno Serra
Mr Bruno Serra is Head of Relations with the Confindustrial System at Eni. Prior to this role, he served as Head of National Industrial Relations within the same company, where over the years he worked as HR Management and Industrial Relations Manager Syndial, and in Sales & Marketing.
He holds a degree in Economics from the University of Naples Federico II, Italy.
Ms Dóra Tóth
During her university years, she started organizing health screenings in Transcarpathia, six of which were successfully implemented. A joint screening of the student government and Semmelweis University screened people living in poorer areas with foreign and Hungarian student volunteers. After graduating from Semmelweis University’s Faculty of Public Health, she began working on European projects at the Healthcare Management Training Center. As a senior project manager, she started to work at the National Healthcare Directorate for Hospitals in Hungary next to her master’s studies at Semmelweis University and has assisted in writing a number of applications and has been a project coordinator on several European projects. She also plays a part in project management education at the university and has participated in a comprehensive public health screening program as an organizer for 2 years.
Filippo Uberti, MD
Filippo Uberti served as Secretary General of the Eni Foundation. He is the chief medical officer at the Health Unit of Eni SpA. He has been on missions in Africa (Algeria, Libya, Angola, Congo, Mozambique, Egypt, Mali, Ghana, Uganda, Togo, Gabon, South Africa, Guinea Bissau), the Americas (Brazil, USA), Asia (Russia, Kazakhstan, Iran, Pakistan, Australia), and Europe.
He is a medical doctor, who specialised in infectious diseases at the University of Pavia, Italy.
Dr Marius Ungureanu
Dr Marius Ungureanu is Chair of the Department of Public Health and Director of the Center for Health Workforce Research and Policy at Babeș-Bolyai University.
Dr. Ungureanu has been trained as a medical doctor and has completed a residency program in family medicine. Over time, he completed his education in public and healthcare management with a Master in Health Administration and a PhD in medicine/public health. Dr. Ungureanu’s work is focused on producing evidence for policymaking in health systems. In his academic work, he has studied the impact of health workforce policies on health professionals’ retention in Romania. Dr. Ungureanu’s work has been published in leading peer-review journals, such as The Lancet and Health Policy.
Apart from his academic work, Dr. Ungureanu has provided consulting services to the World Health Organization, International Labor Organization and OECD. Dr. Ungureanu is a member of the European Public Health Association’s (EUPHA) Governing Board and has served as a Deputy Health Minister.
Mr George Valiotis
Mr George Valiotis is the Executive Director of the European Health Management Association (EHMA).
He has worked in executive roles specialising in health policy, research, systems thinking, management, human rights, education, and training.
Before joining EHMA, he worked as Chief Executive Officer of HIV Scotland for seven years, managing multiple strategic policy and education collaborations with pharmaceutical companies, researchers, policymakers, insurers, health services, community members, and professional medical bodies. Earlier he was an education specialist for the International AIDS Society, developing global initiatives for pre and post-doctoral researchers in prevention, clinical and biomedical research. He also served on the Board of Diabetes Australia and as an Advisor on its Medical Education and Science Council. In these roles, he helped govern the National Diabetes Services Scheme which was a €65 million government contract to supply medical products, education, and services.
Mr Yves Verboven
Mr Yves Verboven founded in 2021 EU4HealthSolutions. He operates as Sr. Advisor to MedTech Europe for strategic files and as external consultant to initiative fostering the accessibility of innovation and accelerate adoption through a value based approach, especially through Value Based Innovation procurement and accelerated coverage pathways for innovation.
In the past years Yves fostered a market access focus of MedTech Europe and its members towards a value based approach with a Value of Innovation and partnership access model as a basis for an innovation friendly ecosystem with timely access innovation and appropriate recognition and rewarding of the value created by Medical Technologies and Innovation Solution where medical technology is a key element . A primary flagschip has been given to advancing the business opportunities in the field of procurement by introducing “Value based procurement” through a partnership of the MedTech Industry with leading Procurement organization and BCG. A community of practice has been established and guidance papers published. Additional initiatives focused on European legislative and application in fields as value based (innovation) procurement, Health Technology Assessment, evidence generation and deploying MedTech initiatives to advance to a Value of innovation and Partnership access model. The operationalization of Value Based Health Care as an and the recognition of the Value of (diagnostic) information were also high on the agenda. The pathways (and their opportunities and limitation in Europe) for an accelerated coverage of Innovation were as well identified
Yves has an applied science and engineering degree with further education in Business administration and health economics. Yves has been holding over a period of 20 years multiple leaderships positions within industry in the field of first in human testing, clinical engineering, clinical outcomes and health economics outcomes and reimbursement in the field of cardiac rhythms and heart failure management and ophthalmology, these within Intermedics, Medtronic, Alcon(Novartis) and holds multiple patents and publication. He then joined MedTech Europe to address EU policy and national implementation of advance access through an Value of Innovation and partnership model and incorporation value in investment decision in healthcare.
Dr Ciro Verdoliva
Dr Ciro Verdoliva graduated in Civil Engineering construction section, University of Naples Federico II, followed by a specialisation in management training for general, health and administrative directors of the health system.
Prof Stefano Villa
Prof Stefano Villa is Head of the Operations Management area and Full Professor of Business Administration at the Faculty of Economics of the Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore. He is Coordinator of the Patient Logistics Laboratory, an inter-university initiative (Bocconi University, University of Florence and Catholic University) of study and benchmarking analysis of the management of patient flows in hospitals.
He is Coordinator of the degree course in Economics and Service Management. He is Director of the Master in Operations Management in Healthcare Companies. His research focuses on pharmaceutical care policies and management, quality and process management in healthcare, operations and logistics management in healthcare companies, institutional structures and health policies, process management in public administrations. He is the author of more than 30 publications and coordinator of several research projects.
Ms Emmi Weller
Ms Emmi Weller is a Policy Officer at the European Health Management Association (EHMA). She coordinates EHMA’s involvement in policy networks and engagement with decision-makers and leads on producing EHMA’s publication ‘Reducing the environmental impact of medicines from procurement to disposal’, written from a health management perspective.
Emmi is a qualified health manager and graduate of the Erasmus Mundus Master’s degree in European Health Economics and Management taught jointly by the University of Oslo (Norway), the University of Bologna (Italy) and the Management Centre Innsbruck (Austria). Her first degree is in Global Public Health which she obtained at Leiden University College (The Netherlands).
Dr Matthias Wismar
Dr Matthias Wismar is a Programme Manager at the European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies based in Brussels. His work focuses on health policy, politics and governance, the health workforce, European integration and intersectoral action and the Sustainable Development Goals. He is developing studies, policy briefs, rapid responses and face-to-face dissemination and knowledge brokering formats, including policy dialogues, evidence briefings and webinars. Dr Matthias Wismar holds a PhD in Political Science from Goethe University Frankfurt, Germany.
Dr Alberto Zanutto
Dr Alberto Zanutto coordinated the School of Social Care Professionals of Trento for four years (1994-1998) and headed the research sector of Istituto Regionale di Studi e Ricerca Sociale . Afterwards, he enrolled in a PhD program in Information Systems and Organization at the Faculty of Sociology of Trento, gaining a PhD in 2006. In 2006 he obtained a post-doctoral grant at the Department of Sociology and Social Research of Trento; after he held a grant (2008-2013) in a research program aimed at designing an electronic health record to be used by citizens.
He held courses in Business organisation and Sociology of organisations at several universities. Now he is teaching Sociology at the Medicine and Nursing Department at the University of Verona.
He is a member of the Research Unit on Communication Organisational Learning and Aesthetics based in the Department of Sociology and Social Research of the University of Trento.