Fred van Eenennaam
Chairman, VBHC Center Europe
There is hardly anyone who advocates for value-based healthcare as consistently as he does. Prof. Dr. Fred van Eenennaam brought the concept of VBHC from the US to Europe by founding the VBHC Center Europe, a leading platform for visitors and members who want to learn about Value-Based Health Care implementation. He is also a professor and strategy consultant in the healthcare sector. For Prof. Dr. van Eenennaam, value-based healthcare is the only way to focus on what is essential in healthcare – the value for patients.
Jennifer L. Bright
President, International Consortium for Health Outcomes Measurement (ICHOM)
ICHOM is a nonprofit that works with patients and clinical experts worldwide to define and deploy standardized tools to measure health outcomes that matter to patients. Prior, she held executive roles at the Innovation and Value Initiative (IVI), focusing on advancing patient-centricity, transparency and equity in health technology assessment, at the Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America, and Mental Health America.
Áine Carroll
Professor of Healthcare Integration and Improvement, University College Dublin
Áine is Professor of Healthcare Integration and Improvement at University College Dublin, Ireland and a Consultant in Rehabilitation Medicine at the National Rehabilitation University Hospital in Dublin. She is Chair of the International Foundation for Integrated Care (IFIC) and Co-Director of IFIC Ireland, a collaborative hub established to support integrated care activities in Ireland. Prior to this, she was National Director of the Clinical Strategy and Programmes Division in the Health Services Executive in Ireland. During her tenure, Professor Carroll established the Integrated Care Programmes to promote coordinated care and teamwork across services and specialties, ensuring that care is provided effectively and seamlessly to patients as they move through the system.
Charlotte Haggren
Charlotte Haggren is a trained physiotherapist since 1996 and has worked as a clinical manager for nursing-homes, homecare services etc. the last 15 years. Since the last three years, she is working as a manager for physiotherapists, occupational therapists and psychologists in Nacka geriatric hospital outside Stockholm, Sweden. In addition to ValueCare, she was also involved in another EU-project called Fighting Loneliness while working for Nacka Municipality.
Alejandro Gil Salmeron
International Foundation for Integrated Care (IFIC)
Alejandro Gil-Salmerón stands at the forefront of innovation in health and social care as a Senior Researcher at the International Foundation for Integrated Care (IFIC). With a career defined by his contributions to over 20 high-impact research projects—primarily under the Horizon 2020 and Horizon Europe programs of the European Commission—Alejandro's work is transforming the delivery of person-centred care. His expertise is particularly influential in addressing the needs of deprivileged, high-priority populations living with complex health conditions, shaping the future of health and social care systems across Europe.
Lovorka Bilajac
MEDRI
Lovorka Bilajac is an assistant professor at the Department of Social Medicine and Epidemiology, Faculty of Medicine University of Rijeka (MEDRI) and at the Department of Public Health, Faculty of Health Studies University of Rijeka (FZSRI) and a professional associate at the Teaching Institute of Public Health.
She teaches courses on Public Health, Social Medicine, Health Care and Epidemiology in various study programmes at the University, for the students of the integrated study programme in Medicine for Croatian and foreign students (English programme), for students of Sanitary Engineering and for students of Physiotherapy.
She participated (as researcher or coordinator) in several national and European scientific projects focused on public health, healthy ageing and healthcare. Her research interests include health promotion, healthy ageing, health inequalities, public health research methodology, non-communicable diseases and environmental health.
Mona Khalid
Chair of the ValueCare Advisory Board
Chair of the Value Care Advisory Committee & Value-Based HealthCare Expert. Vice President of Portfolio Strategy and Scientific Affairs at Endpoint Health Inc. Previously, she was Vice President of Outcomes Research and Development at the International Consortium of Health Outcomes Measurement (ICHOM), where she led the generation of condition specific standard outcome sets, formation of partnerships with hospital networks, clinical experts and patients, in order implement value-based health care models. In her role she led development work to harmonize ICHOM standard sets to enable health outcomes measurement in multimorbid patients.
She has a proven track record in outcomes research, digital health and extensive value creation and systems transformation experience.
Hein Raat
ValueCare Coordinator - EMC
Professor Hein Raat, MD, PhD is research advisor at the Department of Public Health of Erasmus MC, Rotterdam. He is the project lead of the ValueCare project. He is also community health physician at Jong JGZ in Dordrecht, the Netherlands.
Denis Juraga
MEDRI
Denis Juraga, PhD, works as a higher teaching assistant at the Department of Social Medicine and Epidemiology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Rijeka, Croatia. He holds a PhD in Public Health and Health Care from the Faculty of Medicine, University of Rijeka, Croatia. Since 2014, he has been actively involved as a researcher in several international research projects in the field of public health: IPA-CLOUD, UHCE 2.0, ENRETE, Cross Health, SEFAC, ValueCare, eEarlycare-T and HORUS) and two national projects: Improving control of polypharmacy and adherence to prescribed therapy for chronic diseases using ICT and A holistic approach to the management of arterial hypertension in older women: Evaluating the effectiveness of the mindfulness programme and the forest therapy method. He has participated in several national and international congresses on microbiology and public health, both as a participant and as an active speaker.
Sofia Santos Nunes
AGE Platform
Sofia is responsible for managing AGE’s research projects on smart and active ageing, digitalisation, age-friendly environments and value-based care. She has experience in co-designing activities and technology with older people, communication and dissemination activities, as well as policy recommendations. Sofia has a background in Clinical and Social Psychology with a special focus on how to co-design technology with older people to age in place and to stay engaged in society in rural areas. She has been working in European and community-based projects since 2018 in Portugal, Spain and Colombia.
Anthony Polychronakis
European Liaison Officer, Rotterdam Department of Social Development
He is the advisor on matters of international relations and European funding. He studied Public Administration and European Studies at the Erasmus University of Rotterdam, Leiden University, and Panepistimio Kritis of Crete, Rethymnon. As a senior policy adviser he was responsible for the Rotterdam approach to domestic violence and elder abuse. He is also the founder of the European Family Justice Center Alliance (EFJCA). Polychronakis' career also includes a wide assortment of political activities. He was a politician and an elected member of the City Council of Alphen aan den Rijn, the Netherlands.
Anneke Guyt
Anneke Guyt is a specialized nurse working in home care for 28 years and is specialized in the field of rehabilitation after brain injury. Her career started in psychiatry followed by years in hospital and elderly care. She has been working as a stroke aftercare nurse since 2010. In 2010, a project started to improve the aftercare for people who suffered from a stroke. She was one of the initiators to safeguard the position of nurses in aftercare. She was also a member of the CVA working group at the VenVN, member of the board and symposium committee of the Rotterdam Stroke Service and member of the CVA Knowledge Network symposium committee.
Chiara da Ronch
Ulss2 Marca Trevigiana
Chiara is a psychologist and psychotherapist, with experience in Human Resource Management in international settings, European Project management, academic teaching and training. She is an Autogenic Training Practitioner, EMDR therapist and Gottman Method of couples therapy. Additionally, Chiara is author of various articles in international scientific journals, and in particular on the effectiveness of Autogenic Training. She currently works at Ulss2 Marca Trevigiana within the ValueCare project for which she has been responsible for the neuropsychological assessment of participants, their recruitment and implementation of care plans, collaborating in the implementation of the project at the local level.
Maria Inês Santos
Cáritas Coimbra
Maria Inês Santos is specialised in corporate communications, with experience in organisations from different sectors of economic activity. In 2022, she assumed the corporate communications of Cáritas Coimbra and a year later she moved on to become the responsible for the dissemination of the Innovation Department's projects (national and European funded). In addition, Maria Inês is a project manager, having already been part of the technical team for several Cáritas Coimbra European-funded projects. Her tasks are essentially related to implementing pilot tests with end users (including large-scale pilots) in different areas such as active citizenship, social inclusion, and active and healthy ageing.
Emanuela Borges Dias
CVA (Cerebro Vascular Accident Nurse)
Emanuela Borges Dias works as a specialised CVA (Cerebro Vascular Accident) aftercare nurse since 2012. She did a training in 2010 as a neurology nurse at University Medical Center in Utrecht, the Netherlands. She has over 20 years of experience in different medical environments including (academic) hospitals and home care. Her expertise is enhanced by a thorough education in neurosurgery and training with the Rotterdam Stroke Service. She has succesfully contributed to the development of CVA aftercare in Ridderkerk and functions as an independent specialty care provider.
Jelle Walraven
Dutch Ministry of Health
Jelle works as a Policy officer at the Dutch Ministry of Health for price regulations and managed entry agreements for pharmaceuticals. In addition, he is an external PhD candidate at Erasmus School of Health Policy & Management with a focus on innovative value and pricing models
Vanja Vasiljev
MEDRI
Vanja Vasiljev is a Professor at the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Rijeka, Croatia. She has an extensive academic background and holds a PhD in Biomedicine and a postgraduate degree in Public Health from the Faculty of Medicine, University of Zagreb. Her research specialisations are public health, microbiology and ageing populations. She has participated in numerous European research projects, including the VALUECARE project and HORUS project as a WP leader on the implementation process. Prof. Vasiljev is actively involved in several national scientific project and a leader of two - “Young Researchers’ Career Development Project – Training New Doctoral Students” (funded by the Croatian Science Foundationa; April 2019 - ) and A Holistic Approach to the Management of Arterial Hypertension in Older Women: Evaluating the Effectiveness of a Mindfulness-Based Programme and the Forest Therapy Method (funded by the University of Rijeka; May 2024 - )
Vasiljev is also actively involved in teaching various courses in the field of public health and medicine.
Her commitment to research is reflected in her involvement in projects on the epidemiology of hypertension, social engagement in the fight against chronic diseases and integrated health and social care pathways.
Demi Cheng
Erasmus Medical Centre
Demi Cheng is working as a project manager and research coordinator at the Department of Public Health of Erasmus MC. The main project she is working on is the ValueCare project but she is also involved in other European projects. She holds a Bachelor of Science in European Public Health and Master of Science in Global Health from Maastricht University in The Netherlands. She has work and research experience from The Netherlands, China and Brazil. Her research interest is in global public health, menstrual health management, SRHR, gender and infectious diseases.
Delmir Giner Ibáñez
Las Naves
Delmir works as a European Project Officer in the field of health at the social innovation agency of the municipality of Valencia, Spain. He has experience in public administration at regional and local level, working on topics related to among others social services, active ageing and local development.
Apostolos Economou
Athens Medical Group
Apostolos Economou is a seasoned Healthcare manager with 20 years of professional experience in listed corporations. His background is varied, holding degrees (incl. 3 post-graduate) in business administration (MBA), engineering and IT. He is currently Group Programme Manager for Athens Medical Group, a Group consisting of 6 hospitals. Among his responsibilities are the organization, coordination, supervision and project management of various projects, such as Pharmaceutical-related (e.g. Clinical Studies), Affiliations, EU (Horizon), and Digital Transformation ones. In parallel, and for more than 10 years, he has been teaching Business Strategy and Project Management at post-graduate level. Previously he has worked as an internal consultant in Banking (Société Générale Group). His current interests lie in implementing Agile (mostly SCRUM) approaches to Healthcare projects and in helping start-ups in developing and scaling.
Anne-Marie Chavanon
Commitee on Democracy, Social Cohesion and Global Challenges - Conference of INGOS - Council of Europe
Chair of the “Inclusive Territories, Environment and Health” Committee of the Conference of INGOs of the Council of Europe since April 2024. She previously chaired several other committees including “Environmental and Health Crisis” and “Democracy, Social Cohesion and Global Challenges” committees.
Her main expertise and advocacy goes to governance, participatory democracy, social cohesion including elderly care, and sustainable development issues. She operates on such topics with Council of Europe partners as well as in EU and Council of Europe member states, and associated countries. She served four times as a member of the Jury of the European Landscape Convention Award and got involved in the International Urban Innovation Award of Guangzhou.
Annemieke Wargers
Erasmus MC
Annemieke Wargers works as a junior researcher at the Public Health department of Erasmus MC, Rotterdam, the Netherlands. She completed her bachelor's and master's degrees in Human Movement Sciences in Groningen. Currently, she is in the 4th year of her PhD trajectory in which she combines different projects focused on healthy lifestyles of children and adolescents. In her projects she uses participatory research approaches to involve and engage the target audience.
Michele Calabro’
Director at EUREGHA,
EUREGHA is the European reference network for Regional and Local Health Authorities. As EUREGHA Director, he leads the work of the association’s secretariat, covering advocacy, knowledge exchange and partnerships, communication and projects. Prior to joining EUREGHA, Michele worked at the European Health Management Association at the European Patients’ Forum, and at DIGITALEUROPE. Throughout his career, Michele worked on several strategic EU-level projects including TO-REACH, DigitalHealthEurope, PERISCOPE, IN-4-AHA and BeWell.
Oscar Zanutto
ISRAA
Oscar is a psychologist of work and organizations. He has been working in ISRAA since 2000, nowadays coordinating the Innovation and Development Department at ISRAA. He is a senior Project Manager in several European Projects related to ageing, ICT innovation in care and in Italian national projects funded by the Italian Government. His skills are devoted to networking, consortium building and project management with a focus on the design of innovative care services for older people. Oscar has a Value Based Health Care expert with Green Belt Training certification delivered by VBHC Center Europe (Amsterdam) and recognised in the perimeter of the Horizon 2020 ValueCare Project deployed over the last five years.
Athanasios Koumparos
Vodafone Innovus
Athanasios Koumparos is a Senior Engineer Research and Innovation at Vodafone Innovus. He holds a degree in Computer Systems Engineering from Technical Educational Institute of Piraeus Greece and a MSc degree in Microelectronics & Communications from Northumbria UK university. He has more than 20 years of software development experience and the last 8 years is involved architecting, developing and deploying software and hardware prototypes for various EU project, including ValueCare, Perocube, Track & Know, Trustonomy and other.
Yuping Mao
California State University Long Beach
Yuping Mao (Ph.D., Ohio University) is Associate Professor in the Department of Communication Studies at California State University Long Beach. Her research has a strong focus on communication and global health. She is passionate about applied research to promote cultural diversity and bridge disparities in healthcare systems. She has conducted extensive research on health communication issues among migrants and underserved populations. She has served as a communication specialist in multiple interdisciplinary and international research teams to conduct research in population and community health. Her interdisciplinary research has been widely featured in academic books and journals in communication and public health. She is the Editor-in-Chief (2022-2024) of Communication Studies.
Bruna Franceschini
Cáritas Coimbra
Bruna Franceschini is experienced with participatory methodologies in the field of human rights and gender issues in Latin America and Europe. Her main areas of research are Constitutional Law (compared studies), Democracy and Popular Participation, Decolonial studies and Philosophy of Law. In her current position, she is responsible for the research and the European-funded projects at the Innovation Department of Caritas Diocesana de Coimbra (there were around 20 projects for the biennium of 2021-2023). The projects' activities are related to the ethics and social bias in the development and implementation of digital solutions for healthcare (being the leading institution for this task in more than 10 projects); the users' involvement and deployment of pilot testing with end-users (including large-scale pilots); and initiatives for digital literacy as a tool for inclusion and active and healthy living/ageing, especially in vulnerable contexts.
Elena Rocher
Valencia Innovation Capital
Elena Rocher is a Senior Program Officer at Valencia Innovation Capital, the foundation for technological and social innovation of Valencia (Spain). She is responsible of health innovation projects addressing challenges for active and healthy ageing, integrated care, prevention of childhood obesity, unwanted loneliness, health inequalities and promotion of community health
Amy van Grieken
Erasmus Medical Centre
Amy van Grieken is assistant professor preventive healthcare at Erasmus MC, Rotterdam, The Netherlands. Her research interest is the development and evaluation of (preventive) interventions promoting public health regarding health and well-being. She focuses on integrated social and health care for children, parents and older people, supported by E-health and value-based health care.
Georgia Argyrakopoulou
Athens Medical Centre
Dr. Georgia Argyrakopoulou is an Internist – Diabetologist. She is the Director of the Diabetes and Obesity Unit of Athens Medical Centre. She has been awarded International Fellowship in Obesity Professional Education (SCOPE) of World Obesity Federation and EASO National Clinical Fellow. She participates as pilot leader of the Athens Medical Center/AFIC partnership in ValueCare. Her research activity focuses on the gut-brain axis, appetite regulation, the pharmacotherapy of obesity, diabetes treatment and diabetic complications.
Esmée Bally
Erasmus MC
Esmée Bally is a postdoctoral researcher in public health at Erasmus University Medical Center. In March 2024, she obtained her PhD focused on improving the quality of care for older adults by developing person-centred and integrated care supported by digital health technology. Her interests include an interdisciplinary range of topics including promoting health lifestyles, person-centred care, patient and public involvement and mixed methods research. Esmée has experience as a research coordinator and project manager of European-funded research project focused on designing, implementing and evaluating interventions supporting healthy lifestyle behaviours in healthcare and community settings.
Sara Ceron
ISRAA
Sara Ceron is a clinical and community psychologist specialising in the Psychology of Ageing and Longevity. Since 2021 she has been working at the Innovation and Development Department of the Istituto per Servizi di Ricovero e Assistenza agli Anziani (ISRAA) in Treviso on European projects and community interventions related to ageing. Her training activities for professionals, volunteers and citizens are based on community engagement techniques, community policies, motivational aspects and coaching on adopting healthy lifestyles using the practice of Mindfulness. Over the last 4 years, she has been involved in projects in different training programmes: Horizon 2020, Erasmus+ and projects funded by the Veneto Region.
Tomislav Rukavina
MEDRI
Dr. Tomislav Rukavina is specialist in Medical Microbiology and Parasitology and Epidemiology. He is the Head of the Department of Social Medicine and Epidemiology of the Faculty of Medicine, University of Rijeka and the Head of the Laboratory for Molecular Diagnostics of the Department of Clinical Microbiology of the Teaching Institute of Public Health of Primorsko-Goranska County, Rijeka, Croatia. Currently his research activity focuses on the organizational challenges of health and social care for the older population, and the application of new techniques in molecular diagnostics of infectious diseases, especially sexually transmitted diseases.
Anastasios Rentoumis
Alliance for Integrated Care (AFiC)
Anastasios Rentoumis is the acting President of the Board of Directors of the Professional Association “Alliance for Integrated Care” – AfIC and the director of the Health and Social Care Policy Department of EEO GroupS.A., a Consulting Firm in Athens, Greece. He has studied Biochemistry at Coventry University UK and has a Master’s Degrees in Medical Biochemistry from Brunel University, UK and a Master’s Degree in Health Services Management from the London School of Hygiene and LSE, UK. Anastasios has been a Project Manager and a Senior Researcher in Health Policy and Health Systems Research for many years in various projects in Greece, the Balkans and Europe. His research interests cover the topics of social innovation in healthcare, m-health assessment reimbursement and valuation models, integrated preventive care and role shifting in healthcare systems. Anastasios has participated as a senior researcher in many EC projects such as SmartBear SmartCare, ValueCare, Pharaon, UHCE, SEFAC, Like stin Ygeia and in the past he has worked working as a project Manager with the Telemedicine company VIDAVO, as a consultant to the Ministrer of Health and CEO of the Mental Health Hospital in Chania, Crete. He has published over 20 articles as an author and co-author in renowned scientific magazines including Advances in Therapy, European Journal of Clinical Investigation, International Journal of Mental Health Systems, BMC Pediatrics and BMC Public Health and has given presentations in many International Conferences on Health Innovation.
Alexios Fourlis
VIDAVO
Alexios Fourlis is an electrical engineer with a specialization in microelectronics and embedded systems. He has extensive experience in designing and developing products and services for telemedicine and smart cities. His work has specifically focused on implementing LORAWAN, NB-IoT, and Bluetooth Low Energy protocols in smart city and telemedicine applications, such as asthma self-management wearables, allergic symptom detection devices, and patient triage and prioritization systems, all utilizing deep machine learning technologies and edge computing. Currently, he serves as Head of Product at Vidavo, where he designs the company’s product roadmap based on user and market behavior analysis.
Elena Curtopassi
Veneto Region Brussels Office
Elena Curtopassi, has 20 years’ experience in regional policies, working for the Veneto Region Brussels Office in charge of Social and EU policies. She is a member of the Steering Committee of ELISAN, European Local Inclusion and social Action Network with participative status at the Council of Europe. In this framework she is vice-chair of the Inclusive territories, Environment and Health Committee. Its primary objective is to ensure the respect of human rights and health from the global to the local level.At international level she is working in collaboration with UN DESA, United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, for the implementation of SDG 11 on Inclusive cities and Communities through the project: “Inclusive Cities for Sustainable Families”
Oscar Mayora
FBK Centre for Health and Wellbeing
Dr. Mayora is Head of the Digital Health Research Unit at FBK Center for Health and Wellbeing. He is responsible for research at TrentinoSalute4.0 and adjunct professor at University of Trento, University of Verona and FH-Burgenland. After his PhD, he joined VTT Electronics in Finland as an ERCIM Visiting Research Fellow. Afterwards, he was appointed Associate Professor and head of the Graduate Program in Computer Science at Tec de Monterrey in Mexico. Later-on he was head of the Ubihealth Area at Create-Net Research Center. Dr. Mayora was former president of ACM SIG-CHI Mexican Chapter and founder of the International Pervasive Health Conference. He has published over 200 scientific papers and has extensively participated and coordinated research and innovation projects in the field of pervasive health technologies.
Lizhen Ye
Erasmus Medical Centre
Lizhen is a scientific researcher in the Department of Public Health at Erasmus MC, where she continues to work on projects related to healthy aging, maternal health, and environmental health. With a passion for improving health outcomes among older adults, Lizhen plans to adopt a life course perspective in her future research. She aspires to be a lifelong researcher, fostering collaboration and communication across global research communities.