Speakers

Confirmed Speakers

Claudia Stein

Director of the Division of Information, Evidence, Research and Innovation, WHO Europe

Claudia Stein MD, MSc, PhD, FFPH is a German trained medical doctor and epidemiologist with the World Health Organization (WHO), where she has been serving since 1998. Since 2010, she has served as Director of the Division of Information, Evidence, Research and Innovation at the WHO Office for Europe in Copenhagen, Denmark.

Claudia qualified from Essen University Medical School in Germany in December 1989 after spending several semesters abroad (including in Vienna, Spain, the United States and Australia). Her areas of post-graduate training include Internal Medicine, a Master's degree in Public Health from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, a PhD in Epidemiology from the University of Southampton (MRC Environmental Epidemiology Unit), UK, and a further residency in Public Health Medicine with Specialist Certification at the Faculty of Public Health of the Royal College of Physicians, London, UK.

Prior to her career at WHO, she worked for several years as public health physician and epidemiologist at country level in Europe, as well as for a couple of years in India and China, the latter two under the auspices of the Medical Research Council, MRC.

Claudia first joined WHO in 1998 as a secondment from the United Kingdom; in 2000 she became a fixed term staff member working in the Information, Evidence and Research Cluster at WHO HQ in the area of burden of disease and health information. Following this, she became Head of the Leadership, Management and Fellowships Unit which housed the Health Leadership Service. Subsequently, she established and led the Global Burden of Foodborne Diseases initiative in the Department of Food Safety at WHO headquarters.

In 2010, Claudia took up her current position as Director of the Division of Information, Evidence and Research at the WHO Regional Office for Europe in Copenhagen.

Claudia possesses a private pilot’s licence and flies small fixed-wing aircraft in her (limited) spare time. Claudia loves skiing and also enjoys singing - she has received professional voice training and sings in her church choir as soprano. Claudia speaks 6 languages and is currently learning her seventh, Russian, which she says is her greatest challenge yet.

Karl-Friedrich Falkenberg

Hors Class Senior Adviser for Sustainable Development, European Political Strategy Centre, European Commission

On 1st September 2015, Karl Falkenberg was appointed as Senior Advisor at the European Political Strategy Centre (EPSC) dealing with Sustainable Development. KHe is a trained economist and journalist. He has a long experience as negotiator in the European Commission. He started his career in the Commission as textiles negotiator, has dealt with international fisheries issues and since 1985 with the GATT. In 1990, he served as foreign policy advisor to EU President Jacques Delors, with particular focus on the German unification process. He was involved in the Uruguay Round negotiations and has been negotiating the telecommunications and financial services agreements in WTO. From 1997 to December 2000 he was in charge of the coordination of all WTO issues. In 2001 he was appointed Director in charge of sectoral trade policies and bilateral trade relations with North America, Japan, the Mediterranean area and the African, Caribbean and Pacific countries and in 2002 Director for Free trade agreements, Agricultural trade questions, ACP. From 2005 to 2008 he coordinated all bilateral trade policies as Deputy Director General. In January 2009, he took up the position of Director General of the Environment, covering the EU's environmental policy in both its domestic and international dimensions.

2009-2015 Director-General, ENVIRONMENT Directorate-General

2005-2008 Deputy Director-General, TRADE Directorate-General

1990 Foreign Relations Adviser to Jacques Delors

Manuela Geleng

Acting Director / Head of Unit, DG EMPL, European Commission

Manuela Geleng works for the European Commission, where she is Acting Director of Social Affairs and also heads the Social Investment Strategy unit in the Directorate-General for Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion. She joined the Commission in 1995, where she has held different positions. Prior to that, she worked in the private sector as a management consultant and for the United Nations Development Programme in the United States and Central Africa. She holds an MSc in Financial Economics from the University of London and a Masters in Public Administration and Management from the Solvay Business School in Brussels. She completed her postgraduate studies at the Diplomatic Academy in Vienna. She speaks Italian, German, English, French, Spanish and some Russian.

Thomas Dominique

Chair, Social Protection Committee (SPC).

Thomas Dominique is the current Chair of the Social Protection Committee (SPC).

He holds a University degree in physical science (Free University of Brussels (ULB)). He is Head of Cabinet at the Ministry of Social Security of Luxembourg and was Head of Division at the General Inspectorate of Social Security (IGSS) at the Department “Statistics, actuarial studies and social programming”.

His main activities and responsibilities include social programming in the area of social protection and public finances, socio-economic projections in the context of the financial sustainability of social security schemes and the development of the social protection database of Luxembourg.

Furthermore, he is a member of the Ageing working group (AWG) of the Economic Policy Committee (EPC), a member of the inter-ministerial working group on public finances and the European Semester, a member of the inter-ministerial working group on the national reform program, a member of the inter-ministerial working group on social inclusion and a member of the inter-ministerial working group on sustainable development.

Jürgen Scheftlein

Policy Officer, DG SANTE, European Commission

Jürgen Scheftlein is policy officer in charge of health inequalities and social determinants in the Unit “Health determinants and inequality” of the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Health and Food Safety. Mr Scheftlein is working with the Commission since 1997.
Mr Scheftlein is a historian by academic background. He graduated at the University of Cologne and is of German nationality.

Cathy Weatherup

Head of Health Inequalities and International Health, Welsh Government, UK

Cathy Weatherup is head of a team responsible for policy on health inequalities, as well as being the lead for key international health matters including policy responsibility for the link to the WHO Regions for Health Network.
Cathy’s role also includes supporting colleagues to ensure that impact on health inequalities is considered in the policy making process including by Local Health Boards in Wales through their planning mechanisms.

Cathy has lead responsibility for the Public Health Outcomes Framework for Wales, which aims to help us understand the impact which our policies, programmes, services and behaviours are having on health and wellbeing in Wales.

Her role also includes advising Ministers, informing Welsh Government policy and processes in relation to tackling health inequalities and working with Welsh Government colleagues and a range of external partners to promote good health on equal terms for everyone.

Elena Andradas

Director General, Ministry of Health, Social Services and Equality, Spain

Ms Elena Andradas, is a Medical Doctor, specialising in Public Health and Epidemiology, and has great experience working on Public Health, Management and Assessment of Health Technologies. She has a Masters Degree in Public Health; in Health Economics and Pharmacoeconomics; and in International Health Technology Assessment and Management.

Currently she is the General Director of Public Health, Quality and Innovation for the Spanish Ministry of Health Social Services and Equality. Her main duties include:

The analysis, proposal, management and evaluation of public health policies, programs of disease prevention and heath promotion, especially those involving Prevention and Control of HIV infection and other STDs, Tuberculosis and Hepatitis C; the Prevention and Health Promotion in a framework of Chronic Diseases, monitoring and control of international and environmental health; and the development of initiatives adopted by the European Union, and their coordination with the 17 regions in Spain.

Jonas Frykman

Senior Advisor, Swedish Association of Local Authorities and Regions

For the last 20 years, Jonas has been active in the field of human rights, public health and sustainable development at both the local and national level in Sweden. Jonas heads the SALAR priority “Close the health gap” and promotes work for social sustainability and reduced health inequalities from a local and regional perspective. Jonas is coordinating the “Social sustainability Forum” which is a forum for promoting welfare in a socially sustainable way (SALAR together with the Public Health Agency of Sweden). Through exchanging knowledge and experience, the Forum aims to help reduce health inequalities and to provide for people's basic needs and rights. The Forum's activities are open to elected representatives, public servants and researchers in municipalities, county councils, the State, the business sector and non-governmental organisations.

Jonas will present the “Social sustainability forum”, give an overview of current Swedish initiatives aiming to strengthen social sustainability and its impact on the local and regional level and some lessons learnt from these initiatives.

Elisabeth Rahmberg

Public Health Director, Region Västra Götaland, Sweden

Elisabeth Rahmberg is the current Director of Public Health in Region Västra Götaland. There she works with strategic public health issues which involves making public health relevant from a regional development perspective as well as a health perspective.

Elisabeth started her career as a social worker, with experience in social services, rehabilitation, psychiatry etc. She first became department manager and later moved on to become head of social service at local level in the municipalities of Trollhättan o Lidköping.

Nicoline Tamsma

President, EuroHealthNet, Coordinating Advisor for International Affairs at the National Institute of Public Health and the Environment (RIVM), the Netherlands

Nicoline Tamsma was elected as EuoHealthNet's President in 2014. She is Co-ordinating Adviser International Affairs at the National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM) in The Netherlands, where her main role is to advise the institute’s executive management on international policy and strategy.
A social scientist, she started her career as a health promotion specialist in Rotterdam, with a special focus on improving equitable access and responsiveness of health and social services. She then led the city’s response as HIV Policy and Strategy Co-ordinator, was a member of the national AIDS Advisory Committee, and coordinated WHO’s Multi-City Action Plan on AIDS - an initiative embedded in WHO’s Healthy Cities Network.
She was then appointed as European Health Policy Coordinator at the Nuffield Institute for Health in Leeds, England, leading an innovative regional partnership aiming to maximize local health gains through European collaborations, as well as coordinating a major EU research project on health systems reform.
Back in the Netherlands, she continued to work on international affairs. On behalf of the Netherlands Institute for Care and Welfare, she facilitated national dialogue on EU and international health policy with non-governmental stakeholders. At the Department of Health, she published on EU policy issues and developed international teaching and training modules.
Her longstanding involvement in the European health community included a role on the Board of the European Health Management Association (EHMA), as Chair of their EU Advisory Committee, and as a member of the European Health Forum Gastein’s Advisory Committee.

Bosse Pettersson

Senior Public Health Policy Advisor, National Board of Health and Welfare, Sweden

Bosse Pettersson was EuroHealthNet’s first President from 2002 to 2007. He currently is Senior Public Health Policy Advisor at the National Board of Health and Welfare, Sweden.
Over the years, he has worked for several National Commissions, as well as locally and sub-nationally. In 1992, he joined the Swedish National Institute of Public Health (SNIPH) and left as a Deputy Director-General in 2007 when he became part time contracted as a distance senior adviser. Since 1988, he has been a senior guest Lecturer in public health and health promotion at Karolinska institute and other Swedish universities.
Bosse Pettersson has been internationally engaged since the beginning of the 1980’s and has worked with IUHPE-Europe, WHO, Nordic collaboration and development aid. Serving in the Swedish delegation to WHO governing bodies for the Regional Committee in Europe and the World Health Assembly since the beginning of 1990’s, he has also been actively engaged in all global WHO health promotion conferences from Ottawa 1986 to Nairobi 2009. He was appointed as the Swedish focal point for the EU public health programme in 1995 during the preparations for the Swedish EU membership 1996 and onward to 2005.

Caroline Costongs

Managing Director, EuroHealthNet

Caroline Costongs is Managing Director at EuroHealthNet and has a public health and health promotion background. Together with the EuroHealthNet Executive Board, she sets the direction of the EuroHealthNet partnership, develops the business plan and oversees its implementation. She is responsible for the performance of office staff and activities, including network development, project management, fund-raising, policy development, advocacy and communications. Caroline represents EuroHealthNet on the EU Expert Group on Health Inequalities and Social Determinants and supports APHEA (public health accreditation) as a Board member.
Caroline has a MSc in Public Health from the University of Maastricht. Having been with EuroHealthNet since 1999, she has managed several EC co-funded projects on health inequalities, healthy ageing, HiAP, social inclusion and capacity building for health promotion. Before she joined EuroHealthNet, she worked at the Netherlands Olympic Committee and Sports Confederation (NOC*NSF) where she set up and coordinated a national campaign on physical activity promotion for young people. Caroline also worked at the Health Institute of the Liverpool John Moores University where she did research on intersectoral collaboration for health as part of an EU project called CityHealth. Before that, she was active at the National Capacity Building Institute of the Ministry of Education in a Latin-American country.