Speaker Biographies

Speakers

Álvaro Gómez-Meana

Worldwide Healthcare Chief Technologist, Hewlett Packard Enterprise

Álvaro Gómez-Meana is the WW Healthcare Chief Technologist for HPE. He uses technology to increase the quality and safety of healthcare.

He pursued postgraduate degrees in telecommunication engineering and healthcare administration. As a technologist and strategist at HPE, he combines deep concern for patient care and safety with extensive technical knowledge, 26 years of experience, and entirely new ways of connecting providers and patients.

Álvaro has worked with doctors, nurses, CIOs, CTOs and CEOs, and administrators. They all help him understand field conditions, the unique needs of healthcare organizations, and the needs of the communities they serve.

Álvaro’s never worked with another company, believing that HP (now HPE) is the best partner to improve the quality of care and help patients. His engagement, 360º perspective, and expertise all forge a strong alignment between each healthcare provider’s priorities and the benefits HPE delivers—such as technical superiority, saved time, and improved results. HPE works with private and public health systems to develop new business models. The company’s developing solutions that help patients shorten or avoid hospital stays and help hospitals control costs while they deliver world-class care.

Álvaro has created portals to empower patients to make their own decisions and also created platforms to give patients a voice and talk with other people who share their diagnoses.

When Álvaro he isn’t working, he loves scuba diving, photography, and world travel to discover new people, cultures, and places.

Clayton Hamilton

Unit leader for eHealth and Innovation, WHO Regional Office for Europe

Mr Clayton Hamilton leads the eHealth and Innovation portfolio of the WHO Regional Office for Europe, providing support and guidance to eHealth development and capacity-building initiatives as a component of Health Information and Health System development in the Region’s 53 Member States.

With a background in ICT development and business management within WHO that spans a 19 year period, and within the framework of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and the European Regional Health 2020 policy, Mr Hamilton leads the strategic implementation of health information technology innovation in the WHO European Region, linking with major international partners and networks to provide independent advice and assistance to countries for developing sustainable national eHealth and Innovation solutions.

Miguel Gonzalez-Sancho

Head of Unit, eHealth, Well-Being and Aging, European Commission

Miguel González-Sancho is since July 2016 Head of the Unit "Health, Well-Being and Ageing" at the European Commission, within the Directorate General “Communication Networks, Content and Technology” (DG CNECT, https://ec.europa.eu/digital-single- market/en/dg-connect).

Miguel previously held different positions in DG CNECT, including Head of Unit for Administration and Finance, Deputy Head of Unit for Policy Coordination and Deputy Head of the Unit "ICT for Inclusion". During this period, he worked on successive policy strategies ("e-Europe", "i20210";, "Digital Agenda") as well as policy initiatives and R&D&I projects on ICT for social inclusion, accessibility, public services and skills.

Miguel was also Member of Cabinet of the European Commission Vice-President responsible for the Digital Agenda, Neelie Kroes. He also worked as legal officer on telecommunications regulation, and as handler of trade defence investigations in DG TRADE.

Miguel holds university degrees in Law (UNED, Spain) and International Relations (UCL, Belgium) as well as three master degrees: in Finance Management, Audit and Accounting; Business Administration; European policies. He is fluent in Spanish, French, English, Portuguese and Italian. He understands German and Dutch.

Nick Guldemond

Associate Professor Integrated Care & Technology, Institute of Health Policy & Management of Erasmus University Rotterdam

Dr. Guldemond has a background in electric engineering and medicine. He is a key expert on eHealth and integrated care for various international organisations such as WHO Global eHealth Observatory, EU Programmes as European initiative on Healthy and Active Ageing, Knowledge Innovation Community (KIC) Health and KIC Digital, Ambient Assisted Living, Innovative Medicine Initiative and Innovative Medical Device Initiative. He is advisor on eHealth and healthcare transformation for various national/regional eHealth institutes NHS UK, NHS Scotland, Norway, China, Poland, Germany, Belgium as well as multinational companies in Pharma (Roche, Novartis, Genzyme), Medtech (Philips, MEDTRONIC), health IT (Microsoft, Ascom, Ortec, Vodafone) and finance (Rabobank, Natwest, RBS). Dr. Guldemond is on behalf of the Netherlands Federation of University Medical Centres (NFU) architect of the national eHealth implementation research agenda and health track leader of the big data alliance.

Tapani Piha

Head of Unit, Cross-border Healthcare and eHealth, DG SANTE, European Commission

Tapani Piha works as Head of Cross-Border Healthcare & eHealth Unit in the European Commission. In addition to the implementation of the Directive on Patients’ rights in cross-border health care, the Unit is setting up the European Reference Network of specialised clinical centres and creating a cross-border mechanism for ePrescription. It also deals with data management and protection in healthcare, as well as health workforce issues. Since 2001 in the Commission, he has been responsible for Health Technology Assessment (HTA) policy, health strategy, health information, expert advice for health systems, health law, health research coordination, and managed human resources in DG Health and Consumers.

Before joining the Commission, he carried out epidemiological and intervention research on health behaviours and cardiovascular disease. He held positions at the Finnish Ministry of Health, and coordinated Finland's EU policies in health in 1995-2001. At the WHO Regional Office for Europe in 1989-94 he was responsible for the Action Plan for a Tobacco-free Europe.

Paul Adamson

Chairman, Forum Europe

Paul Adamson is chairman of Forum Europe and founder and editor of E!Sharp, an online magazine dedicated to covering the European Union and Europe's place in the world. He is also a Senior European Policy Advisor at Covington.

He is a member of Rand Europe's Council of Advisors, sits on the external advisory board of YouGov-Cambridge, a polling think-tank, is a member of the advisory group of the Washington European Society and is a trustee of the Citizenship Foundation.

Paul is a Visiting Professor at the Policy Institute, King’s College London, a patron of the University Association of Contemporary European Studies (UACES) and a Fellow of the UK Academy of Social Sciences.

He founded the consulting firm Adamson Associates, which was sold to Weber Shandwick and The Centre, which was later sold to Edelman.

In 2012, Paul was made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) "for services to promoting understanding of the European Union”, a part of the Queen's 2012 New Year Honours Diplomatic Service and Overseas List.

Luke Slawomirski

Health Economist, OECD

Luke Slawomirski is a health economist and policy analyst with the OECD Health Division based in Paris, France. Luke’s principal areas of work include health technology, eHealth and health data, patient safety and promoting person-centred health systems. Prior to his current role, Luke worked in policy development and implementation with the Australian Department of Health. His interests include quality improvement, change management, and the political economy of health systems. He is a Visiting Fellow at the University of Technology Sydney. Luke is a former clinician, which enables him to bring practical knowledge and experience to his policy work.

Tobais Gantner

Healthcare Futurists

Tobias is a restless resident of different worlds, a roaming renaissance man: A medical doctor by training, a health economist and jurist by education, a philosophy aficionado by academic passion and curious by default. He has worked in a number of leading positions in patient care and major industry companies such as Siemens, Novartis, Bayer Healthcare and J&J. He is the founder of the HealthCare Futurists network and the Director of the European Center for Patient Centric Innovation and Medical Entrepreneurship which is affiliated with UNU MERIT.

The HealthCare Futurists is an international and independent network, think tank, incubator and catalyst for innovation in health-care, life sciences and medicine. The HCFs consist of renowned experts and thriving professionals of diverse disciplines with a persistent passion for patients.

The HCFs have successfully completed innovation labs with major health-care industry companies and health-care providers alike. They provide guidance to startups and are engaged in medical enlightenment to the public. The HCFs are initiators and home to the innovate.healthcare hackathon.

Leopold Bauernfeind

Member of the Managing Board, Fabasoft AG

Biography to appear shortly...