Advisory Board
Here for everyone affected by a long term health condition.
All our work is supported by 13 strategic partners, who meet three times a year to bring their wisdom and experience to inform our strategic direction.
Our Advisory Board
Lars Munter
Head of International Projects Unit
Danish Committee for Health Education. Communication expert with 15 years of focused commitment to the promotion of health and prevention, especially in infectious diseases, and the related patient and food safety issues (AMR among them). Project Lead in the PiSCE project on Self Care in minor ailments, WP-leader in PRO STEP on self-management in chronic conditions, and responsible for Danish involvement in Joint Action CHRODIS+. Member of the WHO Europe Expert Group on Health Literacy across the Life Course.
Working to strengthen collaboration across sectors, disciplines, and borders – inside and outside the box – supporting sustainable future health and wellbeing in Europe, eg. via Self-Care Initiative Europe and the Nordic Health 2030 Movement.
Professor Marie-Luise Dierks, Dipl.-Paed.
Assistant Professor
Hanover Medical School, Deputy Director at Institute for Epidemiology, Social Medicine and Health System Research, Head of Masters’ Programme in Public Health at Hanover Medical School, Head and founder of Patients’ University at Hanover Medical School (since 2006)
Kaisa Immonen
Director of Policy
European Patients’ Forum (EPF). She has a Master’s degree in International Relations (UK and Finland). She is responsible for the overall lead of EPF’s policy and advocacy work at EU level, strategic planning, policy analysis, and building positive relationships with EU institutions, international organisations and stakeholders, as well as developing EPF’s policy positions in close consultation with the membership. She leads the thematic area of empowerment in EPF and has particular interests in using the patient experience as a learning tool, improving health literacy, enabling patient empowerment in patient safety, and creating supportive healthcare environments for patients and families.
She currently holds the patient co-chair of the European Medicines Agency’s Patients and Consumers Working Party and represents EPF on the OECD PaRIS Task Force. She is a member of the BMJ Patient Panel in her personal capacity.
Before joining EPF in 2010 she worked in EU health policy, advocacy and external communications roles in both the private and non-profit sectors.
Elizabeth James
University of Southampton
Liz James’ research focuses on patient empowerment and self-care support for people living with a long-term condition.
Nicolaj Holm Ravn Faber
Chief advisor
Danish Committee for Health Education(DCHE) 15 years’ experience with operating evidence-based Self-Management programs in Denmark, responsible for development of derived programs, operation of workshops nationalwide and training and supervision of peer leaders, master trainers and local coordinators. In addition he is engaged in exploring the links between concepts of individual and community empowerment, and in the challenge of the dissemination of these concepts in society.
Saskia De Gani
Careum
Saskia De Gani applies her interdisciplinary expertise in health sciences at the Department of Health Literacy of the Careum Foundation and is also is head of this Department.
Graham Baker
Director
QISMET (The Quality Institute for Self Management Education and Training)
Graham runs a consultancy specialising in the provision of advice and training for the not-for-profit sector in quality improvement issues. In the past 25 years he has worked with about 500 organisations world-wide, helping them improve what they do and how they do it.
He was one of the founders of the Quality Institute for Self-Management Education and Training. QISMET provides independent and expert certification of providers of self-management interventions against quality standards co-produced with the sector. Graham is a Director and ensures that all standards and services meet the needs of commissioners, providers and service users.
Katrin Fjeldsted
Past President
The Standing Committee of European Doctors (CPME)
Dr Katrín Fjeldsted is a medical doctor and a former member of the national parliament of Iceland. She completed her general practice training in 1979 in the United Kingdom after receiving her Medical Degree from the University of Iceland in 1973. She worked as a family doctor at Efstaleiti Health Clinic in Reykjavík for 36 years.
In 1999-2003, Dr Fjeldsted was a member of the parliament and a deputy member in 1995-1999 and 2003-2007. This allowed her to be a member of the Icelandic parliamentarian delegation to the United Nations General Assemblies in 1999 and 2000, and a representative of Iceland at the UN conference on sustainable development in Johannesburg in 2002. Moreover, Dr Fjeldsted was a member of the Reykjavík city council in 1982-1994.
Dr Fjeldsted has also chaired the Icelandic College of Family Physicians and been a board member of the Icelandic Medical Association. Her involvement at the Standing Committee of European Doctors (CPME) began in 2000, and she served as CPME President from 2013 to 2015.
Cecilia Vera-Munoz
Project Manager and Senior Researcher
Life Supporting Technologies group, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid
She holds a PhD in Biomedical Engineering, and an MSc in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science. She is an expert in the management and technical development of scientific and technical projects dealing with telematics applied to the social and healthcare sector. Her areas of expertise include Human Computer Interaction, user experience assessment, user interaction, users’ engagement, advanced Health Information Systems, and patients’ systems design, development and validation. She has collaborated in several research and innovation international and national funded projects, both in the areas of e-Health and e-Inclusion. Cecilia is an active member of the European Innovation Partnership on Active and Healthy Ageing (EIPonAHA) initiative, where she coordinates the Patient and Citizen Empowerment synergies activities across the 6 action groups. She is also one of the coordinators of B3 Integrated Care Action Group.
Professor Alf Collins
National Clinical Director, Personalised Care NHS England/NHS Improvement.
Professor Alf Collins is a doctor, commissioner, researcher and National Clinical Director, Personalised Care NHS England/NHS Improvement.
He has researched and published widely on self-management support, shared decision making, care planning, co-production, patient activation and patient engagement.
Alf has worked with others to develop a number of measures of person-centred care, including the ‘clinician support for patient activation measure’.
He has a visiting professorship in person-centred care from Coventry University and Honorary Fellowships at the Royal College of Physicians and the Royal College of General Practitioners.
Charan Nelander
Danish Committee for Health Education
More than 18 years of experience within the public health area.
Kristine Sørensen, PhD
Founder
Kristine Sørensen is committed to advance the global scale and scope of health literacy. She is the founder of the Global Health Literacy Academy and advisor for international organisations such as i.e. the European Commission, the World Health Organisation and McKinsey. She is the executive chair of Health Literacy Europe and president of the International Health Literacy Association. For more information visit www.globalhealthliteracyacademy.org
Anne Rogers
Professor of Health Systems Implementation
Anne’s current research interests are focused on patient systems of implementation for the management of long-term conditions in the UK and in Europe.