Patient Panel

She is a caregiver Parkinson since 2009, but she also knows very well other chronic conditions such as type 2 diabetes and heart failure, as her father is living and struggling with both of them. She has 20-year experience in Clinical Research and is used to working in multicultural and multidisciplinary teams and has experience with EUPATI Italy, IMI projects and co-founder of the Patients’ Association “Rete Pazienti Esperti “(RePE – Network of Expert Patients).

Cristian Andriciuc is executive coordinator for the Romanian Federation of Diabetes Associations and contributes to the work of the EPF Patients’ Panel of the COMPAR-EU project. Since 1993 he worked as Programme Manager and Country Director for several development projects. The objectives of these projects were civil society strengthening and the restructuring of certain governmental areas like health and social services. He worked as a volunteer for a Romanian diabetes children organization and in the board of United Way Romania, a charity linking successful businesses, their employees, and social and medical nongovernmental organizations. He worked for five years as Association Development Coordinator and External Relations and Communication Coordinator for IDF Europe. Mr Andriciuc contributed to several European projects as Patient Expert: Adapt SMART, ESI Funds for health, COMPAR-EU, PARADIGM, Digital Health Europe, and PREFER.

Denis Janssen is chairman of the “College van Ervaringsdeskundigen” (group of experienced patients advising researchers from the patients’ perspective on their research request for subsidy) with the Harteraad (patients organisation of the Ducth Heart Foundation). Founder and owner of the Patients Voice. Facilitating the voice of the patient for those willing to listen. Participating in Evodoc.nl as the voice of the patient. Evodoc is creating a completely new concept for GP practices. Member of the advisory boards for patients with Boehringer, Vifor Pharma and Servier. Until 2020, he joined a Dutch organisation on selfcare Zelfzorg. Ondersteund (supported selfcare) creating a presentation tool for healthcare professionals, in order to present the values of Lifestyle to their clients.

Gertrude A. Buttigieg qualified as a Speech & Language Pathologist in 1995 and obtained as a Masters Degree in Health Services Management in 2003. As a Speech Language Pathologist she has practised for the past 25 years. Since 2013 she has been working within the Office of the Commissioner for Mental Health, Malta, dealing mostly with patient advocacy matters. On a voluntary basis she has been serving within various health related organisations including Honorary Secretary of the Malta Health Network (2007-2017) when she was then elected as Chairperson and holds the post till today. She served as Secretary (1995-2005) and President (2005-2014) of the Association of Speech Language Pathologists (Malta). She is also the elected councillor for the sectors of health and disability on the Malty Council for the Voluntary Sector. Gertrude has participated as speaker and participant in several conferences locally and abroad and considering the vast professional practice and years of experience in the voluntary sector, she brings along a rich baggage to the various fields she works in. Over the past years she has become a Patient advocate and has contributed to raise awareness on a national level of Patients’ Rights and issues related to the Health sector such as patient education, patient empowerment, safety and access to services in an equitable and timely manner.

Ivett Jakab holds an MSc in Health policy, planning and financing (2016) and a BA in Business and Management (2014). During her studies, she spent her internships at the Hungarian Health Technology Assessment (HTA) Office (2016) and at the Hungarian Organ Coordination Office (2014). She is working as a full-time researcher at Syreon Research Institute, an independent private research institute based in Budapest, Hungary. She is leading the Syreon Patient Policy Research Unit since 2020. She has been volunteering for local patient organizations in the field of organ transplantation since 2011, currently as an advisor for the rehabilitation program for organ transplanted children and their families. She became a member of the European Health Parliament’s (EHP) 4th edition in 2018, joining the Innovation and Value Committee. She graduated from the European Patients’ Forum (EPF) Summer Training for Young Patient Advocates (STYPA) program in 2018 and supported the 2019 edition as a team leader. She became a member of the EPF Youth Group in 2019, and currently serves as the President working to strengthen the young patients’ voice throughout Europe. She is an EUPATI trainee expected to graduate in 2021 and an EUPATI Board of Trustees member. Her research interests are in the evolving areas of Health Technology Assessment and patient engagement in healthcare decision-making. Her mission is to bring the perspectives of different stakeholders in healthcare closer together. She is also a rare disease patient living with a transplanted liver.

Jacqueline Bowman-Busato is Co-Founder of the Belgian Private Foundation Pacte Adiposité – Adipositas Pacte in Brussels. She has worked in the Brussels environment for the past 23 years towards transforming health ecosystems from policy to reality. A pioneer of multi-stakeholder coalition building for societal impact, Jacqueline has previously worked for an MEP, run the expert secretariat of a European Parliamentarian Interest Group, Headed up the Brussels office of a global NGO, transformed a patient-led Platform into an equally-weighted multi-stakeholder Think Tank for Patients, Science and Industry.

Moses Azzopardi is the ex-President of the National Association of Pensioners and has for the past six years been a member of the AGE Task Force. Since 2010, he has also formed part of the AGE Task Force regarding minimum income and poverty. He is also a substitute member of the National Civil Society Forum representing Health and Elderly sectors. He still forms part of the committee of the National Association of Pensioners and represents the Association regarding issues of Poverty, Housing and Health.

Nora Macelli is CEO of the St Jeanne Antide Foundation (SJAF) in Malta, a registered social purpose NGO that provides a range of support services for very vulnerable families at both community and national levels. Between 2001 and 2007, she was CEO of the Foundation for Educational Services, within the Ministry of Education, which spearheaded family literacy programmes and parental empowerment work in Malta. For the past 30 years, she has been actively involved in non-formal adult education, community development, organisational development and management, and social development work both in Malta as well in developing countries. Nora studied social work in India (MSW), specialized in community development and was a full-time volunteer community development worker there for six years and a volunteer with the United Nations Volunteers (UNV) for two years. With a colleague, she has edited two books in Maltese for family caregivers of mentally ill persons. She is especially interested in volunteer mentoring with persons with complex needs and peer mentoring by persons with the lived experience of domestic violence and family caregiving in the field of mental health.

Peggy Maguire is Director General at the European Institute of Women’s Health. Peggy, a political scientist, has worked at EU and national level over the last twenty years highlighting the need for gender equity in biomedical, public health and social policy. As part of the DG Research Women and Science Unit Expert Group on Gender, Peggy contributed to the gender wording for the 6th Framework programme guides for applicants and evaluators. She has worked with the Commission External Advisory Group on ageing and disability and member of the EU Horizon 2020 advisory Group for the Societal Challenge 1 ‘Health, Demographic Change and Wellbeing, (H2020 AG SC1) and EU Horizon 2020 advisory Group. As part of her commitment to gender equality Peggy has been part of the WHO expert group on gender mainstreaming. She was a member of the expert group and contributed to the WHO Women’s Health Strategy for Europe. Peggy is also former President of the European Public Health Alliance (EPHA). Peggy has recently been appointed by the Minister for Health in Ireland – Co-Chair of the Women’s Health Task Force and lead for developing a women’s health strategy. Peggy was also appointed as a Member of the Independent Patient Safety Council.

Petronella (Elly) Jeurissen is co-founder of Pacte Adiposité – Adipositas Pact, a Belgian private foundation for the rights of people living with obesity, a member of the Patient Council of the European Coalition of People living with Obesity and contributes to the work of the EPF Patients’ Panel of the COMPAR-EU project. She is a statistician, having worked for Statistics Netherlands and as a secondary math teacher. With co-author Mieke van Spanje she wrote a book on obesity in 2002: ‘Rondom Dik’, which covered all aspects of obesity, history, social and medical aspects.

Pierre Theuma is a warranted engineer by profession having graduated in Mechanical Engineering at a Bachelor degree level and in Building Services Engineering, Information Technology and Knowledge-Based Entrepreneurship at a Master degree level. Throughout the past three decades Pierre has held various positions within both the private and also the public sector. Pierre started his career as a process engineer, with a leading world class electronics manufacturing company and then as a R&D engineer with a Global Healthcare Corporation responsible for the ideation, development and execution of a number of R&D&I projects focusing on cost reduction, quality improvements, product development, product validations and new manufacturing set ups. More recently Pierre has been responsible for specific enterprise support initiatives to support start-ups, business growth, R&D and internationalisation. Additionally he has coordinated and participated in a number of EU projects. Currently, Pierre is the CEO of the Malta Digital Hub Ltd and the Malta Life Sciences Centre Ltd.

Raymond T Nangle is a retired Information Communication Technologist Consultant at Ray Nangle (Snr). He is an advocate for Self Management of COPD/Asthma using state of the art personal sensors and apps for proactively managing WELLNESS using online functional medicine clinicians. His most important achievements: Nangles Restaurant and Bakery, patent McDonald Style Ice Cream Sundae Vending Machine, personalised Healthy School Lunches, surviving Severe Stroke, livng an active fulfilled life with COPD/Asthma.

Rosemarie Bartolo lives in Malta. She is 67 years old and has been a pensioner for the last 5 years. Her last job was being an administrator in Transport Authority. She has two children and three grandchildren. She has been a diabetic for the last 18 years. She joined the EPF Patient Panel team in 2020. She attended online meetings which she found very informative and interesting.