Nasreen Anjum-Malik currently works as a policy and strategic advisor at the Dutch Cancer Society, the largest funder of cancer research in the Netherlands. She particularly focuses on improving the interoperability of healthcare data and enabling secondary use for research purposes, by working together with multiple stakeholders towards a national data infrastructure. Having worked with e-Health solutions and healthcare innovations in past positions, digitalisation and implementation of AI in healthcare are topics Anjum-Malik often advises on.

Fabiana Brigante is a lawyer and currently works for the Italian Ministry of Health where she supports the Secretary General’s activities. She previously worked at the Ministry of Health’s Unit for the completion of the vaccination campaign and for the adoption of measures to combat the COVID-19 pandemic.

Francesca Cavallo is a bestselling author of children’s books, entrepreneur, and founder and CEO of Undercats Media. She is the co-creator of ‘Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls’, a collection of 100 tales of extraordinary women that has become a publishing sensation. Cavallo’s career began in theatre, where she worked as both a manager for a theatre company and as a playwright. In 2012, she moved to California to co-found a children’s media start-up called Timbuktu Labs, Inc. Since then, she has authored nine picture books that have been translated into more than 47 languages. Her most recent international bestseller is the children’s book ‘Doctor Li and the Crown-wearing Virus’.

Andrea Corazza currently holds the position of Novavax’s Government Affairs and Policy in Europe. He has over 12 years of experience in European government affairs and healthcare policies. Prior to joining Novavax, Corazza led Biogen’s engagement with the EU institutions, with a strong focus on the EU pharma legislation and rare diseases. Previously, he worked in FTI Consulting, a leading consulting firm, advising multiple healthcare and life sciences clients on a range of high-impact political issues, and for Global Health Advocates, then focusing his efforts on promoting global health research and development and child immunisation policies. Corazza also gained experience by working for a number of the world’s leading international institutions, including the UN, NATO, and the European Commission.

Prior to assuming his current role as Czech Deputy Minister of Health, for which he is mainly responsible for pharmaceuticals, medical devices, and the implementation of the National Recovery Plan, Jakub Dvořáček served as executive director of the Association of the Innovative Pharmaceutical Industry. Previously, he served as director of the Investment Division in CzechInvest, an agency at the Ministry of Industry and Trade, involved in the promotion of foreign direct investments to the Czech Republic. Concurrently, he served as an advisor to the Czech Minister of Education, Youth and Sport. Dvořáček also held several management positions in Caritas Czech Republic and managed significant health awareness programs, development, and humanitarian projects around the world. 

Ridwaan Jhetam has worked in global, regional and local roles across medical affairs, clinical research and clinical development through all clinical phases of the medicines development lifecycle. He has expertise in medicines development, medical governance, product commercialisation, lifecycle management and healthcare systems in the US, Canada, Europe and emerging markets. Jhetam’s experience spans hematology, oncology and supportive care, including biologics, cytotoxics, targeted therapy, small molecules and Immunotherapies. He also holds the position of Visiting Senior Lecturer at King’s College London’s Department of Cancer and Pharmaceutical Sciences.

Prior to assuming his current role as CEO of HEALTH.AI (formally known as I-DAIR), an organisation that seeks to enable and improve access to inclusive, impactful and responsible research into digital health and artificial intelligence (AI), Ricardo Baptista Leite served as a member of the Portuguese national parliament’s health committee. He also founded the UNITE global network of parliamentarians, present in over 100 countries and active in tackling infectious diseases. Leite was a practising physician for seven years and has also held an infectious diseases residency at the WHO. He was a medical volunteer during the COVID-19 pandemic and at the Lviv Regional Hospital in Ukraine in the summer of 2022. He has an active role on several scientific and advisory boards of health, including as Chair of the Global Health Policy Lab, a collaborative between the University Medicine Berlin and Harvard University, and Chair of the Centre for Global Health at NOVA University in Portugal.

Maya Matthews has worked in the public health sector for the past 25 years.  She currently holds the position of Acting Director for Digital, EU4health and Health Systems Modernisation as well as Head of Unit for State of Health, European Semester, Health Technology Assessment at the European Commission’s Health and Food Safety Directorate General (DG SANTE). Matthews was previously Deputy Head of Unit in the Strategy and Coordination unit. Prior to this, she worked at the European Union’s Delegation to the United Nations in Geneva where she covered health issues and relations with the World Health Organisation. Before joining the European Commission, Matthews worked in Brussels for Eurohealthnet and as a consultant on reproductive health, HIV prevention and Tuberculosis. 

A member of the regional executive leadership team at Edwards Lifesciences, Andrea Rappagliosi leads the company’s government affairs, market access, communication and patients advocacy engagement. He previously worked at Sanofi as the vice-president of European public affairs, prior to which he held positions in the public affairs and market access policy area at Baxter Healthcare, Serono International and GSK. A founding member of the Global Policy Forum at HTAi, the scientific and professional society for those who produce or use health technology assessment (HTA), Rappagliosi currently chairs the MedTech Europe HTA Committee and serves on the Board of the European Patient Safety Foundation (EUPSF).

Nina Rawal is a Partner and Co-Head at Trill Impact Ventures, Europe’s leading impact investing house. Prior to her current role, she founded Emerging Health Ventures, a venture capital fund focused on affordable medicine and medical products. She was also the head of life science at the Swedish Industrial Development Fund, a €500mn venture capital fund, where she was responsible for international business development in early life science companies. Rawal has also previously served as the head of strategy and ventures at Baxter Group, formerly Gambro, a leading global medical technology company. She also sits on the boards of MedCap AB and Stockholms Sjukhem, a non-profit hospital. In recognition of her work, Rawal has been recognised among the Women’s Forum Rising Talents.

Eva Rennen is the Co-Founder and COO of Nostics, a platform that focuses on diagnosing bacterial infections and preventing antibiotic resistance, and aims to increase the accessibility of diagnostics and positively influence equity for healthcare worldwide. She previously gained experience in various industries and roles, and has also been active in fostering innovation and business for startups in the Netherlands. In 2021, she was awarded the title of ‘FutureMaker’ at FutureWomenX, a global network of women in senior-level positions driving transformative change.

Björn Schuller is a world-leading scientist in the fields of health informatics, electrical engineering, and computer science. He is a professor of artificial intelligence at Imperial College London, Chief Scientific Officer at audEERING and an entrepreneur. He holds various Fellow positions in renowned IT Institutes and has received more than 50 awards, such as the World Economic Forum award for extraordinary scientists under 40 years old. Schuller is part of the class of Distinguished Lecturers of 2024 of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers. He has co-authored more than 1,200 publications and is one of the most influential researchers in AI, Health Informatics and Digital Health, with more than 50,000 citations in scientific publications.

At the European Parliament, Tomislav Sokol serves as the European People’s Party (EPP) Coordinator in the Committee on Public Health (SANT) and Vice-Coordinator in Special Committee on the COVID-19 pandemic: lessons learned and recommendations for the future (COVI). He also sits on the Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety (ENVI), among others. Currently, Sokol is the main rapporteur for the European Health Data Space and EPP shadow rapporteur for pharmaceutical legislation (regulation). Prior to Brussels, he was a member of the Croatian parliament and an assistant minister in the Ministry of Science and Education. Sokol’s areas of professional interest include the law of the European common market, as well as health, competition, social and trade law. 

Anca Toma has over 15 years of experience in European health policy working in policy advocacy, strategic communications, developing and coordinating successful pan-European advocacy campaigns. She currently serves as the Executive Director of the European Patients’ Forum. Previously, Toma spent a decade at Smoke Free Partnership, a European coalition of NGOs working to advance tobacco control for cancer and NCD prevention, prior to which she was a consultant in a public affairs and communications agency in Brussels. She began her career on the Romanian EU accession negotiations team. 

Tom Verstraten is a professor at the Robotics Research Group of the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB), and is affiliated with Flanders Make, the strategic research centre for the manufacturing industry. He conducted research stays at TU Darmstadt (Germany) and the University of Tulsa (USA) funded by a Fulbright grant for visiting scholars. Verstraten’s work focuses on energy-efficient actuation systems for robotic prostheses, exoskeletons, and collaborative robots, with a primary focus on applications in healthcare.