EPH Conference International Scientific Committee


The International Scientific Committee (ISC) is responsible for:

  • Advising the EPH-EB on scientific matters of the conference;
  • Scoring of all abstracts;
  • Contributing to the scientific evaluation of the conference.

Members of the ISC are:

  • key public health expert from every European country;
  • representatives from the host country;
  • representatives from the EUPHA sections;
  • volunteers nominated by EUPHA members and partner organisations.

Members are nominated for a period of three years. Re-nomination is possible. The ISC has its annual meeting in November during the conference. The EPH Conference Executive Board appoints the chair of the ISC for the year of the conference, upon advice from the Local Support Committee.

Chair of the International Scientific Committee 2023 is Prof Regien Biesma-Blanco

Regien Biesma (BSN, MSc, MSc, PhD) is Associate Professor of Global Maternal and Child Health at the Global Health Unit, Department of Health Sciences, Faculty of Medical Sciences, University Medical Center Groningen (UMCG), Groningen, the Netherlands. She is an epidemiologist and public health specialist with a research focus on estimating and reducing the disparity gap in maternal, neonatal and child health outcomes in low- and middle-income countries. She has a particular interest is global nutrition. Her work explores factors during (pre)pregnancy, birth outcomes, early child growth and health and disease later in life. At UMCG, she supervises PhD candidates, coordinates internships in social medicine and leads the advanced research master programme on Health Systems and Prevention. Before joining UMCG in 2018, she spent 11 years at the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland where she lectured in Global Public Health and Epidemiology and worked on health systems and policy research in Africa and Asia. She was an invited expert for the World Health Organization expert consultation on maximising positive synergies between health systems and Global Health Initiatives. She is a research fellow at the Aletta School of Public Health, the Netherlands, member of the Working Group on International Nutrition in the Netherlands and member of the Scientific Advisory Board of the Lifecourse Nutrition Center, Agder University, Norway.

Members of the ISC 2023:

Ms Mette Aadahl, Denmark
Dr Oboh Achioyamen, United Kingdom
Prof Róza Ádány, Hungary
Dr Nina Adelberger, Germany
Prof Charles Agyemang, Netherlands
Prof Tit Albreht, Slovenia
Prof Kristina Alexanderson, Sweden
Prof Peter Allebeck, Sweden
Mrs Tatiana Alves, Portugal
Dr Gabriela Barbaglia, Spain
Prof Ronald Batenburg, Netherlands
Prof Fabrizio Bert, Italy
Dr Regien Biesma, Netherlands
Prof Johan Bilsen, Belgium
Dr Christopher Birt, United Kingdom
Prof Uwe H. Bittlingmayer, Germany
Petronille Bogaert, Belgium
Dr Henrik Bøggild, Denmark
Dr Richard Bränström, Sweden
Prof Ute Bültmann, Netherlands
Prof Genc Burazeri, Albania
Prof Reinhard Busse, Germany
Dr Stefan Buttigieg, Malta
Dr John M Cachia, Malta
Prof Stefano Capolongo, Italy
Dr Marion Carey, Australia
Dr Evangelia Chrysikou, United Kingdom
Prof Nesrin Cilingiroglu, Türkiye
Dr Thomas Classen, Germany
Prof Judith de Jong, Netherlands
Prof Luis de Souza, Brazil
Prof Chiara de Waure, Italy
Prof Sonia Dias, Portugal
Prof Marie-Luise Dierks, Germany
Prof Helen Dolk, United Kingdom
Prof Thomas Dorner, Austria
Prof Julia Dratva, Switzerland
Natalie Durbeej, Sweden
Mr Gilles Dussault, Portugal
Dr Ivan Erzen, Slovenia
Dr Carlo Favaretti, Italy
Prof Patricia Fitzpatrick, Ireland
Dr Silvia Florescu, Romania
Dr Kimberley Foley, United Kingdom
Dr Birger Forsberg, Sweden
Dr Kate Frazer, Ireland
Mr Marthein Gaasbeek Janzen, Netherlands
Prof Maria Gańczak, Poland
Mr Manuel García Goñi, Spain
Prof Margarida Gaspar De Matos, Portugal
Dr Francesco Gianfagna, Italy
Prof Mika Gissler, Finland
Dr Abby Gold, United States
Prof Beatriz González-Valcarcel, Spain
Ms Vanessa Gorasso, Belgium
Dr Olivier Grimaud, France
Prof Peter Groenewegen, Netherlands
Prof Giuseppe Grosso, Italy
Prof Ilona Grünberger, Sweden
Dr Stefano Guicciardi, Italy
Prof Catherine Hayes, Ireland
Dr Henk Hilderink, Netherlands
Anne Illemann Christensen, Denmark
Mr Damir Ivankovic, Netherlands
Dr Marija Jakubauskiene, Lithuania
Dr Danielle Jansen, Netherlands
Prof Marta Cecilia Jaramillo-Mejia, Colombia
Prof Marija Jevtic, Serbia
Prof Allan Krasnik, Denmark
Dr Ellen Kuhlmann, Germany
Dr Bernadette Kumar, Norway
Prof Tobias Kurth, Germany
Hannamaria Kuusio, Finland
Prof Giuseppe La Torre, Italy
Prof Lucie Laflamme, Sweden
Prof Tea Lallukka, Finland
Dr Teresa Leão, Portugal
Dr Andreia Leite, Portugal
Prof Alastair Leyland, United Kingdom
Prof Jutta Lindert, Germany
Dr Johan Lund, Norway
Dr Alejandra Machado, Sweden
Dr Els Maeckelberghe, Netherlands
Prof Tomi Mäki-Opas, Finland
Prof Julian Mamo, Malta
Mr Thomas Maribo, Denmark
Prof Piedad Martin-Olmedo, Spain
Dr Sara McQuinn, Ireland
Prof Anjum Memon, United Kingdom
Dr Gabriele Messina, Italy
Mrs Joana Moreno, Portugal
Dr Anne Mosnier Mantel, France
Dr Iveta Nagyova, Slovakia
Prof Saoirse Nic Gabhainn, Ireland
Dr Emer O'Connell, Ireland
Prof Anna Odone, Italy
Prof Orkan Okan, Germany
Mr Kasper Olesen, Denmark
Prof Nüket Paksoy Erbaydar, Turkey
Dr Maria Papadakaki, Greece
Dr Roberta Pastorino, Italy
Dr Andre Peralta Santos, Portugal
Prof Julian Perelman, Portugal
Prof Ivan Perry, Ireland
Dr Angelo Maria Pezzullo, Italy
Dr Péter Pikó, Hungary
Dr Paulo Pinheiro, Germany
Dr Valérie Pittet, Switzerland
Klaus D. Pluemer, Germany
Prof Ileana Prejbeanu, Romania
Prof Ossi Rahkonen, Finland
Dr Bina Ram, United Kingdom
Prof Oliver Razum, Germany
Prof Andrea Rebecchi, Italy
Prof Ralf Reintjes, Germany
Dr Sofia Ribeiro, Portugal
Prof Eva Roos, Finland
Dr Nicole Rosenkötter, Germany
Prof Luís Saboga-Nunes, Portugal
Prof João Vasco Santos, Portugal
Prof Milena Šantrić Milićević, Serbia
Prof Sonia Saxena, United Kingdom
Dr Mathilde Sengoelge, Sweden
Prof Andreia Silva da Costa, Portugal
Dr Natalia Skogberg, Finland
Dr Signe Smith Jervelund, Denmark
Prof Paulo Sousa, Portugal
Prof Anthony Staines, Ireland
Prof Danijela Štimac Grbić, Croatia
Prof Christiane Stock, Germany
Prof Saverio Stranges, Canada
Prof Birute Strukcinskiene, Lithuania
Dr Sakari Suominen, Finland
Prof Pernille Tanggaard Andersen, Denmark
Dr Louise T. Thomsen, Denmark
Dr Hanna Tolonen, Finland
Dr Marius-Ionuț Ungureanu, Romania
Dr Peter Van Den Hazel, Netherlands
Dr Arjan van der Star, Sweden
Dr Aurélie Van Hoye, Ireland
Dr Paula Vassallo, Malta
Dr M Luisa Vázquez Navarrete, Spain
Prof Arnoud Verhoeff, Netherlands
Prof Susana Viegas, Portugal
Prof Paolo Villari, Italy
Ms Verena Vogt, Germany
Mr Greg Williams, United Kingdom
Dr Jason Wu, Australia
Prof Silviya Yankulovska, Bulgaria
Dr Dineke Zeegers Paget, Netherlands