Donna became the Executive Director of EFNA in June 2012. Donna’s training is in Journalism, but she has worked with patient organisations in the neurological sector – in various roles – since leaving university.
This included work with the European Migraine and Headache Alliance [EMHA] and the Migraine Association of Ireland [MAI], as well as being a representative to the Neurological Alliance of Ireland.

Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus was elected as WHO Director-General for a five-year term by WHO Member States at the Seventieth World Health Assembly in May 2017. He is the first WHO Director-General to have been elected from multiple candidates by the World Health Assembly, and is the first person from the WHO African Region to serve as WHO’s chief technical and administrative officer. Immediately after taking office on 1 July 2017, Dr. Tedros outlined five key priorities for the Organization: universal health coverage; health emergencies; women’s, children’s and adolescents’ health; health impacts of climate and environmental change; and a transformed WHO. Born in the city of Asmara, Eritrea, Dr. Tedros holds a Doctorate of Philosophy (PhD) in Community Health from the University of Nottingham and a Master of Science (MSc) in Immunology of Infectious Diseases from the University of London. Dr. Tedros is globally recognised as a health scholar, researcher, and diplomat.

Dr. Catherine Berens was trained as a pharmacist and obtained her PhD in Pharmaceutical Sciences from the University of Louvain in Belgium. After having worked for the European Directorate for the Quality of Medicines (European Pharmacopoeia, Council of Europe, Strasbourg), she joined the European Commission in Brussels in 2002. She has since then been the Scientific Officer in charge of Rare Diseases in the Major Diseases Unit of the Health Directorate, Directorate General for Research.

Tomislav Sokol was born in Zagreb in 1982. He obtained his initial degree in law at the University of Zagreb Faculty of Law in 2006, magna cum laude. He obtained an LL.M. degree at the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven (KUL) in Belgium, with a specialisation in European Union Law in 2009, magna cum laude. He defended his Ph.D. at KUL, dealing with free movement of cross-border health care services in the EU and its impact on national health insurance systems in 2014.

During his studies, in 2004, Tomislav Sokol became a member of Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ). He rose through the party ranks during the next decade, always emphasising Christian Democratic values as the cornerstone of its identity. He was an Assistant Minister in the Ministry of Science and Education, after which he became a Member of Croatian Parliament. He was a Member of Croatian Parliament until July 2019 when he became a Member of European Parliament. He sits on the Internal Market and Consumer Protection and Regional Development Committees.

He has so far published numerous papers and one book on the issues concerning EU law, including health law, health policies and patient mobility. He has presented papers in many international conferences, worked on different research projects and is currently taking part in a Jean Monnet project related to EU health law and policy. Previously, he worked in a legal practice and is currently a Senior Lecturer at Zagreb School of Economics and Management where he has taught Introduction to European Union and Principles of Law courses since the academic year 2010/2011. He is also an assistant professor at Catholic University of Croatia where he is teaching Health Law. In 2017, he held the position of Assistant Minister at the Ministry of Science and Education. From September 2017 to July 2019, he was a MP in the Croatian Parliament. He was elected to the European Parliament on 25 May 2019. In the European Parliament, he is a member of the Committee on the Internal Market and Consumer Protection, substitute in the Committee on Regional Development and Special Committee on beating cancer. His areas of professional interest include the law of the European common market, EU health law, competition law, international and European social law and international and European trade law. He has been married to Ana since 2018.

Kerstin Heiling is Chairman of Riksförbundet för ME-patienter, Sweden

Professor Jonas Bergquist is a MD-PhD and since 2005 appointed chaired professor of analytical chemistry and neurochemistry at the Department of Chemistry - BMC, Uppsala University.
He has a background from Clinical Neuroscience at the Sahlgrenska University Hospital and Gothenburg University (PhD and associate professor) and moved to Uppsala in 1999.
Since 2011 he has been adjunct professor of Pathology at the University of Utah, Salt Lake City, USA, and since 2015 professor of Precision Medicine, Binzhou Med Univ, China.
Jonas has been a founder member of EMERG when it was formed in 2015.

Professor Kristian Sommerfelt is a paediatric neurologist at Haukeland University hospital in Bergen, Norway
Professor Sommerfelt wrote the national guidelines (2019) for diagnosis, treatment and follow-up of ME/CFS children/ young people for the website NEL (Norsk Elektronisk Legehåndbok) - which is a web-based methods used the most by general practitioner doctors and also used extensively in hospitals.
Over the last eight years he has given lectures and presentations at courses and conferences for health professionals and others in addition to teaching medical students.

Jan joined Roche PDMA in 2015 and serves as the TA Head Neuroscience and Rare Diseases. Jan is very passionate about Medicine and Neuroscience and strongly believes that the possibilities of the digital/data age will rapidly transform the science and clinical practice especially of Neurology and Psychiatry Diseases including related rare diseases.

He is strongly inspired by how this will bring better solutions for patient care, the medical community and ultimately society as a whole.

Jan is an MD PhD and specialized in psychiatry and neuropharmacology. In the biopharmaceutical industry he held various Clinical Development and Medical Affairs roles and gained longstanding and profound experience in Neuroscience - having worked across many Neurology and Psychiatry disease areas with Novartis, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Johnson & Johnson, and most recently with Biogen, before joining Roche.

.

• LT, docent, specialist in pediatrics and pediatric endocrinology
• Main occupation: Editor-in-Chief of Current Care Recommendations, Finnish Medical Association Duodecim
• Secondary activities: Consulting pediatric endocrinologist, South Karelia Central Hospital; Director of Cochrane Finland, Finnish Medical Association Duodecim
• Positions of trust in the healthcare sector: Member of the Guidelines International Network Nordic Steering Group (2012-2019)
• Activities in projects aimed at health care guidance: Member of Kela's Social Medicine Advisory Board (2012–2018); Member of Fimea's HTA Advisory Board (2013-2016); Member of the steering group of Fimea's pharmaceutical information network; Permanent expert of STM's service portfolio council; Member of STM's national working group on access to care and uniform criteria for care; Permanent expert in STM's service production development group; Member of THL's Actions steering group
• Other interests: Population Union, board member; ITLA, Deputy Board Member

Dr Beata Dela-Jaworska is a GP with special interest in ME/CFS. She is a member of the European ME Research Group and the European ME Clinicians Council.

Tolu joined the NCD Alliance in Geneva in 2019 to further develop NCD Alliance’s strategic relations with WHO, United Nations agencies and member state missions.
She is also supporting development of NCDA membership and partnerships across civil society, private sector and academia.
Before joining the NCDA, she worked in both the public and private health sectors in Nigeria.
Her most recent role was with the secretariat of United Nations Interagency Taskforce for Noncommunicable Diseases (UNIATF).
Tolu is a Pharmacist by training and is working towards a Masters degree in Public Health from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.

Raimund Helbok, MD, PD, is associate professor of Neurology and a specialist in neurocritical care at the Neurological Intensive Care Unit t Medical University of Innsbruck in Innsbruck, Austria.
Dr. Helbok completed his medical training at the Medical University of Innsbruck and obtained a master’s degree in Clinical Tropical Medicine at Mahidol University in Bangkok, Thailand. After his training in General Medicine and Neurology, he conducted his research fellowship at the Division of Neurocritical Care, Department of Neurology, at Columbia University Medical Center in New York.
Dr. Helbok’s clinical practice covers the spectrum of neurocritical care, including the management of ischemic and hemorrhagic stroke, subarachnoid hemorrhage, traumatic brain injury, status epilepticus, neuromuscular diseases, autoimmune encephalitis and neuroinfectious diseases.

Dr. Whittemore is a Program Director in the Synapses, Channels and Neural Circuits Cluster. Her interest is in understanding the underlying mechanisms of the epilepsies including the study of genetic and animal models of the epilepsies. The major goal is to identify effective treatments for the epilepsies and to develop preventions. Dr. Whittemore received a Ph.D. in anatomy from the University of Minnesota, followed by post-doctoral work at the University of California, Irvine, and a Fogarty Fellowship at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden. She was on the faculty of the University of Miami School of Medicine in The Miami Project to Cure Paralysis prior to working with several non-profit organizations including the Tuberous Sclerosis Alliance, Genetic Alliance, Citizens United for Research in Epilepsy (CURE), and the National Coalition for Health Professional Education in Genetics (NCHPEG).

Programme manager, Disability/Chronic illness, The Netherlands Organisation for Health Research and Development (ZonMW)

Frédéric Destrebecq is the Executive Director of the European Brain Council since October 2014. In this capacity, he is responsible for providing strategic direction and leadership while managing the day to day operations of EBC and its ongoing relationships with its member associations and other stakeholders, as well as representing the organisation in various European and national forums.
Prior to this position, Fred served the European Union of Medical Specialists (UEMS) as Chief Executive Officer, and previously as Director for European Affairs. Fred holds a Master Degree in Political Science and International Relations from the Université Catholique de Louvain (Belgium). He also studied at the Institut d’Etudes Politiques (Paris) and University of Wales College (Cardiff), in the framework of the former EU Socrates exchange programme.

Panel-led discussion with EFNA, EMEA, EMERG, EAN, NCD Alliance and EBC