Burden of disease - The economic and societal impact of acute respiratory viruses

Elizabeth Kuiper is Associate Director and Head of the Social Europe and Well- being programme at the European Policy Centre.  

 

Beyond her role as an Associate Director, Elizabeth heads the EPC's Social Europe and Well-being programme. Her focus is on EU health policy and further developing the concept of the economy of well-being, linking up the EPC's research on health care, social equality, sustainability and economic governance.  

 

Before joining the EPC, Elizabeth was Executive Director Public Affairs at the European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations (EFPIA), where she was leading the organisation’s advocacy and external engagement strategy and maintained a strong network of contacts with policymakers and other stakeholders. Amongst others, she led the industry’s Brexit Task Force and created the Brexit4Patients multistakeholder coalition, to ensure that patients’ interest were put first in the Brexit negotiations.   

 

In 2010, Elizabeth transferred to the Permanent Representation of the Netherlands to the EU in Brussels. There, she represented the Netherlands’ interests on health policies, pharmaceuticals and medical devices. She led negotiations on (inter alia) the Clinical Trials regulation, the Medical Devices Regulation and the Transparency Directive; and followed the European Semester process, including the implementation of the Country Specific Recommendations at national level. During her tenure at the Permanent Representation, she was responsible for briefing the Coreper-I Ambassador on healthcare related files and advised and supported senior officials and government Ministers before, during, and after EU negotiations. She also represented the Netherlands at relevant public/stakeholder events. 

 

Early in her career, she served as a political advisor to the Dutch Minister of Health, Welfare and Sports in the Balkenende-IV cabinet. She was responsible for managing relations with Members of Parliament and offered political advice and support to the Minister of Health on issues related to healthcare and social policy. In this role, Elizabeth regularly accompanied and assisted the Minister to Brussels for EPSCO Councils, as well as to Members States holding the Council of the Presidency of the European Union for so-called informal meetings of Health Ministers. She also assisted the Minister of Health in his engagement with US policymakers in the context of ongoing discussions about the Health Care Reform legislation, eventually leading to the adoption of the Affordable Care Act in 2010.  

 

Elizabeth lives in Brussels and enjoys reading political biographies and visiting contemporary art exhibitions as much as she can. She also fights fast fashion in her capacity as Brand Ambassador for a sustainable fashion brand. 

Nationality: American, British



Position: Professor of Applied Evolutionary Biology, University of Amsterdam Faculty of Medicine



Research field: Virus Evolution



ESWI member since 2019



Professor Russell was a member of the University of Cambridge from 2002 to 2017; first as a PhD student, then postdoctoral research associate (2006) and junior research fellow (2008), and finally as a Royal Society University Research Fellow (2009). From 2008 to 2011, he was also a research fellow at the US National Institutes of Health. In 2017, he moved to AMC (Academic Medical Center, university hospital and Faculty of Medicine of the University of Amsterdam) to head the Laboratory of Applied Evolutionary Biology.



Prof Russell’s research focuses on connecting processes at the within-host, between-host, and population scales, to understand the dynamics of influenza viruses and other respiratory pathogens. His research uses a combination of wet-lab and computational tools to study the interactions of processes at each of these scales. In addition to his research activities, he has been an advisor to the WHO influenza vaccine strain selection committee and he is the chair of the Infection Program of the Amsterdam Institute of Infection and Immunity.



Prof Russell has published extensively in leading scientific journals including Science, Nature, PNAS, and eLife. He is also the recipient of substantial research funding including grants from the Royal Society (UK), the US National Institutes of Health, and the Wellcome Trust. He is a current ERC and NWO Vici laureate.

Experienced Executive Director with an award winning history of innovation for social change. An experienced NGO leader with an interest in the intersection of health and human rights. My practice focus is on strategy, evaluation, and governance.