ESWI Summit 2024: Science Policy Interface debate

MD, DMSc, EIS, MPG, Public Health Specialist, Director of Clinical Research.

Background in public health, virology and epidemiology- specialized in virus epidemics. Professor at Univ. of Copenhagen, Denmark in Public Health, Virus Infections and Epidemics.

Prev. positions incl.: Dir. of the National WHO Influenza Centre & WHO Reference Labs for Measles, Rubella & Polio. Sen. Consultant and Head of the Virology Surv. and Research Unit at Statens Serum Institut (SSI), Staff specialist (inf. diseases & health system strengthening) & Acting Head of Int. Affairs at Nat. Board of Health, Resident in intern medicine at Rigshospitalet, Epi researcher at SSI, Denmark (PhD student and postdoc: epi. research incl. mathematical modelling of epidemics and vaccine efficacy), Virology researcher (cultivation, PCR, cloning and sequencing) and EIS (outbreak investigations: response/control of epidemics), CDC, Atlanta, USA and supervisor of Gastro Section at National Public Health Laboratory in Bissau, Guinea-Bissau.

(Co-)authoring >200 peer-reviewed publications (H-index: 42).

National representations for the European Center of Disease Prevention & Control (ECDC):

National Microbiology Focal Point (2012-2018)

National coordinator of the EU Progr. for Public Health Microb. training (EUPHEM) (2012-18)

Member of the Mol. Typing Task Force (2015-18)

Member of the ESCAIDE Scientific Committee (2012-17)

Main research focuses are related to pub. health applied virology incl. surveillance, epidemic control and vaccinology.

Leadership competencies & interests strengthend with a master in public governance at Cph Business School, (thesis "Benchmarking as budget-control tool at public hospitals").



Specialties:

• Member of The Royal Danish Academy of Sciences & Letters (2018)
• Master in Public Governance (2017)
• Professor (Adj SDU) Inf. Dis. & Global Health (2014)
• Public Health Specialist (2010)
• DMSc/Dr med (virology & epidemiology) 2002)
• Epidemic Intelligence Service Officer (EISO) (2003)
• MD (1994)

Ber Oomen is the Executive Director of ESNO, European Specialist Nurses Organisation. He is responsible for several projects to promote and represent the interests of Specialist Nurses in a European context. In this capacity, since 2006 he has built strong relations with agencies such as the European Medicines Agency and the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control and is frequently in contact with DG Santé at the European Commission.

In parallel, he has developed solid and trusted contacts with colleagues from other European organisations for health care professionals. He still practices as a nurse two days each week, spending the rest of his time in his management role for ESNO, to advance different health projects, acting as a bridge between ESNO’s members and the European Institutions, platforms or forums, coordinating ESNO’s response to international health threats and creating opportunities for the association and its members. In his role, he is also the project leader of the European Nurses Guide on Vaccination, AMR and Infection control and engaged in a number of European projects related to vaccination.

Roxana joined IFA as a project officer in 2022. She holds a Bachelor of Applied Science, specializing in Nutrition Science from Ryerson University, and is working towards a concurrent dual Master of Business Administration (MBA) and Master of Public Health (MPH). Roxana has been involved in many researchand policy-based projects in non-profit, governmental,and intergovernmental organizations, further developingher interests and skills concerning the social determinants of health, research, and health advocacy.

Roxana is experienced in the area of research, integrated with an empathetic driven mindset acquired from her professional experiences. She has worked in the Ministry for Seniors and Accessibility, supporting the program evaluation of the Seniors Active Living Centres, as well as has been directly involved in the development of the Trustworthy Artificial Intelligence Framework, supported by the Ontario Digital Service from the Ministry of Finance.

Professor Terho Heikkinen graduated from the Medical School at the University of Turku in 1984, where he also specialized in Paediatrics and Paediatric Infectious Diseases. He defended his thesis on Development and prevention of acute otitis media in children in 1994. Having received the European Society for Paediatric Infectious Diseases Fellowship Award, he worked in 1996-1998 as a post-doc Research Fellow at the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston, USA. Subsequently, he worked as a Senior Clinical Researcher and Clinical Lecturer at the Department of Paediatrics, University of Turku. Since 2016, he has been Professor of Paediatrics at the Faculty of Medicine, University of Turku.

During the years, Terho Heikkinen has served as the chairman or a board member of several international and domestic societies in the field of paediatric infectious diseases, including the President of the World Society for Pediatric Infectious Diseases. He is a former board member of the European Scientific Working Group on Influenza (ESWI), a scientific advisory board and executive committee member of the global Respiratory Syncytial Virus Network (ReSViNET), and the chairman of the Nordic Research Network for Paediatric Infectious Diseases (NORDPID).

Heidi Theeten, MD, PhD, currently has a main position in the infectious disease control team of the Care department (Departement Zorg) of the Flemish government, where she started in October 2020. She joined the vaccine subunit of this team in 2023. Next to this, she has an academic position at the Vaccine and Infectious Disease department, University of Antwerp, where she works since 2001. She coordinated clinical vaccine studies of various diseases, seroprevalence studies at national level as well as vaccination coverage studies in Flanders. As a postdoctoral researcher, she added research on CMV and immunosenescence, and on pneumococcal nasopharyngeal carriage in infants in Belgium. She still teaches in the master of Medicine at UAntwerpen and in the inter-universitary manama Youth Health Care, as an associate professor.

Dr Jarosław Waligóra is a Deputy Head of Unit in the Health Security unit in the European Commission’s Directorate General for Health and Food Safety. In the same directorate he worked before on heath research, rare diseases, cancer, nutrition and physical activity policy. By training he is Medical Doctor, Paediatrician and specialist in Clinical Genetics. He obtained his PhD at the Medical University of Warsaw.