Members of the Pan-European Commission on Health and Sustainable Development

Professor Mario Monti

Professor Mario Monti was appointed an Italian senator for life in 2011. He has been President of Bocconi University (Italy) since 1994 (he was on leave while holding public offices). In November 2011, with Italy close to default, President Napolitano asked Professor Monti to form a government of national unity, taking the positions of Prime Minister (2011–2013) and Minister of Economy and Finance (2011–2012). Eliciting cross-party support, the Government overcame the crisis, initiated structural reforms and obtained improvements in Euro-area governance. After months of negotiations under Italy’s pressure, in June 2012 Germany agreed to a Euro summit position calling for hitherto condemned stabilization interventions, thus providing the European Central Bank with the highest political coverage for a shift in monetary policy. As European Commissioner for the Single Market (1995–1999) and Competition (1999–2004), Professor Monti fostered market integration while promoting tax coordination, and sanctioned high-profile cases of abuses of dominance (for example, Microsoft), anticompetitive mergers (for example, GE/Honeywell) and illegal state aids (for example, the German Government’s guarantees to public banks).

Professor Elias Mossialos

Professor Elias Mossialos is Brian Abel-Smith Professor of Health Policy and Head of the Department of Health Policy at LSE. He is also Director of LSE Health, currently LSE’s largest research centre, which he founded in 1996 to foster the training of young researchers and fund several doctoral and post-doctoral students. He has advised the European Commission, the European Parliament, the United Kingdom’s Office of Fair Trading, WHO, the World Bank, ministries of health and social affairs, and health insurance funds in various countries across continents. He was a member of the management board of the European Medicines Agency (2000–2003) and the board of the Hellenic National Medicines Agency (2000–2002). He contributed to the International Forum “Common access to health care services” coordinated by the health ministers of New Zealand, Sweden and the United Kingdom. Professor Mossialos also served as Minister of State in Greece in 2011. From 2009 to 2012, as a Member of Parliament of Greece, he served as a member of 4 parliamentary select committees (social affairs, educational affairs, defence and foreign affairs, and European affairs). From 2010 to 2011, he chaired the Parliament’s Special Permanent Committee on Monitoring the Social Security System.

Professor Rafael Bengoa

Professor Rafael Bengoa practised for 7 years in both hospital and primary care settings. He holds master’s degrees in community medicine and health management from the University of London (United Kingdom). He worked for 15 years with WHO in Copenhagen, Denmark, and Geneva, Switzerland, where he was Director of Management of Chronic Conditions and, later, Director for Health Systems and Policies. From 2009 to 2013, he was Minister for Health and Consumer Affairs in the Basque Regional Government. He has been Vice-Chair of the European Union Advisory Group of Horizon 2020. Professor Bengoa is a Senior Fellow of the Harvard University School of Public Health (United States of America), and teaches at Harvard and McGill University (Canada). He is presently advising governments on health policy as Co-Director of SI-Health in Bilbao, Spain.

Sir Suma Chakrabarti KCB

Sir Suma Chakrabarti KCB served 2 terms as the sixth President of the EBRD. He studied politics, philosophy and economics at the University of Oxford (United Kingdom) and earned a master’s degree in development economics at the University of Sussex (United Kingdom). He also holds honorary doctorates from the universities of Sussex and East Anglia (United Kingdom), and the Bucharest University of Economic Studies (Romania). Before becoming President of the EBRD, he was Permanent Secretary (senior civil servant) at the Department for International Development (2002–2007) and the Ministry of Justice (2007–2012) of the United Kingdom. He also worked at the Cabinet Office and Treasury, and was knighted in 2006 for his work in international development.

Dr Maggie De Block

Dr Maggie De Block is currently a Member of the Belgian Parliament, where she is chair of her political group. Until recently, she held the position of Minister of Social Affairs and Public Health (2014–2020) and Minister of Asylum and Migration (2018–2020). She initiated important reforms in the Belgian health-care system, including hospital cooperation networks, support for mental health-care providers and a new legal framework for ensuring a high standard of quality of care. In that period, she also contributed to enhancing the sustainability of the social security system’s financing. In 2020, she dealt with the COVID-19 crisis, ensuring that the health-care system did not collapse and overseeing excellent management of hospital surge capacity. In 2014, Maggie was Minister of Justice. In 2011, at the height of a European migration crisis, she became Secretary of Asylum and Migration (2011–2014), containing the crisis by installing a successful voluntary return programme. She was elected into Parliament for the first time in 1999. From 1999 to 2014, she held several different roles, including Secretary of Parliament (2003–2007) and Chair of the Commission for Infrastructure. Trained as a physician, she started her career in 1988 as a successful general practitioner in medical offices where patients are still welcomed today.

Professor Louise Fresco

Professor Louise Fresco is President of the Executive Board of Wageningen University & Research (the Netherlands). She combines a long academic career as a professor at Wageningen and other institutions with extensive involvement in policy and development with many programmes in Africa, Asia and Latin America, and experience teaching in Belgium, Sweden and the United States. She is a member of 8 scientific academies and holds 4 honorary doctorates. She spent 10 years of her career at the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). She is a non-executive director on the board of Syngenta and of various philanthropies, previously served on the supervisory boards of companies such as Rabobank and Unilever, and is on the board of the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra. Her successful book, “Hamburgers in paradise, the stories behind the food we eat”, was translated into several languages. Professor Fresco has published 13 books of fiction and nonfiction, and writes a biweekly column in NRC, the leading evening paper of the Netherlands. She presented a 6-part documentary on food and development for Dutch public television, and delivered a TED talk in Palm Springs, United States, in 2009.

Ms Sylvie Goulard

Ms Sylvie Goulard has been Deputy Governor of the Bank of France since January 2018. Her portfolio includes a focus on climate-related financial stability issues. The Bank of France is currently the Secretariat of the Network for Greening the Financial System, which is coordinating the work of more than 60 central banks and supervisors committed to tackling climate-related financial risks and encouraging sustainable development. She is a member of One Planet Lab, a global, high-level group advising President Emmanuel Macron on sustainable development, finance and biodiversity. After the French presidential election in 2017, Ms Goulard became Minister of Defence. From 2009 to 2017, she served as a member of the European Parliament (ECON Committee), and was Political Adviser to Mr Romano Prodi during his time as President of the European Commission. She studied law and is an alumna of Sciences Po (France) and the École Nationale d’Administration (France).

Ms Tarja Halonen

Ms Tarja Halonen served 2 terms as President of Finland, from 2000 to 2012. During her presidency, she was Co-Chair of the United Nations Millennium Summit, Co-Chair of the Commission on the Social Dimension of Globalization, Co-Chair of the United Nations High-level Panel on Global Sustainability and Chair of the Council of Women World Leaders. Prior to her election, she held the offices of Minister of Social Affairs and Health, Minister of Justice and Minister for Foreign Affairs. Ms Halonen continues to work closely with the United Nations and is currently a member of the Secretary-General’s High-level Advisory Board on Mediation. Among other duties, she is alternate Co-Chair of the Every Woman Every Child movement’s Steering Group, United Nations Global Champion for Disaster Risk Reduction and United Nations Drylands Ambassador.

Professor Luise Hölscher

Professor Luise Hölscher was appointed to the Executive Board of SRH Holding, a large nonprofit foundation operating in the field of health and education, in September 2018. In her previous position as Vice President of EBRD in London, United Kingdom, she served as a member of the Executive Committee and was responsible for human resources, information technology and administrative services. As State Secretary of Finance, she was a member of the federal state Government of Hesse from 2010 to 2013. From 2004 to 2010, she held a chair in accounting and taxation at the Frankfurt School of Finance & Management (Germany). Born in 1971 in Münster, Germany, Professor Hölscher studied business administration in Osnabrück and subsequently completed her doctorate and habilitation at the University of Erlangen-Nürnberg (Germany)

Mr Toomas Hendrik Ilves

Mr Toomas Hendrik Ilves served 2 terms as President of Estonia, from 2006 to 2016. During his presidency he was appointed to serve in several high positions in the field of information and communications technology in the European Union (EU). He served as Chair of the EU Task Force on eHealth from 2011 to 2012. From 2012 to 2014, at the invitation of the European Commission, he was Chair of the European Cloud Partnership Steering Board. From 2014 to 2015, he was Co-Chair of the Advisory Panel of the World Bank’s 2016 World Development Report “Digital dividends”, and from June 2014 to May 2016, he was the Chair of the World Economic Forum’s Global Agenda Council on Cyber Security. In 2016, Mr Ilves received the Digital Freedom Award in recognition of his work to foster digital freedom and raise awareness of the opportunities and challenges presented by the digital revolution. In 2017, he was awarded the Reinhard Mohn Prize for his pioneering work in promoting digitalization in government, education and public services. Mr Ilves graduated from Columbia University (United States) and received his master’s degree in psychology from the University of Pennsylvania (United States).

Professor Beata Javorcik

Professor Dr Beata Javorcik is Chief Economist at EBRD. She is currently on leave from the University of Oxford (United Kingdom), where she holds a Statutory Professorship in Economics (the first woman in this position), and is a Fellow of All Souls College. She is a member of the Royal Economic Society’s Executive Committee and Director of the International Trade Programme at the Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR) (United Kingdom). She holds a doctorate in economics from Yale University (United States) and a bachelor’s degree in economics (summa cum laude) from the University of Rochester (United States). Before taking up her position at Oxford University, she worked at the World Bank in Washington, D.C., where she focused on research, lending operations and policy advice.

Professor Martin McKee

Professor Martin McKee is Professor of European Public Health at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) (United Kingdom) and Research Director of the European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies. He qualified in medicine in Northern Ireland and subsequently trained in public health in London. His research focuses on the health impact of major social, economic and political change in countries across the world. Professor McKee has been elected to the United Kingdom’s Academy of Medical Sciences, Academia Europaea and the United States’ National Academy of Medicine, has been awarded honorary doctorates from universities in Greece, Hungary, the Netherlands, Sweden and the United Kingdom, and was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire by Queen Elizabeth II for his services to health care in Europe.

Lord Jim O’Neill of Gatley

Lord Jim O’Neill is Chair of Chatham House. His previous roles include Joint Head of Research (1995–2000), Chief Economist (2001–2010) and Chairman of the Asset Management Division (2010–2013) at Goldman Sachs; creator of the acronym BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India, China); Chair of the City Growth Commission (2014); Chair of the Review on Antimicrobial Resistance (2014–2016); and Commercial Secretary to the Treasury (2015–2016). He is a board member and a founding trustee of the educational charity SHINE. Lord O’Neill was made a Life Peer in 2015 and serves as a crossbench member of the House of Lords. He is an honorary professor of economics at the University of Manchester (United Kingdom) and holds honorary degrees from the University of Sheffield, University of Manchester, University of London and from City University London (United Kingdom). He received his doctorate from the University of Surrey (United Kingdom), where he is now a visiting professor.

Ms Roza Otunbayeva

Ms Roza Otunbayeva became interim President of Kyrgyzstan and central Asia’s first female leader in April 2010, making her the third President of Kyrgyzstan. She holds a degree in philosophy from Moscow State University (Russian Federation), and over the course of 6 years served as Senior Professor and Head of the Philosophy Department at Kyrgyz National University. From 1986, she worked as Deputy Prime Minister and served three times as Foreign Minister of independent Kyrgyzstan. Ms Otunbayeva was the country’s first Ambassador to the United States and Canada, and from 1997 to 2002 she served as the first Kyrgyz Ambassador to the United Kingdom. From 2002 to 2004, she was Deputy Special Representative of the Secretary-General of the United Nations Observer Mission in Georgia. She returned to Kyrgyzstan in 2004, became active in politics and was one of the key figures in the Tulip Revolution in 2005. She later became a leader of the opposition in Parliament.

Mr Igor Shuvalov

Igor Shuvalov has been Chairman of the Russian Federation’s State Development Corporation VEB.RF since May 2018. From May 2012 to May 2018, he was First Deputy Prime Minister in Dmitry Medvedev’s Cabinet. Previously, he served in the same capacity in Vladimir Putin’s Second Cabinet. As First Deputy Prime Minister, he was the most senior member of the Cabinet after the Prime Minister, and was responsible for the federal budget and economic policies. He also served as a member of the Council of the Eurasian Economic Commission.

Dr Anna Stavdal

Dr Anna Stavdal is a family medicine specialist who has worked for the past 30 years in Oslo’s inner city. Since 1996, she has been an Associate Professor at Oslo University (Norway), teaching undergraduate students and training family medicine residents. Dr Stavdal has been active in public debates for many years as a columnist, a speaker, and a passionate advocate for primary care and family medicine. She has held leading positions in family medicine organizations for 25 years at the Norwegian, Nordic, European and global levels. At WONCA Europe, Anna has served as Vice President (2010–2016), and (President 2016–2018). During the last decade, she built a strong relationship between WONCA Europe and WHO/Europe, and continues to carry out consultative work with WHO/Europe. She was elected WONCA President-elect in 2018 and will take office as WONCA President in November 2021.

Ms Helle Thorning-Schmidt

Ms Helle Thorning-Schmidt was the first female Prime Minister of Denmark from 2011 to 2015. She was a member of Parliament and Leader of the Social Democratic Party for 10 years, and a member of the European Parliament from 1999 to 2004. She led a coalition government, successfully steering Denmark through a difficult period of transition after the global financial crisis. Following her term as Prime Minister, she was Chief Executive Officer of Save the Children International, overseeing the work of 17 000 staff in 120 countries to reach around 50 million children every year in some of the most difficult and challenging contexts. She sits on the boards of Vestas, one of the world’s leaders in sustainable energy; Safelane, a global leader in clearing landmines and the explosive remnants of war; Carsøe, a leading manufacturer for key suppliers of food processing equipment; and The Fertility Partnership, one of the United Kingdom’s largest in vitro fertilization providers. She is also Chair of the Danish Football Union’s Governance Committee, and Co-Chair of Facebook’s Oversight Board.

Professor Willem Van Lerberghe

Professor Willem Van Lerberghe started his public health career in Africa (the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Djibouti, Mali, Morocco, Mozambique and Tanzania). From 1993 to 2003, he was professor of health policy at the Institute of Tropical Medicine in Antwerp, Belgium, and codirected Thailand’s Health Care Reform Office. He joined WHO headquarters in 2003 and was Director of Health Systems, Policies and Workforce until 2013, where he held the agenda of national health planning, policy development and aid effectiveness. He was the main author and editor-in-chief of the 2005 World Health Report on maternal and child health and the 2008 World Health Report on primary health care. After retiring from WHO, he taught international health in Lisbon, Portugal, and worked with WHO to provide policy support to several countries in the European Region as well as in Lebanon, Morocco and Tunisia.

Professor Beatrice Weder di Mauro

Professor Beatrice Weder di Mauro is President of CEPR, the leading European network of economists, Distinguished Fellow at the Emerging Markets Institute of INSEAD and Professor of International Economics at the Graduate Institute (Switzerland). She has held the Chair for International Macroeconomics at the University of Mainz (Germany) and visiting positions at Harvard University (United States), the International Monetary Fund, the United Nations University in Tokyo (Japan) and INSEAD (Singapore). Professor Weder di Mauro was a member of the German Council of Economic Experts for 8 years, and has provided high-level policy advice to European governments, the European Commission, international organizations and central banks. She has served as non-executive director on the boards of globally leading companies in banking, development finance, pharmaceuticals, technology and insurance. Currently, she is a member of the boards of Bombardier, Bosch and UBS.

Professor Aleksandra Torbica

Professor Aleksandra Torbica is Associate Professor in the Department of Social and Political Sciences and Director of the Centre for Research for Health and Social Care Management (CERGAS) at Bocconi University (Italy).  She holds a master’s degree in health economics, management and policy from Bocconi University and a doctorate in economics and management of public organizations from the University of Parma (Italy). She is a member of the Executive Board of the Italian Health Economics Association, and former Secretary General. Her research interests lie at the intersection of health policy, health economics and health-care management. She is interested in exploring different methodologies stemming from these disciplines to investigate decision-making processes at macro (policy) and micro (management) levels, both in high- and lower-middle-income countries. Professor Torbica has obtained numerous research grants and coordinated important international research projects funded by the European Commission. She has also co-authored numerous publications in prestigious outlets in the fields of health economics, health services research and health policy. Since 2016, she has served as Co-Editor of Value in Health journal.