He graduated in Economics from the Faculty of Economics at 'La Sapienza' University in Rome with a 110/110 cum laude. He holds a PhD in Product Sciences.

A full professor at the Faculty of Economics at 'La Sapienza' University of Rome, since 2017 he has held the position of Dean of the aforementioned faculty. He has been President of the Master's Degree Course in Economics and Communication of Management and Innovation and, previously, Director of the Department of Management, Director of the ImpreSapiens Research Centre and Operational Director of the Campus Mentis project, commissioned to ImpreSapiens by the Prime Minister's Office for the job orientation of young recent graduates from all over Italy.

He has received two honorary doctorates from the State University of Economics and Finance in St. Petersburg (Russia) and the Bucharest University of Economic Sciences (ASE) and is an honorary professor at Zhongnam University of Economics and Law in Wuhan (China).

Author of over 200 publications in monographs, articles in national and international journals, proceedings of national and international congresses.

Appointed Extraordinary Commissioner of Inail by decree of the President of the Council of Ministers of 15 June 2023, at the proposal of the Minister of Labour and Social Policies. 

Married, three children. She is Associate Professor of Physical Chemistry at the Department of Chemistry, Biology and Biotechnologies of the University of Perugia. She is President of the Intercourse Council for Degree and Master's Courses in the Chemical Area since November, 2021.

She is the author of more than 110 papers on Physical Chemistry published in international scientific journals, and more than a hundred contributions to national and international conference proceedings. She is also involved in scientific aspects related to bioethics issues, and governance aspects of Biotechnology and Life Sciences.

Among the national and international institutional appointments: since 2006, she is member of the National Bioethics Committee. She has been scientific adviser to the Ministers Maurizio Sacconi (Work, Health and Social Politics) and Beatrice Lorenzin (Health). She is a member of the Steering Committee for Human Rights in the fields of Biomedicine and Health (CDBIO), and she is a member of the Bureau since November 2020.

She is a columnist for the newspaper Avvenire. She was honored with the Order of “Merit of the Italian Republic” by Presidential Decree on December 27, 2013.

Eugenia Roccella was born in Bologna, is married and has two children. She is a professional journalist; she was a columnist for Avvenire, the political culture magazine Ideazione, and has collaborated with several newspapers, including Il Giornale, Libero and Il Foglio. She has a degree in literature and a PhD in Historical studies of Italian literature. In 2007 she was spokesperson, with Savino Pezzotta, for the first Family Day.

She was a Member of Parliament in the 2008 and 2013 legislatures and Undersecretary for Welfare and Health. Re-elected in 2022, she was appointed Minister for Family, Natality and Equal Opportunities in the government led by Giorgia Meloni.

Roccella has published numerous books, including 'After feminism' (Ideazione editrice, 2001), 'End of motherhood', (Cantagalli 2015) 'Eluana must not die' (Rubbettino 2019). With Assuntina Morresi she wrote 'La favola dell'aborto facile. Miti e realtà della pillola Ru486" (Franco Angeli 2006).

Nicola Daniele Cangemi was born in Messina, Italy, on 6 December 1972. Married, two children. Since September 2021 he is the Head of the Department for Human Rights, Justice and Legal Cooperation Standard-setting activities at the Directorate General of Human Rights and Rule of Law of the Council of Europe. He holds a degree in Political Science from the LUISS University, Rome, and a Master’s degree from the College of Europe, Bruges. Working for the Council of Europe since 2001, he served as legal advisor, as Deputy Head of the Counter-terrorism task force, and as Head of the Human Rights Law and Policy Division, at the time of the elaboration of the ground-breaking Committee of Ministers’ recommendations on the promotion of human rights of older persons on combating discrimination on grounds of sexual orientation or gender identity, and of the working party which elaborated the draft legal instruments for the accession of the EU to the European Convention on Human Rights. Between 2014 and September 2021 he worked for the Directorate General of Democracy, first as Special Coordinator and then as Head of the Human Dignity and Gender Equality Department, supervising the Council of Europe work in the areas of Gender Equality, Violence against Women and Trafficking in Human Beings. In his current functions, he supervises the Organisation’s standard setting work in the areas of Human Rights, Justice and Legal Cooperation, including the secretariat of the Steering Committee for Human Rights, of the European Committee of Legal Cooperation and of the Consultative Councils for Judges and Prosecutors.

Born in 1989, Mattia PERADOTTO is a graduate in Management Engineering and Business Management from Politecnico di Milano. He also participated in an exchange program at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology.

His diverse professional journey encompasses a range of roles at various levels of government and organizations. He began his career as the head of the secretariat for the President of the Judicial Commission for the staff of the Chamber of Deputies. He then moved on to serve as a key figure in the secretariat of the Senate Vice-President. Later, he assumed the position of Secretary General of a Foundation under the umbrella of the FEPS (Foundation for European Progressive Studies).

Following his work in the public sector, Peradotto transitioned into the Government, where he became the head of the secretariat for the Minister for Equal Opportunities and the Family. From August 2022, he took on the role of Director General at UNAR (National Office Against Racial Discrimination), which operates under the Presidency of the Council of Ministers.

Prof. Siobhán O' Sullivan is Executive Director of the Royal Irish Academy since 2022.  She is also Professor in the Royal College of Surgeons Ireland, where she teaches Healthcare Ethics and Law and is involved in curriculum development. From 2011-2022, she was the Chief Bioethics Officer at the Department of Health and was responsible for drafting policy advice and legislative instruments on bioethics related issues. From 2002-2010, Prof. O’Sullivan was Director of the Irish Council for Bioethics an independent, autonomous body to consider the ethical issues raised by developments in science and medicine. She is the vice-chair of the European Group on Ethics in Science & New Technologies, an independent, multidisciplinary body advising the European Commission in connection with Community legislation or policies. She is a former member of the Advisory Council for Science, Technology and Innovation, the Irish Government’s high-level advisory body on Science, Technology and Innovation (STI) policy issues. She received her Doctor of Medicine from Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm in 1998 and hold a Masters in Healthcare Ethics and law and a Masters in Human Rights Law.

Vasiliki Karaouli studied Civil Engineering at the National Technical University of Athens and pursued postgraduate studies in Environmental Protection, specializing in Sanitary Engineering at the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Switzerland. She furthered her education by obtaining a second postgraduate degree in Environmental Protection and Occupational Health and Safety from RWTH Aachen University in Germany. Ms. Karaouli also worked at LAMSADE, the Research Center at Dauphine University in Paris, focusing on Multicriteria Analysis as a decision-support methodology. Additionally, she graduated from the National School of Public Administration in Greece, specializing in Public Administration organization and management, with a focus on Health Systems and Services.

Since 2006, she has served as the Director of the Directorate of Sanitary Engineering and Environmental Hygiene at the Ministry of Health. This Directorate operates at the intersection of environmental protection and human health, providing supervision and consultation to local health authorities, collecting environmental data, drafting health-related environmental legislation, and collaborating closely with the Ministry of Environment. Her primary areas of interest include water quality, wastewater disposal, major accident hazard control, impacts and protection from ionizing and non-ionizing radiation (particularly from medical equipment), air pollution, medical waste disposal, and noise management.

From November 2014, Ms. Karaouli served as the Director of Public Health, and in June 2018, she became the General Director of Public Health and Quality of Life at the Ministry of Health in Greece. Her work emphasizes critical public health challenges, with significant contributions in policy formation and action plans, particularly in response to the Covid-19 pandemic. In these roles, she has collaborated with global experts to design and implement strategies aimed at controlling the spread of infectious diseases, enhancing health system preparedness, and promoting public awareness initiatives.

Ms. Karaouli has actively participated in numerous committees on Public Health-related topics and represents Greece in international and European workshops and committees organized by the WHO and the European Union. Additionally, she maintains an active teaching career, focusing on environmental factors and their impacts on public health.

Since September 2024, Ms. Karaouli holds the position of Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Social Cohesion and Family Affairs.

Head of the Division of Literacy, Health and Well-being at the Directorate General of Health. PhD in Psychology, Master in Clinical and Health Psychology. 

Member of the National Task Force for COVID-19 and Member of the National Behavioral Insights Task Force for COVID-19. 

With work and coordination of projects in the areas of Public Health, Health Promotion, Health Literacy, Definition of Criteria of Good Practices in Health Promotion and Implementation of Health Policies and Active and Healthy Aging. Specialist in Psychosocial Intervention in Situations of Crisis and Emergency and in Communication of Crisis and Communication of Risk.

Visiting Professor and collaborating Member of the CRC-W - Catholic Research Center for Psychological, Family and Social Well-being.

Pauliina (Lina) Nykänen-Rettaroli serves as the Senior Technical Lead on Human Rights at the World Health Organization (WHO) headquarters in Geneva, and leads the Human Rights Unit within the Gender, Rights, Equity and Diversity Department. Ms Nykänen-Rettaroli is passionate about the rights-based approach to health, and has over 18 years of experience of working at the intersection of public health and human rights. Her current work includes supporting countries to integrate human rights considerations into health systems, programmes and policies, to increase social participation in health decision-making, and to use international human rights mechanisms to advance health-related rights.

Before joining WHO in August 2023, Ms Nykänen-Rettaroli worked at the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria from 2021 to 2023, and in various roles at UNAIDS from 2006 to 2021. Before joining the UN, Ms Nykänen-Rettaroli worked at the Irish section of Amnesty International from 2002 to 2006.

Ms Nykänen-Rettaroli holds a BA in political science and a Master’s degree in human rights and democratization. 

Lorenzo is an independent advisor, collaborating with national governments and international organizations to promote anti-discrimination initiatives and a human rights-based approach within healthcare regulatory frameworks. Previously, he led the work on innovative treatments and technologies at the Council of Europe (2020-2023) and supported the development of international collaborations at the European Pharmacopeia (EDQM) (2018-2020).

At the Italian Medicines Agency (AIFA), he served as Head of the Biological Medicines Office (2011-2018) and Senior GMP Inspector (2003-2010), after having worked at the University Hospital of Turin (1998-2003).

Throughout his career, Lorenzo has been committed to fostering dialogue and collaboration, serving as chair and member of numerous working groups and steering committees at prominent organizations such as the EMA, WHO, and the European Commission, as well as universities, NGOs, and professional and patient organizations.

His academic background includes studies in Pharmacy (1990-1995), Clinical Pharmacy (PharmD 1998-2001), and Regulatory Affairs (PhD 2001-2005).

Dr. Kristine Sørensen is a highly-cited, award-winning, global thought leader in the field of health literacy. As an executive advisor she empowers leaders to improve health literacy by design. She works with governments, industry, academia and civic society to develop health literacy for all. Kristine Sørensen is the Founder of the Global Health Literacy Academy, chair of Health Literacy Europe and the first president of International Health Literacy Association. 

Guglielmo Bonaccorsi is associate professor in Hygiene and Preventive Medicine at the University of Florence. He is currently the Director of the School of specialization in hygiene and public health at the same University, and in the recent past has held numerous academic responsibilities as President of Degree Courses and Masters in public health issues and healthcare organizations. Author of over 200 publications in international journals on issues of health promotion, prevention, health organization, and health literacy, which he has explored in different fields: from the individual to healthcare organizations, from the community to public health interventions.

Chiara Lorini is professor in Public Health at the University of Florence (Italy). She coordinates the Health Literacy Laboratory of the Department of Health Science and the Master Program in Health Literacy. She has been involved in health literacy research at local, national and international level for at least ten years.

Lorenzo is an independent advisor, collaborating with national governments and international organizations to promote anti-discrimination initiatives and a human rights-based approach within healthcare regulatory frameworks. Previously, he led the work on innovative treatments and technologies at the Council of Europe (2020-2023) and supported the development of international collaborations at the European Pharmacopeia (EDQM) (2018-2020).

At the Italian Medicines Agency (AIFA), he served as Head of the Biological Medicines Office (2011-2018) and Senior GMP Inspector (2003-2010), after having worked at the University Hospital of Turin (1998-2003).

Throughout his career, Lorenzo has been committed to fostering dialogue and collaboration, serving as chair and member of numerous working groups and steering committees at prominent organizations such as the EMA, WHO, and the European Commission, as well as universities, NGOs, and professional and patient organizations.

His academic background includes studies in Pharmacy (1990-1995), Clinical Pharmacy (PharmD 1998-2001), and Regulatory Affairs (PhD 2001-2005).

Stephan Van den Broucke is professor of Health Psychology at the UC Louvain, Belgium. His research expertise includes public health psychology, health promotion, health literacy, patient education, accident prevention, and public health capacity building. He has supervised a large number of national and international research projects, over 20 PhD projects, and more than a hundred master thesis studies; authored over 150 scientific publications; and taught students and health professionals in Europe, North and Latin America, Africa and Asia. Prof. Van den Broucke has served as an evaluator for research projects submitted to the European Commission and to research foundations in Belgium, Croatia, Germany, Hong Kong, Israel, Kuwait, the Netherlands, Portugal, Switzerland and Québec, Canada. He participated in accreditation committees for training and research programs in the Netherlands, Switzerland and Denmark, and gave policy advice to authoritative bodies on public health in Belgium, the European Commission, the Sultanate of Oman, and the Open Science Foundation, as well as the World Health Organisation and the European Food Safety Authority. He is an elected Board member of the International Union for Health Promotion and Education (IUHPE); Vice-President elect of the International Health Literacy Association; and member of the Scientific Advisory Group of the Asian Health Literacy Association. He is also president of the HealthNest consortium for health literacy in Belgium.

As of March 12, 2024, Dr Feltrin is the Director General of the National Transplant Center, the coordinating body of the Italian Transplant Network, located at the premises of the Istituto Superiore di Sanità.

He graduated in Medicine and Surgery and specialized in Cardiac Surgery at the University of Padua.

From January 1, 2016, and until March 10, 2024, he served as Regional Transplant Coordinator of the Veneto Region; in previous years, he was also Director of the UOSD Regional Transplant Center, Azienda Ospedale-University of Padua, and Head of the Regional Transplant Coordinating Structure of the Veneto Region.

He has participated and participates in numerous national and international projects and is the author of more than 70 scientific publications in the field of donation and transplantation, as well as innovative technical procedures at regional and national level.

Saskia De Gani studied human movement sciences and sports at the ETH Zurich and earned her PhD in integrative human physiology at the University of Zurich. Her main focus in research has been in the field of health sciences and public health, including health promotion and prevention. She has acquired a particular interest and extensive expertise on health literacy - from population surveys and monitoring, to surveying health literacy levels of health professionals and its implementation in health organisations and health systems. Since September 2020, she has been leading the Careum Center for Health Literacy, and since April 2022 also the research focus on health literacy at the Kalaidos University of Applied Sciences (Deparment Health). Managing this competence center includes not only research on different levels (population, professionals, organizations, systems), but even more the transfer of insights into practice and policy. In this function, she was responsible for the Swiss Health Literacy Study 2019-2021, and is active in regional, national as well as international networks and working groups. Particularly, she has represented the principal investigator of Switzerland in the WHO Action Network M-POHL and is member of the IHLA practice standard committee. She is also fellow of Sciana - The Health Leaders Network.

Giuseppe Palmisano (PhD in International Law, University of Milan), former Director of the Institute for International Legal Studies of the National Research Council of Italy, is currently Professor of International Law and International Human Rights Law at the University of Roma Tre. For twelve years (2011-2022), he has served as member, President and General Rapporteur of the European Committee of Social Rights. In April 2024 he was elected by the ECOSOC to serve as a member of the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. His extensive research and academic contributions, comprising over eighty scientific works, focus on areas such as social rights, self-determination of peoples, State responsibility, and dispute settlement in International Law.

Cristina Vaz de Almeida is a PhD on Communication Sciences and Health Literacy. She is the founder and President of Portuguese Health Literacy Society and Diretor of the Pos graduate Course of Health Literacy at ISPA and coordinator of the first manual of Health Literacy on Portugal.

Yu (Ursula) ZHAO is a technical officer from the Department of Digital health and Innovation at World Health Organization Headquarters, Geneva. Her work focuses on global governance of AI for health as part of the implementation of the WHO’s Global strategy on Digital Health. She oversees the development of normative guidance and policy on use of AI in critical health topics such as HIV, Tuberculosis, traditional medicine and Sextual reproductive health research, and is a member of the WHO Research Ethics Review Committee. Prior to current position, Yu spent six years working in public health emergencies, where she co-created the OpenWHO.org platform, WHO’s emergency digital learning platform currently hosting 9 Million frontline responders across the globe. Yu earned an MBA in Innovation and technology management, a bachelor's degree in journalism and Honorary award diploma from École Hôtelière de Lausanne. 

Tarja Heponiemi is a Research professor at the Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare (THL) in Finland. Her research focuses on health and social care service systems. She addresses the challenges faced by vulnerable groups in accessing services, especially digital services. She emphasizes the importance of making digital services more accessible to everyone, such as older adults, people with memory problems, and those with limited internet skills. Her research and initiatives aim to bridge the digital divide and ensure that no one is left behind in the digital transformation of health and social services. She is the consortium leader of the DigiIN project (Towards socially inclusive digital society: Transforming the service culture) funded by the Strategic research council at the Academy of Finland, which aims to enhance the accessibility of digital services and reduce inequality. She is committed to ensuring that health and social care services are inclusive and digital services user-friendly.

Yifan Zhou is an alumna of the Regional Youth Champion cohort of the Digital Transformations for Health Lab (DTH-Lab) representing Europe and North America. During her term, Yifan focused on co-creating Digital First Health Systems with young people and advancing Digital Health Citizenship through intergenerational dialogues that explore the intersection of digital, health and civic literacy. Yifan is also the former Executive Co-Chair of IMAGINE Clinic, a student-run clinic that serves marginalized communities in Toronto, Canada. During the pandemic, she led a team of 30 executives to transform the walk-in clinic into a virtual clinic to continue providing care. The clinic also offered physical space, computer and internet access to bridge the gaps in access for its patients. Yifan also developed an automated flu form for a pharmacy technology company, which served over 700k Canadians during the pandemic.

Elena Petelos is a Senior Research Fellow in Public Health and a Senior Lecturer in Evidence-Based Medicine and Evidence-Informed Policy (Maastricht University, The Netherlands, and University of Crete, Greece). She also holds Visiting Lecturer and Adjunct Faculty positions (Charité-Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Germany, and University of West Attica, Greece). She has a background in medicine and biology, specialising in molecular oncology, and re-training mid-career in health economics and policy, continuing with a Fellowship in Governance and Economics of Development Technology and Innovation at the United Nations University - Maastricht Economic and Social Research Institute on Innovation and Technology.

She is the President of the Global Health Section and VP HTA at the European Public Health Association (EUPHA), where she is also a Member of the Steering Committee of the Law and Public Health Section and the Chair of the Gender Equality Working Group (SDG5 WG). She is the Chair for Real-World Evidence and Artificial Intelligence (AI) at HTAi, and a Member of the Scientific Decelopment and Capacity-Building Committee. She is also a Member of the Healthcare Professional’s Working Party of the European Medicines Agency (EMA) and a Member of the Advisory Forum of the Health Emergency Preparedness and Response (HERA) of the European Commission. She is a Member of the Advisory Board of the European Forum for Primary Care (EFPC) leading the Vaccines WG and representing it in the European Network of Centres for Pharmacoepidemiology and Pharmacovigilance (ENCePP); she is currently a member of ENCEPP’s WG2 on Transparency and Independent Research. She represents EFPC and EUPHA in the European Commission’s HTA Network Stakeholder Expert Pool. She has served in various committees of the World Health Organization (WHO), and as of 2024, she co-chairs the Strategic Partners’ Initiative for Data and Digital Health (SPI-DDH) WG on Digitalization and Responsible AI.

Her research, policy and advocacy work focuses on international collaboration and evidence-informed policymaking, including the role of regulatory frameworks and legislative frameworks, to improve global health and towards achieving digital equity and reaching UHC. She has a special on real-world evidence, benefit/risk communication, new technologies, and AI. She is also a member of the Royal Netherlands Society of International Law (KNVIR) and of the International Law Association (ILA).
 

Vincenzo De Angelis, MD, born in 1956.

Graduated in Medicine, Padua University School of Medicine, 1981. Speciality Diploma in Haematology (Padua University, 1984) and Clinical Biology (Padua University, 1988). Since 1982, he has been working in different Italian Transfusion Services (Pordenone General Hospital, Aviano National Research Cancer Institute, Trieste University Hospital, Udine University Hospital).

At present he is the Director at the Italian National Blood Centre, Ministry of Health, the Italian Competent Authority on blood. He also acts as Chairperson of the CD-P-TS at the EDQM (Council of Europe, Strasbourg) and President of the European School of Transfusion Medicine (ESTM). He is Member of the European Blood Alliance and of the ISBT Working Parties on Clinical Transfusion and Donors and Donations.

Author or co-Author of more than 150 publications (chapters on books, articles, abstracts) on different aspects of transfusion medicine.

Emma Colombatti, Expert in International Cooperation, Advocacy and Human Rights with a five-year volunteer experience with her family in the Brazilian Amazon forest.
For years she has collaborated with VIS - International Volunteering for Development in the context of Adovacy and Human Rights actions and in teaching in VIS School for higher education .
She currently works in the Advocacy team of CBM Italia ETS as Advocacy Officer.

Giampiero GRIFFO, Human right defender, Republic of S. Marino bioethics committee member. Coordinator of the technic and scientific committee of the National Observatory of the condition of persons with disabilities (2019-2023) and Co-director of the Center for governmentality and disability studies “Robert Castel” (CeRC) of University “Suor Orsola Benincasa” in Naples. Wheelchair user, active from 1972 at local, national and international level, is World Council member of Disabled People’s International, board member of European Disability Forum and chairperson of the Italian network on disability and development; member as Advisor in Italian delegation at the Ad Hoc Committee that writed the UNCRPD. Expert in European and international cooperation projets has editing articles, books and research in all areas of disability issues at national and international level in 4 languages. Member of the economic and social committee of the Italian Council of Ministries Presidency for planning the post SARS-COV-2 pandemic. Awarded as commendatore by Italian Republic President.

Jasmina Cunmulaj, MPH, is the Strategic Partnerships and Leadership Manager at EPHA. With a foundation in global health research and European health policy, she advances initiatives aimed at enhancing healthcare systems and health equity across Europe. She holds a Master’s Degree in Public Health in Health Behaviour and Health Equity from the University of Michigan. Jasmina has contributed and led research on healthcare and health equity advancement across diverse settings, including Montenegro, Myanmar, and the U.S., concentrating on underserved and marginalised populations. Prior to her current role, Jasmina served as a consultant for the World Health Organisation (WHO) in Europe, focusing on the Health in the Well-being Economy and Youth for Health initatives. She joined the European Public Health Alliance (EPHA) in 2023, where she primarily supports the Director General, collaborates with key organisations to advance health policies that elevate health and well-being across Europe, and champions EPHA's new initiatives in the Western Balkans, underpinned by a deep commitment to public health advancement and policy coherence.