Reimagining Europe’s health systems Summit 2026

Rob de Bie leads business development for Philips Europe’s patient monitoring portfolio, focusing on high-acuity care. He works with hospitals to improve access to and use of health data, enhancing patient safety and operational efficiency. Rob began his career as a registered intensive care nurse and has held roles bridging clinical practice and healthcare technology.

Francis de Drée is Chief Executive Officer of Partenamut, one of Belgium’s largest health insurance funds. Before taking on this role, de Drée served as Deputy Chief Executive Officer of the Brussels University Hospital. He also led several major healthcare institutions, including CHU Brugmann, the Queen Fabiola Children’s University Hospital and the Jules Bordet Institute. Earlier in his career, he worked as a strategy consultant, focusing on the healthcare sector. Drawing on extensive leadership experience across Belgium’s hospital and healthcare ecosystem, de Drée is committed to improving healthcare delivery, accessibility and patient outcomes.

Elina Drakvik works on Sitra’s Health Data 2030 project and is part of the coordination team of Towards European Health Data Space Joint Action (TEHDAS). Her job involves promoting the secondary use of health data in Finland and Europe, and collaborating with international health ecosystems and organisations. Drakvik has over ten years of experience in European collaborations in the field of health research. She has worked as a project manager and work package leader in various EU-funded research projects in Finland and Sweden, and she has experience in research funding and international co-operation. Drakvik’s professional interests include societal impact, participation and agency, and systemic change towards sustainable development, where health and well-being are understood in a broad sense. In addition to her position at Sitra, Elina is affiliated with the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Helsinki.

Kasper Ernest is Director General of GIRP, the European Healthcare Distribution Association. He previously led Affordable Medicines Europe, where he represented the interests of the off-patent medicines sector at EU level.

Ernest served as President of the European Medicines Verification Organisation (EMVO), overseeing the implementation of systems to combat falsified medicines. Prior to this he was Director of the EU and International department at the Confederation of Danish Enterprise.

Ernest has also sat on the boards of several European business organisations and Healthcare Denmark, and contributed to the Danish government’s Implementation Council, supporting the transposition of EU legislation.

Jorge leads the innovation agenda at Hospital Clínic Barcelona, a leading public tertiary hospital, and coordinates innovation activities across the Campus Clínic Barcelona ecosystem. This includes the hospital, the biomedical research institute IDIBAPS, the global health research centre ISGlobal and the non-profit foundation Mon Clínic. He also serves as a venture partner at Nina Capital, a venture capital firm investing in early-stage companies at the intersection of healthcare and technology, where he supports founders with strategic advice and connections.

Previously, Jorge was Director of Innovation at EIT Health, an independent body of the European Union that promotes innovation and entrepreneurship in healthcare and life sciences. Earlier in his career, he led digital health initiatives at Hospital Sant Joan de Déu Barcelona and directed the d·HEALTH Barcelona programme, inspired by Stanford Biodesign. Jorge is also a founding member of the European Society for Artificial Intelligence in Health and sits on its executive committee.

Florika Fink-Hooijer leads the European Commission’s Health Emergency Preparedness and Response Authority (HERA), which works to strengthen the European Union’s capacity to prevent, detect and respond to cross-border health threats. HERA focuses on threat analysis, the development and procurement of medical countermeasures, and the resilience of health supply chains across Europe. A lawyer by training, Fink-Hooijer has extensive experience in EU policymaking and international negotiations, with expertise spanning health preparedness, humanitarian aid, disaster risk reduction, foreign and security policy and environmental affairs.

Sandra Gallina is the Director-General of the European Commission’s DG SANTE. Her career at the Commission spans over three decades, during which she has held several senior roles, including Deputy Director-General for Trade and Director for Sustainable Development, Economic Partnership Agreements and Agri-food and Fisheries. She served as the EU’s chief negotiator for the EU-MERCOSUR Free Trade Agreement and was the lead negotiator on non-agricultural market access during the World Trade Organization’s Doha Round. Previously, Gallina worked in the Directorate-General for Taxation and Customs Union, focusing on international trade and regulatory policy. 

Adonis Georgiadis is the Greek Minister of Health and a senior political figure. A long-serving Member of Parliament, he has held ministerial roles across health, economic development, labour and shipping in successive governments led by Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis. As Minister of Development and Investments, Georgiadis oversaw initiatives to support economic recovery and attract foreign investment following the COVID-19 pandemic. He previously served as Minister of Health under former prime minister Antonis Samaras, focusing on healthcare reform and the sustainability of Greece’s public health system.

Delphine Heenen is the managing director and one of the founders of the Belgian public interest foundation KickCancer, the mission of which is to foster fundamental and clinical research in the field of paediatric oncology. Delphine is also a member of Childhood Cancer International – Europe’s Regional Committee and plays an active role in their European Affairs as well as Research & Innovation Pillars. Before KickCancer, Delphine had a career as international corporate lawyer, strategy consultant and legal advisor to private investment funds dedicated to renewable energies.

Alexander Horn is President and General Manager of the German hub at Eli Lilly & Company. He has more than 20 years of experience at Lilly, including 12 years in international marketing roles across the United States and Japan. Horn has held a range of leadership positions within the company, contributing to global commercial strategy and market development across key therapeutic areas. He has extensive experience in international pharmaceutical operations and cross-market business leadership.

András Kulja is a surgeon and digital-health expert who was elected to the European Parliament in June 2024 on the ticket of Hungary’s opposition Tisza Party. With 360,000 followers on TikTok, he has Hungary’s most widely-viewed health-education channel. Kulja used his high social media profile to counter disinformation during the COVID-19 pandemic. Inspired to enter politics after attending an opposition rally in April 2024, Kulja gave up his hospital posts to speak freely about Hungary’s healthcare problems. He is a Vice-Chair of the European Parliament Committee on the Environment, Climate, and Food Safety and a member of the Committee on Public Health, where he advocates for a stronger EU role in promoting healthcare reform.

Jennifer Murnane O’Connor is an Irish Fianna Fáil politician serving as the Minister of State at the Department of Health with special responsibility for Public Health, Well-Being and the National Drugs Strategy since January 2025. A dedicated community representative, she has served as a Teachta Dála (TD) for the Carlow–Kilkenny constituency since 2020, following a lengthy career as a local councillor and a term as a Senator on the Labour Panel.

Nina Rawal is the founder of Emerging Health Ventures, a venture capital fund focused on affordable medicine and medical products. Previously, she was the head of life science at the Swedish Industrial Development Fund, a €500mn venture capital fund where she was responsible for international business development in early life science companies. Rawal has also served as the head of strategy and ventures at Baxter Group, formerly Gambro, a leading global medical technology company. She also sits on the boards of MedCap AB and Stockholms Sjukhem, a non-profit hospital. In recognition of her work, Rawal has been recognised among the Women’s Forum Rising Talents.

Tamsin Rose is a facilitator who was until recently a senior fellow for health at Friends of Europe. Having studied international relations, she has 25 years of experience working across the European continent from Ireland to Mongolia. A natural communicator, Tamsin has been a radio reporter, worked on press for the EU Delegation in Moscow and is currently a member of the external speaker team for the European Commission Directorate-General for Communication, describing how the EU works and key policies to visitor groups from around the world. Since 2002, she has specialised in public health and public participation issues, serving as the Secretary General of the European Public Health Alliance (EPHA), and providing strategic advice for health groups on how to engage successfully with the EU.

Ginger Smith is a Senior Health Economist at the European Investment Bank (EIB), where she works in the Innovation and Competitiveness Department. She leads technical and economic due diligence for investments in research and development-intensive pharmaceutical, biotechnology, digital health and medtech companies, as well as major European health infrastructure projects. Before joining the EIB, Smith worked in the private sector, advising innovative life sciences companies and leading health economics and outcomes research initiatives. Her expertise spans healthcare innovation, investment strategy and the economics of health systems and technologies.

Dorte serves as Deputy Permanent Secretary at Denmark’s Ministry of the Interior and Health, where she oversees patient safety, preparedness, life sciences and international cooperation. Prior to this, she led the government’s taskforce on export promotion and job creation in response to the COVID-19 crisis.

Dorte has built a career across Danish public administration and diplomacy. She has held several senior roles at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, including ambassador to Singapore and Brunei, director of Invest in Denmark and political counsellor at the Danish embassy in New Delhi. She also worked at the Ministry of Social Affairs as head of department for legal and international affairs, and in the private sector with Deloitte Business Consulting.

In recognition of her service, Dorte was awarded the Order of Dannebrog, a Danish knighthood.

Marilena Vrana leads the European strategy of the Plasma Protein Therapeutics Association (PPTA), overseeing advocacy, communications and regulatory relations. Vrana directs the organisation’s EU public affairs work, including political outreach, stakeholder engagement and advocacy on key policy files. Vrana’s work centres on aligning industry perspectives with public policy priorities, helping to inform decision-making and strengthen dialogue between institutions, stakeholders and the communities they serve.

Valbona Zeneli is a Senior Fellow for Peace, Security and Defence at Friends of Europe and a nonresident senior fellow at the Atlantic Council, affiliated with both the Europe Center and the Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security’s Transatlantic Security Initiative. She previously served as Chair of Strategic Engagements at the George C. Marshall European Center for Security Studies in Germany. Zeneli is also a visiting scholar at Harvard University’s Minda de Gunzburg Center for European Studies and a visiting fellow at the Robert Schuman Centre at the European University Institute in Florence. Her work focuses on transatlantic relations, globalisation, economic statecraft, European integration and the Western Balkans. In 2023, she received the Inspiration for Women Award.