Program 2024

SPEAKERS

At the LSE, he co-founded and leads the digital health research unit with a particular focus on the regulation, implementation, and financing of digital health and AI technologies. He holds a PhD in Comparative Health Policy from Maastricht University. His main research portfolio focuses on the intersection of digital health, health systems and policy, and health inequalities. He is trained in an array of research methods such as literature reviews, qualitative comparative policy research, preference research and health econometrics. Dr van Kessel’s work is published in leading medical and health policy journals such as JAMA Pediatrics, The Lancet Child & Adolescent Health, The Lancet Regional Health - Europe, and The BMJ.

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Jaanika Merilo has over 25 years of technology and digital transformation including 10 years in eHelath. Since 2015 Jaanika has been one of the drivers of digital Ukraine, being nominated in 2015 by Google and Financial Times in the list of NE100 of “Innovators whose innovations change the world for better” and having received the “Best City Digital Transformation Award” in Barcelona Smart City World EXPO. From 2015-2021 Jaanika was active Deputy Mayor of Dnipro and advisor to two Ministers of Infrastructure of Ukraine. Since 2019 Jaanika has been the Advisor to the Vice Prime Minister - Minister of Digital Transformation of Ukraine and has since 2023 in the Ministry of Social Affairs of Estonia., currently serving as Head of eHealth Strategy. Jaanika has Master's degrees from the University of Cumbria, and Rome Business School / University of Valencia in eHealth Management.

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Montse Daban
Director of Strategic Foresight and International Relations at Biocat

Director of Strategic Foresight and International Relations; President of the Council of European BioRegions (CEBR); Member of the Board of Directors of the European Clusters Alliance (ECA); Member of the Joint Industrial Cooperation Forum; Health Emergency and Preparedness Agency (HERA); EIT Health Innostars mentor. Research scientist (life sciences, 1987-1999), R&I Adviser, Government of Catalonia (Ministry of Research and Universities, 2011-2022), Science editor (2000-2006). Member of the Expert Committee for the National Health Pact and the Expert Committee for AI/Health Program (appointed by the Ministry of Health, Government of Catalonia). Interests: Innovation Ecosystems, Impact Assessment, Healthcare Transformation, Digitalisation, Sustainability, EHDS, Europe, International collaboration.

Meelis Joost
Chairman of the Board at the Estonian Chamber of People with Disabilities

I have been involved in the movement of people with disabilities and chronicle disease patients since about 2000. My field of activity has been to strengthen the national umbrella organization with currently 55 member organizations and growing, supporting cross-border cooperation and work at EU and international level. The  Estonian Chamber of People with Disabilities is a member of 2 EU-level civil society bodies – the European Disability Forum and the European Patients Forum. I’m a board member of the Estonian Agrenska Foundation, an Estonian-Swedish permanent cross-border foundation to assist families with children with disabilities, with a diminishing burden of care, and provide peer counselling for rare diseases. I have been a member of the European Economic and Social Committee, an advisory body to the European Parliament and European Commission. I as well have been very hands-on with the UN Convention on the right of People with Disabilities, having been involved with the shadow report drafting for Estonia-s state review. The next report is due in 2025, where we are going to contribute as well. In my capacity as Chairman of the Board for EPIK, the most important task is to keep our network active and backed up with public support, which is a challenge in our crises-ridden societies.  

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Jaarika Järviste
Head of Development at Estonian Health Insurance Fund

My role as head of development in EHIF is to build structures that help service teams create more and more value. We have designed an innovation grant for new healthcare services impact assessment studies to make it possible to bring new models of care into use faster and safer. Product management practices have been introduced on central eHealth products that today form the eHealth portfolio. EHIF has been turned from a process-based organisation where departments work in silos to a service-based organisation where everyone knows what value their job brings. I started in EHIF as a project manager for telemedicine. I made it possible for teleconsultations to be held during COVID-19 and launched a pilot project competition for the first remote monitoring services in the country. I studied to be a doctor and worked 3 years as one. Found many things that could be done better in hospitals, but I understood that it was very hard to change the system from the inside. So here I am today.

Paula Salme Sandrak is a Digital Health & Health AI Product Strategist at Bayer and a Mayo Clinic-trained Health & Wellness Coach. Her 10+ years in the biotech and healthcare field have led her from more classical pharmaceutical and medical device development to novel modalities encompassing behavioural interventions, digital health and, more specifically, health AI solutions. Sandrak is particularly passionate about figuring out solutions to unmet needs for the highly prevalent chronic diseases and has most recently led predictive AI product development efforts enabling smarter clinical decision-making in the cardiorenal space. Her work with various smaller and bigger healthcare players in Europe, North America and beyond has shown her that the broader implementation of AI across interventions is not simply an attractive possibility but an indispensable component to achieving at-scale adoption, engagement, and efficacy of digital interventions, in particular for solutions aiming to improve health outcomes through behaviour change and reduced physician workload. Sandrak is trained in gene technology and medical sciences with a major in healthcare business administration and graduated from the University of Tartu and Karolinska Institute.