Personalised Health Index launch: are European health systems ready to face what the future holds?

Dr. Ceri Thompson is Deputy Head of the eHealth, Wellbeing and Aging unit at the European Commission’s DG CNECT. Within the European Commission, Ceri has previously worked for DG SANTE and Eurostat. She has experience across a range of EU health policy areas, including nutrition & physical activity, alcohol and drugs, tobacco, pharmaceutical policy and health inequalities.

Prior to joining the Commission, she worked on Global Health for DFID, and for KPMG’s international healthcare practice, conducting strategic and efficiency reviews of health systems in the CARICOM and EECCA regions, and of various London hospitals.

Ceri graduated with a degree in Mathematics from Durham University in 1992, and she holds an MSc and a Doctorate in Public Health both from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine

Prof. Stjepko Pleština, is the Head of the Department of Oncology at the University Hospital Centre Zagreb. Prof. Pleština is a medical oncologist specializing in internal medicine and his professional and scientific interests concern tumors of the digestive system, breast tumors, pathophysiology of tumor growth, the application of innovative drugs in oncology and health system management. Prof Pleština has published extensively in the mentioned areas, and he is also the President of the Croatian Society of Medical Oncology.

Päivi Sillanaukee (MD, PhD, eMBA) is the thematic Ambassador for Health and Wellbeing, Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland as part of a pilot programme of cross-sectoral cooperation on global issues.

Dr Sillanaukee is on leave from her duty as the Director-General of the Department of Safety, Security and Health of the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health of Finland. Dr Sillanaukee served as the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry from 2012 to 2019. Between 2008 and 2012, she was the Director General of the Department for Social and Health Services at the Ministry. Previously, she was the Deputy Mayor and Director of Social and Health Services in the City of Tampere, Finland.

Between 1990 and 2004, she held clinical and managerial positions in the Pirkanmaa Hospital District and was a member of the Tampere City Council. Dr Sillanaukee is a specialist in public health and management from the University of Helsinki. She has worked on policies to promote public health, social protection and gender equality in the European Union and at the global level.

She has represented Finland in the WHO Executive Board since May 2018 and served as its first and third Vice Chair from 2018 to 2020. She is the co-chair of the Alliance for Health Security Cooperation (AHSC), a member of the Steering Group of the Global Health Security Agenda (GHSA), and a member of Health Advisory Board of the UN Technology Innovation Lab (UNTIL) Finland.

As a former BBC correspondent and radio presenter, Claire Doole is skilled at driving conversations forward, ensuring editorial flow and generating audience interaction in the virtual and non-virtual world.

She is a sought after moderator and Master of Ceremonies, having facilitated high-level international conferences attended by government ministers, business leaders and senior experts.

Since WHO declared the COVID-19 pandemic, Claire has moderated on behalf of the IFPMA monthly discussions and media briefings with the CEOs of the world's leading biopharmaceutical companies. Previously she has moderated on health issues for GSK, Bayer and IFPMA.

Based in Geneva, she runs a communications company that trains in the art of public speaking, talking to the media, speechwriting and writing with impact.

A British/Swiss national, Claire is fluent in English and French.