Brussels, 07 June 2018 – Health First Europe is delighted to announce the appointment of the new Honorary President, Mr Roberto Bertollini.
Public health, science and policy have always been his primary concerns. Holding degrees in medicine and paediatrics as well as a Master of public health, his entire career has been devoted to enhancing patient safety for citizen wellbeing worldwide as well as improve the link and dialogue between science and policy.
From 2011 to 2016, Mr Bertollini has been WHO Representative to the EU in Brussels and Chief Scientist of the WHO Regional Office for Europe.
Since January 2017, Mr Bertollini has been Advisor to the Minister of Public Health of Qatar, working to enhance the effectiveness and efficiency of the public health system in the country. In addition to this, he is a Member of the Scientific Committee on Health, Environment and Emerging Risks (SCHEER) of the Directorate-General for Health and Food Safety, providing scientific opinions to European Commission Services on health-related issues.
Under his leadership, Health First Europe will intensify its efforts and initiatives to:
- Prioritise the development of innovative and integrated model of organisation of care within the discussion on healthcare systems sustainability and efficiency;
- Keep safety for patient and health workforce under the limelight of the EU institutional debate to implement safety policies in the EU;
- Encourage key health stakeholders and policymakers make better plan and invest in early diagnosis and screening programmes as key enablers for saving lives while ensuring sustainability of our healthcare systems.
As he states, ¨I am delighted to continue the good work initiated by my predecessor Mr John Bowis. I will keep continuing to build upon our belief that “health equals wealth” with my commitment to promote a more sustainable, inclusive and innovative healthcare, to enhance a safety culture in health settings and achieve effective public health programmes and practices across Europe¨.
Please read here Roberto Bertollini’s editorial Committed to protect our health.
About Health First Europe
Health First Europe is a non-profit, non-commercial alliance of patients, healthcare workers, academics and healthcare experts and the medical technology industry. Launched in 2004, HFE advocates for equitable access for patients to modern, innovative and reliable medical technology to build better and safer healthcare systems in Europe. With a solid constituency of 24 pan-organisations including patient and healthcare professionals as well as of 32 Members of the European Parliament, HFE calls for truly patient-centred healthcare and believe that every European citizen should benefit from the best medical treatments available.
More information
HFE Secretariat
T. +32 (0)2 626 1999