Ineke Klinge - Assistant Professor Genderstudies in Health and Healthcare, University Maastricht,NL
Director, European Institute of Women's Health

Ineke is a Assistant Professor Genderstudies in Health and Healthcare, University Maastricht,NL

She is a biologist by training and specialized in immunology. She received a KWF fellowship to conduct research at the Dutch Cancer Institute. Her second specialization is in Gender Studies in Science. As lecturer at University Utrecht (1988-1997) she developed and coordinated an interdisciplinary research programme Health and Gender : the medicalisation of the female body with a focus on ageing. She taught many (inter)national courses on gender and science and organised a number of national and international workshops on the climacteric, sex/gender in science and predictive medicine. Her PhD thesis "Gender and Bones: the Production of Osteoporosis 1941-1996" was published in 1998

She is currently appointed at Maastricht University as assistant professor in Gender Studies in Health Sciences. In 2004 she also joined the Centre for Gender & Diversity as senior researcher. She has more than 10 years of experience with research for the European Commission. Already in 1992 she conducted research for the European Commission Women's views of the Human Genome Project and participated in the first EC workshop Women in Science and Technology Research in 1993. In 2001 she conducted one of the seven commissioned Gender Impact Studies of the Fifth Framework Programme (Klinge & Bosch, 2001). Her study addressed the integration of the gender dimension in the Research Programme for the life sciences: Quality of Life and Management of Living Resources, Gender in Research, Gender Impact Assessment of the specific programmes of the Fifth Framework Programme Quality of Life and Management of Living Resources.

Her current research programme is titled "A gender and diversity perspective on health and health care". Under this umbrella a number of national and international research projects are carried out ranging from integration of a diversity perspective in quality assurance in health care institutions to integration of the gender dimension in FP6 Integrated Projects and Networks of Excellence in the field of Food Quality and Safety. She coordinates the FP6 Project GenderBasic: promoting the integration of the gender dimension in basic/preclinical and clinical research (2005-2007). She published widely on osteoporosis, the female body, medicalisation, menopause, gender & health and gender sensitive research methodologies in life sciences and health research.

Piroska ?stlin - Senior Lecturer, Karolinska Institute,Sweden
Director, European Institute of Women's Health

Piroska ?stlin, is a Social Epidemiologist, Research Manager, in the Swedish National Institute of Public Health and Senior Lecturer in Public Health specialised in International Health, IHCAR, Karolinska Institute . Her research concerns methodological problems in occupational epidemiology, as well as the significance of the work environment on women's and men's health. Her current research contributes also to a better understanding of the complex ways in which biological and social factors interact and operate that produce and maintain the obvious differences that prevail in men's and women's health. Before her current position she was the Secretary of the National Public Health Commission, where she was responsible for defining national public health targets and suggesting strategies to reduce social inequalities in health between different segments of the Swedish society.

She also works extensively for WHO in a consultative and/or advisory capacity, mainly concerning gender mainstreaming strategies. She is one of the core-authors of the World Health Report 2004 concerning health research. Currently she serves on boards of different organisations, such as the Nordic School of Public Health and the European Institute of Women's Health.
Piroska was recently appointed as Leader of the Women and Gender Equity Knowledge Network, Commission on Social Determinants of Health (CSDH), She was appointed by the European Commission as evaluator of research proposals to the EU 6th Framework Programme for Research. Piroska is also a member of the "European Network on Interventions and Policies to Reduce Socio-economic Inequalities in Health" since 1995 Her publications include Engendering International Health: the Challenge of Equity, (The MIT Press, 2002), Gender Inequalities in Health: A Swedish Perspective, (Harvard Center for Population and Development Studies, Harvard University Press, 2001).

Karen Ritchie

Karen Ritchie - Research Director, INSERM, France
Director, European Institute of Women's Health

Karen Ritchie is Director of the INSERM research unit E361 "Nervous System Pathologies: Epidemiological and Clinical Research". The unit is affiliated to the University of Montpellier and the Institute of Psychiatry, King's College London.

Karen is consultant to WHO, Department of Mental Health and Addictions, and Co-President (with Dr C Kennedy, NIH, Washington) of the WHO-NIH Technical Expert Advisory Group on Mental Health (since 1995). Karen is Chairman of the Mental Health division of the European Network on Health Expectancy (1994-2000). Her editorial board membership includes: International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, International Psycho-geriatrics Journal of Clinical and Experimental Gerontology, Dementia, Psycho-geriatrics, Neuronale , Neurologie-Psychiatrie-G?riatrie

Hildrun Sundseth

Hildrun Sundseth - Head of EU Policy, European Cancer Patient Coalition, Europe
Director, European Institute of Women's Health

Over the last 20 years Hildrun had the responsibility for the political and policy work with the EU institutions as Director of European Community Affairs for one of the world's leading pharmaceutical companies. She pioneered improved communication with patient groups and health NGO based on shared interest, transparency and respect and helped to develop the European Pharmaceutical Industry and the Associations' principles for working with patient groups. Initiated the company's healthy ageing strategy which led to the setting up of an Institute of Ageing and Health under the Company Foundation.

Upon retirement in early 2004, she was elected Board member of the European Institute of Women's Health which is based in Dublin and became Head of EU Policy for the European Cancer Patient Coalition (ECPC). ECPC is a patient-led umbrella organisation bringing together cancer patient groups from the large cancers such as lung, colon, breast and prostate to the rarer cancers across Europe to speak with a single voice in the European healthcare debate. Hildrun is responsible for ECPC's strategy on all EU policies, legislation and measures that affect cancer patients and their care. She provides the Secretariat for MAC "MEPs against Cancer" the Forum that brings together 56 MEPs with the aim of making the fight against cancer once more a priority for EU and Member State action.

She worked with patient groups, health and patient rights NGOs in CEE countries to alert policy makers to the cancer gaps between East and West. To that end ECPC organised the Slovenian Cancer Summit in November 2006 under the patronage of the Ministry of Health of Slovenia and Commissioner Potocnik to provide key stakeholders with an early opportunity for input to the Slovenian EU Presidency health agenda.

- Committee work

EMEA Human Scientific Committees Working Party with Patients and Consumer Organisations DG Sanco Health Policy Forum DG Sanco Rare Disease Task Force

- Conferences- Roundtables

UK EU Presidency Roundtable "Delivering Patient-centred innovation in medicines" European Forum Alpbach Austrian EU Presidency meeting "Moderne Medikamente als Hoffnungstraeger" EFPIA Annual Conference workshop on Patient Information European Life Science Circle meeting on Patient information Expert for European Institute of Women's Health at Bundeszentrale fuer gesundheitliche Aufklaerung "Media competence and knowledge management for women's health in midlife and beyond".

- Publications

Women's Health Facts and Figures across Europe, Advisory Committee ECPC Position papers on public health strategy, paediatrics, cancer screening, Advanced Therapies Slovenian Summit Report.