Past Presidents

Dr Iveta Nagyova is the Head of the Department of Social and Behavioural Medicine at Pavol Jozef Safarik University (UPJS) in Kosice, Slovakia. She is also the Immediate Past President of the European Public Health Association (EUPHA; 2020–2024), Chair of the EUPHA/EPH Conference Foundation, a member of the Technical Advisory Group for Building an Innovation Ecosystem for Public Health at the WHO Regional Office for Europe, and a designated WHO/Europe National Focal Point for Behavioural and Cultural Insights in Slovakia. Previously, she served as a member of the WHO Technical Advisory Group on Behavioural Insights and Sciences for Health, the WHO/Europe Regional Director’s Advisory Council on Innovation for NCDs, and the European Advisory Committee on Health Research (EACHR). She is actively involved in the development and coordination of research projects, academic publishing, and the supervision of PhD students. Her research interests include biobehavioural and psychosocial innovations in chronic condition prevention and management, non-pharmacological interventions, behaviour change, and improving functional status and quality of life for individuals living with chronic disease. She is passionate about knowledge translation and improving health outcomes through evidence synthesis, co-design of integrated patient-centred care models, inventive implementation strategies, and scaling up effective interventions.

Dr Natasha Azzopardi-Muscat, Director of the Division of Health Systems, WHO Regional Office for Europe.

Dr Natasha Azzopardi-Muscat is a medical doctor and a specialist in public health medicine.

Following her qualification as a medical doctor from the University of Malta in 1995, Dr Azzopardi-Muscat worked in various clinical specialties, including maternal and child health, mental health, and primary care. Having successfully completed a Masters Degree in Health Services Management at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and the London School of Economics and Political Science she returned to work at the Ministry of Health in Malta.

Between 2001 and 2013, she occupied various senior positions in the Ministry including Director for EU and International Affairs, Director General for Strategy and Chief Medical Officer.

In 2016 she obtained her PhD from the University of Maastricht having successfully defended her transdisciplinary research on “The Europeanisation of health systems: a small state perspective”. She is the author of several publications in public health and European health policy.

Between 2016 and 2020 she served as the President of the European Public Health Association (EUPHA) where she was actively involved in health advocacy at the European level.

In 2020, Dr Azzopardi-Muscat joined WHO/Europe and was appointed Director of the Division of Country Health Policies and Systems She served continuously in that position until her re-appointment as Director Health Systems in June 2025.

She is an associate professor at the University of Malta and a visiting scholar at the University of Maastricht.

In 2024 she was awarded the Andrija Stampar medal by the Association for Public Health Schoools of the European Region (ASPHER) and in 2025 she was awarded an Honorary Fellowship by the Faculty of Public Health of the United Kingdom in recognition of her important contributions to public health.

Dr Azzopardi-Muscat is married to Dr Conrad Azzopardi and has three children Aidan, Sereena and Nathan.

Martin McKee has been committed to the European ideal since he was a teenager. His experience growing up in The Troubles in Northern Ireland, where his parents, both doctors, practiced across the sectarian interface, left him with an abiding rejection of tribal politics. Among the first group to go on Interrail, he used it to cross the continent from Norway to Greece and Romania. In his first substantial post at LSHTM he was charged with developing the School’s links with the rest of Europe. A few weeks later the Berlin Wall fell and his work expanded greatly. During the 1990s he worked extensively in Central and Eastern Europe (including ex-Yugoslavia, where he spent time in Sarajevo under siege). After 1993, he began what would become major research programmes in the countries of the former USSR. In 1997, was appointed as Professor of European Health at LSHTM and, that year, was one of the founders of the European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies, where he remains as Co-Director. He was heavily involved in the campaign to keep the UK in the EU and is a patron of the European Movement. He is confident that Brexit will be reversed, even if not in his lifetime.  As well as being a Past President of EUPHA, he has been President of the British Medical Association and is a member of Academia Europaea, and is a recipient of numerous awards including ASPHER’s Andrija Stampar medal.

Full Professor of Hygiene and Director of the School of Specialization in Hygiene and Preventive Medicine, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore (Rome).

President: Mission Board for Cancer (EC); Scientific Committee of the Human Technopole Foundation; European Mission Board for vaccination; of the Scientific Committee of BBMRI-ERIC.

Member: International Honorary Advisory Faculty of the National Screening Advisory Committee, Ireland; Scientific Advisory Board of the Pan-European Commission on Health and Sustainable Development: Rethinking policy priorities in the light of pandemics – WHO – Regional Office for Europe; Scientific Board, Santé Publique France; Advisory Group of the WHO for the reform of the healthcare system of Germany.

He has been Scientific Director of ICS Maugeri (2020-2023); Representative of Italy on the Executive Council of WHO (2017-2020); Commissioner (2014-2015) and President (2015-2018) of the Italian National Institute of Health.

Member of the Expert Panel on Effective ways of investing in Health (DG-SANTE, EC) (2013-2016 and 2016-2019).

He has served EUPHA as President for three times (2003-2004 and 2010-2014) as first President elected after the change of EUPHA constitution.

Past President of the WFPHA (2020-2022).

Member of the Board of Directors of the National Board of Medical Examiners of the USA (NBME) (2009-2015).

Founder and Director of the National Observatory for the Health of the Italian Regions (since 2002).

Awards: Hugh Levell Award from WFPHA, BMA Medical Book, Takamine, Edithe J. Levit, August and Marie Krogh, Evidence, Assobiotech, 100 Italian Excellences, Cimitile, Pericles International Prize.

“Commendatore” of the Italian Republic by Decree of the President of the Republic (2017). Honorary Degree from Thomas Jefferson University, Philadelphia, USA (2019).

Borne in 1941 (Mozambique), Greek ancestors, Portuguese nationality.

Education: Medical Doctor (University of Lisbon Medical School, 1967); Master of Science in Epidemiology (1972) and PhD in Public Health (1975), at the University of Texas School of Public Health, in Houston.

Professional experience: Director of a pilot Health Centre in Lisbon (1976-1983); First Academic Director of the Andalusian School of Public Health, in Granada, Spain (1985-87); Director for Health Policy and Services of WHO/Europe, in Copenhagen (1990-1995); Director General of Health of Portugal (1997-99); President of The European Public Health Association (2009); Director (2006-2011) and Professor of Health Policy and Management (1999-2011) at the National School of Public Health (Nova University of Lisbon).

Most relevant awards: The Baxter Award 1999 (European Health Care Management Association) “for an outstanding publication contributing to excellence in health care management in Europe”; Honorary Distinction, 2004 (Greek Association of General Practitioners) “for his contribution to the development of Primary Health Care and General Practice in Greece”; Gold medal for distinguish services, 2006, by the Ministry of Health of Portugal; National Health Award, 2019, for significant contribution in Public Health and heath service development in Portugal, attributed by an academic and professional panel convened by the Ministry of Health.

Ilmo Keskimäki (MD, PhD) is Research Professor at the Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare (THL) and Professor of Health Services Research at the Tampere University, Finland. He has specialised in Public Health Medicine.  His research has focused on health systems and policy analysis and developing research methods for the use of register based longitudinal data in health services research. He has particular interest in research on equity in health care and impacts of reforming services on health system performance. He has worked in research and administrative positions in national research institutes in Finland and advised the government on issues related to health systems and policy development and research. He has formerly served as a president for the European Public Health Association and the Society for Social Medicine in Finland.

Educated Physician at The University of Bergen, Norway, 1977. Former Chief Public Health Physician and General Practitioner (on call 24/7) at Vaeroy and Rost in Lofoten, Norway 1979-84. Researcher at University of Oslo (UiO) form 1984. Chief Physician at The Norwegian National Social Security System (NAV) in periods 1985-2019.

PhD on the topic “Physicians´ Sickness Certification Practice”, UiO 1990.  Professor I in Community Medicine 1991-2019. Specialist in General Practice, 1990 and Community Medicine 1991. Dean/Deputy Dean Faculty of Medicine, UiO 1996-99.

Founder/President of Norwegian Public Health Association 1998-2008 www.NOPHA.no. Head of the Committee for the EUPHA Conference in Oslo 2004. Editor of the conference report: “Urbanisation and Health – New Challenges in Health Promotion and Prevention”: ISBN-8274772083. As EUPHA President I took the initiative to establish “EUPHA Section of Public Mental Health” (Vice-President); and with Johan Lund, establish “EUPHA Section of Injury Prevention and Safety Promotion”. Member of EUPHA Govern Council 1998-2008. Member of “WFPHA Committee of Membership” 2006-2008, and “WFPHA Committee of Environment” 2007-2008”.

Fellow of World Academy Productivity Science since 1999. Former Professor II at Oslo Metropolitan University, University of Inland Norway, and Kristiania University, Oslo (in periods 2001-2021).  Past President/founder of “The Foundation NaKuHel” (NatureCultureHealth-NaCuHeal) from 1994 www.NaKuHel.no. Founder/President of “The NaCuHeal Academy” from 2024.
www.tellnes.info

Viviane Van Casteren was born on 20 February 1955 in Leuven, Belgium. In 1980 she got a medical degree at the Catholic University Leuven. From 1981 until 2019, she was a researcher in public health  and as of 2013 she was head of the Section of Health Services Research at the Scientific Institute of Public Health in Brussels.

Her key qualifications are situated in the field of sentinel surveillance with general practitioners, quality improvement research with general practitioners, with reference centres for specific conditions (e.g. diabetes, cystic fibrosis, neuromuscular diseases, rare diseases), research on data collection through the Electronic Patient Record (EPR) in general practice. She co-ordinated and participated in several European projects in the field of sentinel practices. As of 1990 she is a member of EUPHA. She is a member of the EUPHA Section on Chronic Diseases and the Section on Infectious Diseases. She was EUPHA president elect in 2001 and EUPHA president in 2002.

Alena Petrakova is a medical doctor with postgraduate specialty diplomas in paediatrics, medical genetics and public health. She has over 35 years’ experience in public health with long-term academic experience at national and international levels, and over 15 years´ experience as employee of international organizations – she was WHO staff member in 1999-2009, including WHO Headquarters (2001-9) and senior staff member at the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC).

In 2016, she returned back to the Czech Republic, to continue her academic career as Professor (Assoc.) at the Faculty of Health Sciences, Palacký University in Olomouc, and at the Faculty of Health Studies, University of JEP in Ústí nad Labem. Her key topics are crisis management, health risks, preparedness and response, risk communication, infodemic management, and health literacy improvement.

She is EUPHA Past-President and active member of The Association of Schools of Public Health in the European Region (ASPHER), member of the ASPHER Public Health Emergencies Task Force and ASPHER Core Competences Programme (CCP).

Since 2018, she serves as evaluator of the research, development and innovations in the field of medicine and health sciences, of the Research, Development and Innovation Council of the Government of the Czech Republic.

Peter Allebeck, professor of Social Medicine at the Department of Global Public Health, Karolinska Institute, previous joint position as medical officer at the Stockholm County Council. His main research areas are epidemiology of mental health and substance abuse, using population based cohorts linked to national health care registers. Health services research and health policy are other research areas. He holds various positions monitoring and evaluating policy and research activities. He is strongly involved in the Global Burden of Disease network, with comparative studies on risk factor and disease burden over time and between countries, and is member of its Scientific Council. He has been engaged in the European Public Health Association (EUPHA) since its founding meeting in 1992, and has been editor-in-Chief of the European Journal of Public Health (EJPH) since 2010.

Carlos Alvarez-Dardet is Professor of Public Health of the university of Alicante (Spain) and editor in chief of the recently created Mediterranean Journal of Public Health. He runs also the Observatory on Policies and health. He has served as president of EUPHA during 1997 and of SESPAS (the Spanish public health and health administration society) from 1993-97

He coined the term Political epidemiology as the study of the effects on health of the decisions taken from institutions derived from political power, with his research group he studied the effect of democracy on health and the effect of gender policies in the health of women and men

He participated in the spreading in Spain and Latinoamerica of the healthy cities project and was involved also in the WHO euro regions for health network

Louise studied Medicine in Groningen and Public Health and epidemiology at Johns Hopkins SPH. She got her PhD at the Erasmus University where she developed the simulation model Prevent that was used in many countries to estimate the potential health benefits of preventive policies. In 1991 she was appointed professor in Social Medicine at the University of Amsterdam. She continued to work on modeling but also published widely on health policy, specifically on Socioeconomic Health equity.

As President of the Dutch Association of Public Health she represented one of the seven countries that formed the first core membership of EUPHA. For that she was honored with the Europe Blanche award. During her presidency, EUPHA was able to expand her membership in the former Eastern European countries. Louise was to have been succeeded by Ferenc Bojan, president of the Hungarian association of Public Health who died prematurely in a car accident. Hence the double term as president of EUPHA and hence the Ferenc Bojan lecture at the EUPHA conference.

Louise Gunning continued her career as Dean of Medicine and Chair of the Academic Medical Center, she was President of the University of Amsterdam and ended as University Professor of Health and Society. She retired in 2017.