SPEAKERS
Cary Adams
Union for International Cancer Control
Cary Adams has a BSc Honours degree in Economics, Computing and Statistics from the University of Bath, United Kingdom and a Masters degree (with Distinction) in Business Administration. In 2009, Cary made a career change, moving from the management of international businesses in the banking sector to become CEO of UICC based in Geneva. Cary focuses on global advocacy, convening the cancer community and running significant global capacity building projects that address global cancer issues.
Peyman Altan
WHO FCTC Europe
Dr. Peyman Altan is the actual Regional Coordinator of WHO FCTC Europe and Head of Drug Control Unit of MoH. She has got a long-term experience in tobacco control, drug addiction prevention, infectious disease epidemiology, HIV prevention and sexual health, tuberculosis. Her work focuses in project management and coordination of international funded programmes, such as Bloomberg Initiative, The Global Fund and World Bank, among others.
Pilar Aparicio
Ministry of Health, Spain
Dr. Pilar Aparicio is the General Director of Public Health (Ministry of Health, Spain). Throughout her professional career, she has carried out different tasks in clinical-care areas; research applied to the epidemiology of infectious diseases, teaching and activities related to international public health and technical scientific cooperation, aimed at strengthening public health systems and control of communicable diseases World Health Organization (WHO) and National Center of Tropical Medicine of ISCIII in different countries of Latin America and Africa.
Daniëlle Arnolds
Health Funds for a Smokefree Netherlands
Daniëlle Arnold is a senior policy advisor at Health Funds for Smoke-Free, where she has worked for three years. She believes that together, we can protect growing children against the harmful effects of (co-)smoking and against the temptation to start smoking themselves later. Daniëlle got her Bachelor of Law at the Utrecht Law College, and in 2018 she got her Legal Research Master at the University of Utrecht.
Montse Ballbè
Catalan Institute of Oncology
Montse Ballbè, MSc, PhD, is a psychologist. She works in the Tobacco Control Unit of the Catalan Institute of Oncology, conducting research and coordinating the Catalan Network of Smoke-free Hospitals. The main focus of her research is tobacco in the area of Mental Health, and also electronic cigarettes. She has worked for many years in clinical smoking cessation intervention and overall she has been involved in tobacco control for over 20 years.
Emmanuelle Béguinot
Comité National Contre le Tabagisme
Emmanuelle Béguinot is the Director of the Comité National Contre le Tabagisme, CNCT (French National Committee for Tobacco Control) and received the WHO award for her involvement in the fight against smoking. The CNCT is the first NGO in France specialized and involved in the prevention and the protection of people regarding the damages due to tobacco and its industry. The association conducts studies, experimental projects and awareness-raising activities on all the harmful effects of tobacco, as well as advocacy activities to ensure that strong protection measures are adopted and respected.
James Robert Branston
University of Bath
Dr. Robert Branston is a Senior Lecturer in Business Economics at the University of Bath School of Management. His primary research interests surround the governance and regulation of organisations, with a particular focus on the provision of public utilities and other key sectors, most notably the global tobacco industry. He has researched the conduct, performance, and market impact of transnational companies, and has been funded by many associations such as: Action on Smoking and Health (ASH), The Irish Cancer Society or The Irish Heart Foundaction.
Marion Catellin
Alliance Contre le Tabac
Since 2019, Marion Catellin has been the Director of ACT, Alliance Contre le Tabac, the French federation of the 24 main tobacco control associations in France. After 10 years of experience as a public relations specialist and in-house lawyer, she is in charge of the first national program (2020-2024) aimed at renewing the approach to tobacco prevention through public relations and advocacy campaigns.
Magdalena Cedzynska
Maria Sklodowska-Curie National Research Institute of Oncology
Magdalena Cedzynska, psychologist and psychotherapist, is the Director of Smoking Cessation Service at the Maria Sklodowska-Curie National Research Institute of Oncology. She is involved in primary cancer prevention, mainly in reducing the consequences of smoking, with a special focus on the treatment of tobacco dependence. As a member of the Advisory Board of the International Network of Women Against Tobacco (INWAT) Europe, she is particularly interested and involved in issues concerning the smoking epidemic among women.
Jasmina Cekric
PROI
Jasmina Čekrić is a project manager in the association PROI, and the coordinator of the first established Youth Advocacy Board in Bosnia and Herzegovina. She has experience in the analysis of legislation in Bosnia and Herzegovina and the region, public relations, monitoring, evaluation, and advocacy of effective tobacco control policies in Bosnia and Herzegovina. She holds a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering and technology, and in recent years her work has primarily focused on advocacy, particularly in the areas of tobacco control and youth development.
Luke Clancy
Tobacco Free Research Institute Ireland
Professor Luke Clancy, PhD, is the general director, Tobacco Free Research Institute Ireland. Luke has an international track record in the area of smoking and health and on the causes, management and prevention of respiratory diseases, particularly air pollution, asthma, cancer and tuberculosis. For the last 40 years, he has directed and co-ordinated research projects on these conditions, and led TFRI in policy-driven research and extensive international collaborations. His current focus is on the prevention of smoking-related diseases through research and advocacy.
Alison Cox
NCD Alliance
Alison Cox is Policy and Advocacy Director at the NCD Alliance where she is responsible for policy strategy development and delivery across the organisation’s strategic impact goals of Prevention, Care and Financing. Alison has previously led policy and advocacy programmes for other global public health alliances: the Framework Convention Alliance and the Global Climate and Health Alliance. Alison also spent eight years as Cancer Research UK’s Prevention Director where she was responsible for their Cancer Policy Research Centre, as well as UK and International prevention policy research grant-funding programmes.
Elif Dagli
Health Institute Society
Prof Elif Dağlı is a physician and advocate focusing on childhood respiratory diseases. As an academician with thirty years of experience, she wishes to focus her research and teaching efforts on increasing the awareness and the importance of prevention. Elif Dağlı’s involvement in tobacco control and leadership has been crucial in Turkey. She was involved in drafting the legislation that instituted a ban on tobacco advertising and the establishment of smoke-free environments.
Lorena Dini
Health Policy and Systems Research and Innovation (HPSRI)
Lorena Dini is a medical doctor with a Master of Science in International Health, a Diploma in Tropical Medicine and Public Health, and holds a Certificate in Health Care Management. As a senior she is researcher dedicated to improving the health of the individuals and communities by designing and implementing innovative research projects with an action-based realist-approach. Her projects merge mixed methods and participatory approaches covering the primary care, public health, global health and one health from the patient, provider, organizational and systemic perspective.
Roland Driece
Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sports in the Netherlands
Roland Driece is the Director for International Affairs at the Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sports in the Netherlands. Previously, he held positions within the ministries of Health, Economic Affairs and Foreign Affairs. In that last capacity, he was Health Counselor at the Netherlands Permanent Mission in Geneva, dealing primarily with WHO-issues. He studied Public Administration and Law at the Erasmus University in Rotterdam.
Ariadna Feliu
International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC/WHO)
Ariadna Feliu holds Degrees in Biomedical Sciences and Law from the University of Barcelona, a Master in Public Health and a PhD. She was a predoctoral researcher at Tobacco Control Unit of the Catalan Institute of Oncology and did her PhD on the evaluation of the impact of tobacco control policies in Europe and Latin American countries on smoking indicators and socioeconomic factors. She is currently a postdoctoral scientist at the Environmental and Lifestyle Epidemiology Branch at the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC/WHO). Her main research area is policy evaluation for cancer prevention with a special focus on tobacco control.
Manuel Franco
Johns Hopkins
Manuel Franco, Social and Urban Epidemiologist, is an associate faculty at the University of Alcalá and adjunct faculty in two institutions in the USA: Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and the City University of New York CUNY Graduate School of Public Health. He is the Principal Investigator of the European Research Council Starting Grant Heart Healthy Hoods studying urban characteristics in relation to eating patterns, physical activity levels, smoking and alcohol consumption.
Allen Gallagher
University of Bath
Allen Gallagher is a research fellow at the Tobacco Control Research Group (TCRG) at the University of Bath, UK. Allen has a BA and MSc. from the University of the West of Scotland (UWS), and a PhD from the University of Bath. While interested in various issues related to tobacco control and commercial determinants of health, Allen’s primary research focus to date has been to explore contemporary tobacco industry involvement in the illicit tobacco trade and related policy, with him having given evidence on this topic at the European Parliament and having contributed to the UK chapter of the World Bank’s global review of country experiences confronting illicit tobacco trade.
Silvano Gallus
Mario Negri Institute
Silvano Gallus, PhD, leads the Laboratory of Lifestyle Epidemiology of Mario Negri Institute in Milan. From 2017 to 2021 he has been Honorary Associate Professor at the University of Nottingham, UK. During his 25-year career, Dr Gallus gained extensive experience in conducting independent research and collaborative work in the fields of epidemiology and public health. His main fields of interest include the epidemiology of tobacco use in Italy and Europe, the role of novel (tobacco) products on public health, the role of tobacco on COVID-19 and the epidemiology of tinnitus.
José Miguel Gaona
Drug and Tobacco Rehabilitation Center
Dr. José Miguel Gaona is the Director of Neurosalus at the Drug and Tobacco Rehabilitation Center. He got his Medical degree with “outstanding” final qualifications in 1982, specializing in Psychiatry. Ten years later, he received the Young Researchers Special Prize. Moreover, he’s been a Psychiatry professor at many universities. Among other activities he’s carried on during his career, we can highlight his task being the Mental health coordinator at the Bosnian and Ruanda war for ACNUR and the writer of many books and scientific papers in relation to human behavior and psychology.
Christian Gil-Borrelli
ISOSCELES
Christian Gil-Borrelli is a specialist in Preventive Medicine and Public Health and Doctor of Health Sciences. He is the Coordinator of ISOSCELES, a research group dedicated to making visible the health needs of LGTBIQ people in Spain, and a member of the Working Group on gender and sexual affective diversity of the Spanish Society of Epidemiology. He has coordinated SIVIVO, a pioneering project in addressing hate violence from the healthcare field. Part of his production as a researcher has been transferred by himself to the field of art, inspiring different artistic projects.
Laura Graen
German Cancer Research Center
Laura Graen is a research associate at the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ) and WHO Collaboration Center for Tobacco Control. She is also a freelance consultant and expert on human rights and tobacco control, and supports international organizations in their research, campaigns and advocacy. She has a background in social anthropology.
Dolores Isla
Hospital Clínico Universitario Lozano Blesa
Dolores Isla, MD PhD, is currently a Consultant in Medical Oncology since 1993, Head of the Medical Oncology Department and the Thoracic Cancer Unit as well, Hospital Clínico Universitario Lozano Blesa, Zaragoza, Spain. She is the principal investigator of many different research trials based on Lung Cancer, preferently on new drugs, translational research, immunotherapies and personalized therapies.
Luk Joossens
Association of European Cancer Leagues
Luk Jossens is a Special Advisor, Smoke Free Partnership and International expert on illicit tobacco trade. Since 1977, he has been the author of more than 500 articles, reports and presentations on the different aspects of the smoking prevention policy, such as smoking prevalence studies, Tobacco Control Scale, smoking cessation, passive smoking, advertising, etc. In 1991, he received the World Health Organization Commemorative Award and Medal for promoting the concept of tobacco-free societies.
Paul Kavanagh
HSE Tobacco Free Ireland Programme
Dr. Paul Kavanagh is a medical doctor, specialist in public health medicine, and holds postgraduate qualifications in Community Health, Health Economics, Medical Education, Healthcare Leadership and Data Science. He is currently a Consultant in Public Health Medicine with the HSE Tobacco Free Ireland Programme. He has led on the development of Ireland first National Stop Smoking Clinical Guidelines, and various initiatives to improve tobacco control across health services in Ireland.
Pawel Koczkodaj
Maria Sklodowska-Curie National Research Institute of Oncology
Pawel Koczkodaj is assistant professor, deputy head of Cancer Epidemiology and Primary Prevention De-partment at the Maria Sklodowska-Curie National Research Institute of Oncology, Warsaw, Poland. Koczkodaj is a public health specialist, researcher, health educator and Ambassador for the European Code Against Cancer in Poland nominated by the Association of European Cancer Leagues in Brussels. He continues to participate and serve as a lecturer in many national and international conferences, symposia and seminars related to primary and secondary cancer prevention. His main professional interests lays in the area of primary cancer prevention, health education and health promotion.
Anton Kunst
Amsterdam University Medical Centre
Anton Kunst is a professor in Social Epidemiology at the Amsterdam University Medical Centre, where he is deputy head of the Department of Public and Occupational Health. His main interests are socioeconomic, geographic and ethnic inequalities in health and smoking, with a particular interest in the relationship with tobacco control policies at local and national levels. He has led European research projects on inequalities in youth smoking, with the aim to identify new opportunities for smoking prevention (the SILNE projects).
Daniel La Parra
Spanish State Council of Roma People
Daniel La Parra is a Sociology Full Professor, with a Sociologist undergraduate degree and PhD and Master of Science in Epidemiology. He’s been an expert member at the Spanish State Council of Roma People since 2010. He’ also occupied different positions such as Guest Researcher Sociology Department in Umeå, Sweden (2021-2022), Director of the World Health Organization Centre on Social Inclusion and Health (2012-2020), Expert at the Spanish National Commission on the Social Determinants of Health (2009) and Roma Inclusion Newsletter editor (2012-2021).
María-José López
Public Health Agency of Barcelona
María-José López has a PhD in Public Health and Biomedical Research Methodology and is graduated in Environmental Sciences. She is the head of the Evaluation and Intervention Methods Service of the Public Health Agency of Barcelona and the PI of the Policies and Programs Evaluation Group of the CIBERESP network. She has led and participated in numerous research projects, all of them related to the fields of Evaluation in Public Health and the secondhand smoke exposure. She is also associate professor at the Pompeu Fabra University.
Ángel López Nicolás
Grupo I+D
Ángel López Nicolás received his PhD in Economics from the European University Institute of Florence in 1993. He is currently Professor of Applied Economics at the Polytechnic University of Cartagena. His recent research has focused on tobacco control policies, with contributions to the design of taxes, the economic impact assessment of smoke-free laws and the cost-effectiveness analysis of smoking cessation interventions in Primary Care. Mr. López has also collaborated in various civil associations, such as the National Committee for Smoking Prevention.
Alessandra Lugo
Istituto Mario Negri
Alessandra Lugo holds a MSc degree and a PhD in biomedical statistics. She trained as a research fellow at Mario Negri Institute in Milan since 2010. She leads the Unit of Biostatistics for Observational Epidemiology, within the Laboratory of Lifestyle Epidemiology at Mario Negri Institute. Her main fields of interest include the monitoring of major risk factors for cancer and other non-communicable chronic conditions in Italy and Europe, including tobacco smoking, the use of novel (tobacco) products, obesity, and alcohol drinking, through the analysis of cross-sectional surveys.
Cristina Macia
Ramón y Cajal Hospital
Specialised in Rheumatology in 2013 at the Ramón y Cajal Hospital in Madrid, where she currently works. Master’s degree in spondyloarthritis from the European University of Madrid in 2016, and PhD from the Autonomous University of Madrid in 2021 with the thesis “New contributions of ultrasound in the study of paratenonitis, enthesitis and synovitis in psoriatic arthritis”. Member of the international group GRAPPA. European lecturer in musculoskeletal ultrasound, and national university teaching experience. Treasurer of the Spanish Society of Rheumatology.
Ruth Malone
University of California
Ruth E. Malone, RN, PhD is Professor Emerita of Nursing and Health Policy, Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences, University of California, San Francisco, USA. Since 2009, she has served as Editor-in-Chief of the leading international policy journal in the field, Tobacco Control, published by BMJ, where shefacilitated journal initiatives aimed at addressing tobaccoindustry influences in science and policy discourse. She is internationally known for her research and analysis on endgame thinking about the social, political and policy dynamics of tobacco control.
Beatriz Martín
Fundación Fad Juventud
General Director of Fundación Fad Juventud since 2018. It is a foundation dedicated to improving the well-being and quality of life of adolescents and young people, focusing on sociological research on youth, awareness campaigns. Recently, it has focused on other forms of smoking, such as electronic cigarettes and bongs, providing training for parents, non-formal education agents and workshops for adolescents. Beatriz has been working in the Third Sector since 2006. Her previous experience of 20 years has been developed in companies from different sectors, in the areas of HR and was a pioneer in the area of diversity.
Cristina Martínez
Catalan Institute of Oncology
Cristina Martínez, PhD, is a senior researcher at the Catalan Institute of Oncology and an Associate Adjunt Professor at University of California, San Francisco. She counts with an extensive background implementing and evaluating tobacco control policies. Also, she is a demonstrative expertise in designing, coordinating and, co-funding public health programs. Her broad experience in conducting scientific reviews, publishing and, disseminating research is remarkable.
Karina Mocanu
European Network for Smoking and Tobacco Prevention
Karina Mocanu is currently the Communication Manager of the European Network for Smoking and Tobacco Prevention. She holds a Master’s degree in Corporate Communications and Marketing at Université Libre de Bruxelles. In addition to her background in Political Science from the same university, Karina has worked in different communication missions within diplomacy, tobacco control, toxicology, cancer-related NGOs and EU projects. Her work, recently oriented towards research, focuses as well on youth advocacy in the field of health. She is the leader of the ENSP Youth Group and tries to translate the mission and vision of ENSP.
María Neira
World Health Organization
Dr. Maria P. Neira obtained her degree in Medicine and Surgery at University of Oviedo and a Master’s degree in Public Health from the Université Pierre et Marie Curie. Dr. Neira is the Director of the Department of Public Health and Environment at the World Health Organization (WHO). Previously, she served as President of the Spanish Food Safety Agency and Vice-Minister of Health and Consumer Affairs in Spain. In 1999 Dr. Neira was assigned as Director of the Department of Control, Prevention and Eradication at WHO.
Isabel Nerín
University of Zaragoza
Isabel Nerín is a doctor graduated from Medicine at University of Zaragoza, has got a degree in Psychology and is a specialist in Pneumology and Family and Community Medicine. From university professor to SEMG director chair, her work focuses on Tobacco Use and its prevention, being denominated an expert on this topic by SEPAR and University of Cantabria. Furthermore, Ms. Nerín is an individual member of the National Committee for Smoking Prevention (CNPT) and the International Network Women Against Tobacco (INWAT).
Haik Nikogosian
The Graduate Institute Geneva
Haik Nikogosian, MD, PhD, DSc, Prof. is currently a senior affiliate with the Global Health Centre, Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies in Geneva, with focus on global health instruments, diplomacy and governance. In 2007-14 he was the founding Head of the Secretariat of the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control. Served also in other senior roles in WHO, including as Special Representative and as Head, Non-communicable Diseases and Lifestyles with WHO/Europe. Before his move to international work, served as Minister of Health, and as founding Chairman of the National Institute of Health of Armenia.
Frances O'Donovan
Joint Action on Tobacco Control 2
Frances O’Donovan is the Head Coordinator for the Joint Action on Tobacco Control 2 project. She graduated from The University of Southern Denmark in 2018 with a Masters in political science, specializing in public policy. She has a background as a local politician for the municipality of Fredericia. She was the Vice Chair for the Health Committee and responsible for the establishment of a local health centre in Fredericia. She was also recipient of a US government sponsored fellowship for the “Transatlantic Inclusion Leaders Network. Ms. O’Donovan is currently employed at the Ministry of Interior and Health as a Special Advisor.
Eduardo Olano
Smoking Prevention Group of the Madrid Society of Family and Community Medicine
He completed the Master’s Degree in Smoking at the University of Cantabria, of which he has been a member since 2007. He has been responsible for the Smoke-Free Primary Care Programme and Coordinator of the Smoking Prevention Group of the Madrid Society of Family and Community Medicine (SoMaMFyC), from where he has participated in various research projects funded in competitive calls within a line of research on tackling smoking integrated since 2010 in the research group on Cardiovascular Risk in Primary Care of the Doce de Octubre Research Institute (i+12), and more recently in the IAPP network, for research in Prevention and Health Promotion.
Liliia Olefir
Smoke Free Partnership
Liliia Olefir joined SFP in April 2022 as a Policy and Communication Manager. Prior to joining the SFP team she worked as Executive Director of the tobacco control NGO Advocacy Center “LIFE” in Kyiv in 2017-2021. She joined Advocacy Center “LIFE” in 2015 and has 6 years of experience in tobacco control, advocacy and communication. In 2019-2021 Liliia was a consultant on tobacco control policy to a Member of Parliament of Ukraine and served as member of the board of Coalition Reanimation Package of Reforms.
Belen Pardo
Proyecto Hombre Málaga
Belén Pardo Esteban has been the director of “Proyecto Hombre Málaga” since 2016, although she has been involved for 15 years, both as a member of staff and as a volunteer. Belén is a teacher and social educator, expert in addiction prevention and intervention, with extensive experience in the social field.
Mónica Pérez-Ríos
Spanish Society of Epidemiology (SEE)
Mónica Pérez-Ríos is an Associate Professor at the Department of Preventive Medicine and Public Health at the University of Santiago de Compostela (USC)-Spain and program director of the USC Master of Public Health. She is an epidemiologist with a PhD in Epidemiology and Public Health (USC ‘03). Her research investigates the impact of different behavioral risk factors, mainly tobacco epidemiology. Currently coordinates the Tobacco Group of the Spanish Society of Epidemiology.
Charlotta Pisinger
University of Copenhagen
Dr. Charlotta Pisinger is the first Danish professor in tobacco prevention. She has a professorate at the University of Copenhagen and is an associated professor at University of Southern Denmark. She is often refered to the foremost national expert in tobacco, has written the national guidelines for the treatment of tobacco addiction and presented scientific results to the European Parliament. She’s chairman for the European Union Respiratory Society and former president of the Danish Society for Tobacco Research, in the directory board for Danish Epidemiological Society and part of the Danish Heart Foundation Research Evaluation Comittee.
Pekka Puska
Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare
Professor Pekka Puska was the Director General of the Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare in Finland (THL). Recently he served as a Member of the Parliament of Finland, including the Health and Social Affairs Committee and of the Education Committee of the Parliament. Professor Puska has, for most of his career, worked at KTL/THL. He was, for 25 years, the Director and Principal Investigator of the North Karelia Project: prevention of cardiovascular diseases in North Karelia and later on in all Finland. Within 25 years, over 80% decline in annual heart disease mortality among the working age population and a dramatic general improvement in public health took place.
Leslie Rae Ferrat
Global Alliance for Tobacco Control
Leslie Rae Ferat is the Executive Director of Global Alliance for Tobacco Control (GATC) having previously served as Managing Director and Program Manager. She is a member of the WHO Civil Society Working Group on NCDs and Co-chair of its advocacy and communications sub-group. Leslie has over a decade of international experience, mainly working with low- and middle-income countries and other stakeholders to collect and use data to drive sustainable development and meet the SDGs.
Laura Reboul
Greenpeace
Laura Reboul is an environmentalist who seeks to find solutions to the critical current situation, being part of the system change. Therefore, since she was 18 years old, she has been a member of the NGO Greenpeace and graduated in Environmental Sciences from the Autonomous University of Madrid. Currently, she also works as an environmental educator in the Heliconia Group. She wants to specialize in the agroscience sector, particularly in the research of agro-food.
Susana Redondo
University Hospital of Salamanca
Susana is a specialist in preventive medicine and public health at the University Hospital of Salamanca. She has a degree in Medicine and Surgery from the University of Valladolid, where she is an Associate lecturer. Currently, she is Head of the Drug Use Evaluation and Prevention Service. She has experience in a multitude of training courses and is a member of the EVICT group, the Motivational Interviewing Group GETEM of the European Prevention Association ISSUP and the UnicHos research group.
Juan Miguel Rey Pino
University of Granada
Juan Miguel Rey Pino is an Associate Professor of Management and Marketing at the Faculty of Economics, University of Granada. After his thesis, he became interested in critical social marketing: observing and analysing the impact of industrial marketing practices (tobacco, alcohol) on the attitudes, representations and behaviour of individuals. He is currently involved as an expert researcher in the competitive project funded by the Instituto Carlos III de I+D+i Imagina-Tab on the monitoring of the appearance of nicotine consumption scenes in different Spanish TV channels.
Kelsey Romeo-Stuppy
Action on Smoking and Health (ASH)
Kelsey Romeo-Stuppy has been working on global tobacco control since 2013. As Managing Attorney, Kelsey leads ASH’s program on liability, including pursuing criminal and civil cases against the tobacco industry. She also leads ASH’s human rights program, which includes drafting reports and advocating with the United Nations Human Rights Council and various human rights treaty bodies, as well as launching and managing ASH’s Tobacco and Human Rights Hub, among other projects that lead us closer to ending the tobacco epidemic.
Yannick Romero
Union for International Cancer Control
Yannick Romero, PhD, is Knowledge & Advocacy Manager and leads the tobacco control activities at the Union for International Cancer Control, developing and gathering evidence-based information for global advocacy purposes. In addition, he dedicates his time to national cancer control planning, which consists of the analysis and evaluation of country cancer plans in the frame of the International Cancer Control Partnership. In the past decade, he has worked in the area of cancer, infectious diseases & genetics with diverse global stakeholders.
John F. Ryan
European Comission
John F. Ryan is Director of the Commission Public Health directorate since September 2016 and acting Deputy Director-General for Health since December 2021. He is currently the Commission representative on the Board of the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control. His current priorities include management of the Covid pandemic, implementation of an EU cancer plan, development of a European mental health initiative, and the implementation of financial instruments to support health, including research.
Jon Samet
Colorado School of Public Health
Jonathan M. Samet, MD, MS, a pulmonary physician and epidemiologist, is Dean of the Colorado School of Public Health. He received a Bachelor’s degree in Chemistry and Physics from Harvard College, an MD degree from the University of Rochester’s School of Medicine and Dentistry, and a Master of Science degree in Epidemiology from the Harvard School of Public Health. His research focuses on the health risks of inhaled pollutants and the occurrence and causes of cancer and respiratory diseases. For several decades, he has been involved in global health, focusing on tobacco control, air pollution, and chronic disease prevention.
Kerstin Schotte
World Health Organization
Dr. Kerstin Schotte, a native of Germany, is a Medical Officer in the WHO Headquarters Department for Health Promotion, providing global scientific and technical leadership in matters related to capacity building in tobacco control. In her first professional experience, she was a medical doctor in Psychiatry and joined WHO in 2004 after finishing her MPH at Harvard University.
Sean Semple
University of Stirling
Research active academic with over 25 years experience of human exposure science with interests in the health effects of indoor air pollution, tobacco control research, and occupational epidemiology. He carries out translational research work focused on air quality measurement and interventions relating to second-hand smoke, biomass fuel smoke and workplace inhalation hazards. His recent research program has had a significant impact on public health policy to reduce exposure to second-hand smoke in Scotland.
Helen Stjerna
A Non Smoking Generation
Helen Stjerna is the Secretary General of the Swedish nonprofit foundation A Non Smoking Generation since 2015. With a background in business development, marketing and PR she had the knowledge and experience to shed light on young people’s conditions for a tobacco-free life. With numerous debate articles and extensive advocacy work she has contributed to a new law, regulating the emerging new nicotine products. She is also active in the Nordic Tobacco Control Network and the Tobacco free Europe Citizen initiative.
Robert West
University College London
Robert West is Professor Emeritus of Health Psychology at University College London. He specialises in behaviour change and addiction with a special focus on tobacco use. He has more than 900 academic publications. He has acted as an advisor to the UK government on behaviour change and authored several books on behaviour change as well as guides for government agencies. His most recent book is ‘React: Harness your
animal brain’ which provides a concise summary of our understanding of motivation as it applies to topics such as addiction.”
Marc C. Willemsen
Dutch Trimbos Institute
Marc is Scientific Director of the Netherlands Expertise Center for Tobacco Control at the Dutch Trimbos Institute. He holds an endowed professorship in Tobacco Control Research at the Department of Health Promotion, University of Maastricht. He has an MA in Psychology and a PhD in Public Health. He has conducted numerous studies in the field of tobacco control and has publicized 100+ peer-reviewed scientific articles on various tobacco related topics, including harm reduction, genetic aspects of smoking, the efficacy of cessation methods, among others.