All Partners


Dr Arpana Verma University of Manchester UNITED KINGDOM Website Arpana is currently a Senior Lecturer in Public Health at the University of Manchester, in the Clinical Epidemiology and Public Health Unit, which is part of the Occupational and Environmental Health Research Group (www.medicine.manchester.ac.uk/oeh) She was involved in EURO-URHIS 1 and has set up the Manchester Urban Collaboration on Health (MUCH). (www.medicine.manchester.ac.uk/oeh/research/publichealth) She is now the principal investigator and coordinator of EURO-URHIS 2. Her research interests include urban health, and health protection projects, including: blood borne viruses, respiratory health, infection control, vaccinations and immunisations, and health services research. She is also president of the urban health initiative for EUPHA. More information can be found at (www.eupha.org/site/new_initiatives.php)

Chris Birt University of Liverpool UNITED KINGDOM Website Website Chris Birt is a public health physician, employed by the University of Liverpool (Division of Public Health) and by Sefton Primary Care Trust (PCT). His longstanding interests have been cardiovascular epidemiology and prevention, and (partly leading on from this) public health epidemiology and management at European Union (EU) level. Thus, in the early 1990s he was involved in the establishment of the European Public Health Alliance (EPHA). Over 1993-1995 he assisted the European Commission (EC) to develop some of its first public health programmes, while working at the University of Birmingham. Since 2000 he has worked in Merseyside, and set up (for the whole North West Health Region in England) the North West Health Brussels Office (NWHBO). Over this period he also set up Heart of Mersey, an influential and respected cardiovascular diseases prevention project, which is also involved in relevant activities at EU level (it manages the EU Healthy Stadia Project), and which is funded by PCTs and local authorities in Merseyside and Cheshire; Chris is Co-Chair of the Board of Trustees for Heart of Mersey. Chris Birt can claim to be responsible for EURO-URHIS; hoping to agree a basis for application for DG SANCO for funding for the first stage of this, he arranged the first meeting, in the University of Liverpool, to discuss this possibility. For EURO-URHIS 2 he is a member of the Management Team and leads Work Package (WP) 4. top

Dr Erik van Ameijden National Institute for Public Health & the Environment (RIVM) NETHERLANDS Website Erik van Ameijden started his working career in 1989 as an epidemiologist at the Municipal Health Service in Amsterdam, mainly on infectious diseases (STD, TB, HIV/AIDS, travelers’ diseases) and addiction epidemiology. His PhD thesis (1994) was on the epidemiology of HIV/AIDS and the evaluation of AIDS prevention measures among drug users. In 1995, he worked at the Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. He was director of the Amsterdam Cohort Studies on HIV/AIDS since 1996. After 10 years, he worked for 2 years at the Trimbos Institute (National Institute of mental Health and Addiction) in Utrecht as head of the Department of Epidemiology. Since 2001 he has been head of the Department of Epidemiology and Information at the Municipal Health Service in Utrecht. This current affiliation concerns Public Health Epidemiology in general, including health monitoring and intervention research (community interventions, evaluation of specific projects, etc), with regard to a broad range of topics such as morbidity and mortality, lifestyle, infectious diseases, social and physical environment, addiction and mental health, socioeconomic and ethnic health differences, and health care wants and needs. Since 2005, Erik van Ameijden has honorary appointments at the Julius Centre for Health Sciences and Primary Care, University Medical Centre Utrecht, and the Public Health Department of the University of Manchester. Throughout his career, he was consultant for international organisations, and coordinated a variety of (inter)national collaborations. He is author of over 100 scientific publications in peer reviewed journals, and another 100 reports on health research and policy. His teaching experience includes courses in epidemiology at the universities of Amsterdam and Utrecht, and supervision and mentorship of 12 PhD students. top

Arnoud Verhoeff Professor of Urban Heath and Health Care Municipal Health Service AMSTERDAM Website Arnoud Verhoeff (1960, epidemiologist) Has been head of the department of Epidemiology, Documentation and Health Promotion of the Public Health Service Amsterdam, the Netherlands, since 1996. Before that he was working for ten years as a staff member of the department of Environmental Medicine at the same public health service. In 1994 he got his PhD at the Erasmus University Rotterdam, the Netherlands. The topic of his research was the relationship between home dampness, mould and house dust mites and respiratory symptoms in children. After his PhD he spent one year as a visiting scientist at the Harvard School of Public Health in Boston, United States of America. Since 2006 he was appointed as the professor of Urban Health and Health Care at the University of Amsterdam, the Netherlands. top

Chris White Senior European Health Specialist North West Regional Health Brussels Office BRUSSELS Website Born in the UK but having lived in the USA, Switzerland and Belgium, Chris has developed a taste for international relations. He has over 4 years experience of European liaison and regional development, having worked for several UK regional representations based in Brussels including the Kent, Buckinghamshire, Yorkshire and the North West. Chris took over the Senior EU Health Specialist role in January 2007 and he now oversees the development of regional partnerships on health issues, and aims to continue increasing the North West of England's health sector cooperation and engagement in European affairs. His responsibilities include organising programme visits to EU institutions by stakeholders, organizing conferences and training sessions, lobbying and raising awareness of the North West health community in Europe, creating relationships with MEP’s and EU officials, writing briefings and newsletters as well as position papers, bid writing and programme applications and managing the office, budget and staff. The North West Regional Health Office was opened in Brussels on 1 May 2004 with the purpose of increasing the capacity of the regional health economy to lever health, economic, social and environmental benefits from European agencies and institutions. Chris has been involved with many European health networks and funding bids, including the European local and regional health authorities network (EUREGHA) which covers cities and urban areas in Europe. top

Dr Andre Ochoa Chief Representative and Administrator National Federation of Regional Health Observatories (FNORS) FRANCE Website Dr Ochoa is a public health doctor and the Director of the Regional Health Observatory Aquitaine France. He was also the Coordinator of Isare 1, 2, 3 projects (Health indicators at a regional level) and I2sare project (Health inequalities at a regional level). top

Monika Mensing Institute for Public Health North Rhine Westphalia LIGA.NRW GERMANY Website Monika Mensing is Diplom-Kauffrau (the equivalent to a Master of Science in Business Administration) and studied economics at the German University of Paderborn. She majored in Marketing (with emphasis on market research and data analysis), Human Resource Management and Work Science. Since 1994, she has been working for the LIGA.NRW (NRW Institute of Health and Work). Since 1998, Monika is responsible for the conceptual design, the carrying out and the evaluation of health telephone surveys (CATI) on community and federal state level. top

Wolgang Hellmeier Institute for Health and Work North Rhine-Westphalia LIGA.NRW GERMANY Website With a diploma in mathematics, Wolfgang started work writing software for economic problems then went to the local statistical office and changed to the predecessor institute of the Institute for Health and Work North Rhine-Westphalia, LIGA.NRW in 1988. His main interest was on methods of epidemiology, monitoring and health reporting. He held lessons on epidemiological methods at the school of public health at the University of Bielefeld and wrote a meta-analysis about the prevalence of atopic diseases in Germany for a degree of doctor in public health. Wolfgang participated in two projects to adapt public health monitoring and reporting of new EU members to the EU requirements and worked in some international projects in the field of environment and health. Since 2008 he has been head of Health Information, comprising the collection of health data from several institutions in NRW and all over Germany and the using of this data for health monitoring and health reporting in NRW. They calculate indicators according to definitions which were adopted by the 16 states of Germany as the basis of a comparable health reporting in the states and present these indicators on the web in tables and graphs as well as combined with short reports. For some years the division has conducted a yearly health survey of the adult population in NRW. Topics of Wolfgang's current work are the design and implementation of an Information System Health NRW towards a comprehensive surveillance system including analysis, reporting and dissemination. He keeps in touch with European developments by taking part in several EU projects like I2SARE, HLS, AMIEHS and URHIS. top

Jolanta Skrule Latvian Public Health Agency PHA LATVIA Website Jolanta’s educational background includes a Master of Science in Public Health degree and she is now a PhD student. Jolanta has been working in the field of public health for 9 years. Her daily work in the Centre of Health Economics (till September of 2009 Public Health Agency) of Latvia is related to public health monitoring and reporting in Latvia: definition of indicators; data sources; collaboration with stakeholders; analyses of situations and reporting to the public, decision makers and professionals. She is interested in methods of health research and analysis. Jolanta is working in a developing of Public health and monitoring system in Latvia. She has experience as representative of Latvia in some EU projects (EUGLOREH, DETERMINE, URHIS). top

Migle Baceviciene, MD, PhD Kaunas University of Medicine LITHUANIA Website Migle was born in Vilnius, Lithuania on August 21, 1975 and studied at the Kaunas University of Medicine from 1993 to 2005, including achieving a PhD Diploma in Public Health. She has worked as a researcher in the Institute of Cardiology at Kaunas and is now a senior researcher in the Department of Population Studies. Her international activities include in 2005: CINDI (Countrywide Integrated Non-communicable Diseases Intervention). Winter school (intensive, high level training seminar in the planning, implementation and evaluation of national, regional or local programs in the field of non communicable disease prevention and health promotion), Helsinki, Finland. 2008: CINDI training course “Evidence Based Public Health: Chronic Disease Prevention” (CINDI training course), Bregenz, Austria. 2008: Summer School “Epidemiological Methods and Analysis“, Krakow, Poland and 2005 to date participating in the international “HAPIEE” (Health, Alcohol and Psychosocial factors in Eastern Europe) study as a local coordinating person. Her research interests include behavioral risk factors, socio-economic status, health indicators, quality of life, mental health. top

Skirmante Starkuviene MD, MPH, PhD, Assoc. Prof. Kaunas University of Medicine LITHUANIA Website Skirmante is a Medical doctor, specialising in physical medicine and rehabilitation, master in public health and a PhD in biomedical sciences (public health). From 2003-2006 she was a lecturer and 2006 to date an Associate Professor at the Department of Health Management, Kaunas University of Medicine, Lithuania, where she leads the research group on analysis of health care practice and management. She participates in a number of international projects as a scientist, has led the international projects Baltic Sea Public Health Training Network - BalticHealthTraiN and project Injuries in Sweden, Estonia and Lithuania: Situation Analysis and Implications for Prevention from the Kaunas University of Medicine side. She has published 28 scientific papers in peer-reviewed journals in epidemiology and inequalities in injuries, violence and suicides, health and behavior of schoolchildren. She is a winner of the Stipendium of the State of Lithuania for young scientist (2008), a member of the Council of the Faculty of Public Health, Kaunas University of Medicine, is awarded as a young scientist of the year 2006 - winner of the competition of the Foundation of Science, Kaunas University of Medicine, scientific supervisor of the Scientific Society of the Public Health Students' of Kaunas University of Medicine. She is a tutor and consultant of number of master and PhD students on various topics. top

Fisnik Shabani South East European University IEH-SEEU MACEDONIA Website Fisnik was born on 27 June 1984 in Tetovo, Macedonia. For higher education, he chose to study in SEEU - Tetovo, where he received a diploma titled `Bachelor of Arts in Law', in 2007. Fisnik has been an active citizen by attending an enormous number of seminars which include: Debate Exchange Project, Seminar for dealing and transforming conflicts, Youth Link Leadership Institute (YLLI) 2002, Debate and street law festival, Empowerment and Advocacy for NGOs-visit tour, National Conference “Global partnership for prevention of conflicts and peace building, Small arm and light weapons (SALW) awareness support pack outreach workshop, International Case Study Competition-Ballkan Case Challenge 2007. He has also attended some training organised by the Youth Education Forum, International Organisation for Migration (IOM), National Coalition Building Institute (NCBI) Switzerland, Foundation for Development of Democratic Rights (DemNet) Hungary, Institute for Environment and Health-SEEU. In his professional life, he has worked as a Facilitator for Street Law Program, Project Manager in NGO Multikultura, Volunteer in NGO Multikultura, Member of Editorial staff for the Student Magazine Euroidea-SEEU, Assistant for Environmental Issues in The Institute for Environment and Health - SEEU in a period of around 4 years. Fisnik is fluent in Albanian, Macedonian and English, and has a basic knowledge of German. Fisnik’s brochures include “Manual for preparation and implementation of projects” 2007, “Strategic Plan of Institute for Environment and Health-SEEU”, 2006 and he has had many articles published. top

Prof. Murtezan Ismaili South East European University IEH-SEEU MACEDONIA Website Murtezan was born on 4 July 1949. He graduated in chemistry (Prishtina-Kosovo), has become a master in biochemistry (Zagreb-Croatia) and also received a PhD in Organic Chemistry and Biochemistry (Zagreb - Croatia). He is fluent in Albanian, Serbo-Croatian, English and Turkish. He has been major in the municipality of Tetovo for six years, where he led a lot of projects for the development of this municipality. From 2005, he became a director of the Institute for Environment and Health in the frame of SEEU and he also is a lecturer in Environmental Education. From 2008 onwards he became a pro rector of the SEEU for academic issues. He has also worked a lot on science research and has published a lot of abstracts and posters in international conferences. top

Jaap Toet National Institute for Public Health & the Environment (RIVM) NETHERLANDS Website Jaap Toet studied Health Sciences at the University of Maastricht, the Netherlands and specialised in Epidemiology. After working for the Department of Health Education of the University of Maastricht until 1986 he joined the Municipal Health Service Rotterdam area. He worked at the department of Epidemiology until 1998 and specialised in the epidemiology of addiction. In 1998 he started working for the Trimbos Institute (Netherlands Institute of Mental health & Addiction) at the department of Epidemiology & Monitoring. In 2001 he joined the Municipal Health Service Utrecht (Epidemiology & Information). Until 2007 he was coordinator of the mental health and addiction research and from 2008 he is coordinator of the youth research. He is currently working on a PhD-dissertation, Monitoring alcohol and drug use at local level. top

Dr. Peter Achterberg National Institute for Public Health & the Environment (RIVM) NETHERLANDS Website Dr Achterberg has an MSc in Chemistry from Utrecht University, PhD in Medicine from Medical Faculty of the Erasmus University Rotterdam and has completed additional training in epidemiology, public health, EU-public health policy and management. Since 1991 he has been working for the Centre for Public Health Forecasting that produces the Dutch Public Health Status and Forecasts (national health reports). This includes websites & theme reports and advice to the Ministry of Health on health policy and health information. His interests include international comparisons; health determinants and he is the author of various RIVM reports, e.g. on international comparisons of perinatal mortality. On behalf of Dutch Ministry of Health representative in the Network of Competent Authorities (DG Sanco, Action Programme Public Health) and in various working parties and commissions. He has been a participant in several EU projects in the health information area, e.g. the project that produced EU public health reports and the EVA-PHR project (Evaluating European Public Health Reports). He participated in the first of the ECHI-projects, was the former project leader of the EUPHIX project (www.euphix.org) and advisor to foreign public health institutes in the area of health reporting (Germany: GBE-Kommission of the Robert Koch Institute). top

Heidi Lyshol The Norwegian Institute of Public Health NORWAY Website Heidi Lyshol, whose background is in social anthropology and medicine, works as an adviser for the Norwegian Institute of Public Health. Her work involves international health reporting, health indicators and statistics. She was responsible for WP 8 in the first part of the Euro-URHIS project. top

Professor Ioan Stelian Bocsan MD PhD The Iuliu Hatieganu University of Medicine and Pharmacy Epidemiology Department ROMANIA Website Ioan is the Head of Epidemiology Department, Iuliu Hatieganu University of Medicine and Pharmacy and Director, Professor Iuliu Moldovan Institute of Public Health, in Cluj-Napoca, Romania. He is the National Expert for Romania at DG RT&D for Health at European Commission, Brussels. He was WP 10 leader in the EURO-URHIS project and will be WP 5 leader in the URHIS 2 project. top

Zuzana Katreniakova Slovak Public Health Association University of P.J. Safarik, Medical Faculty, Department of Public Health, Department of Social Medicine SLOVAKIA Website Zuzana got her medical doctor degree in general medicine (1997) at P.J. Safarik University, Medical Faculty, Kosice and doctoral degree in social medicine (2002) at Comenius University, Medical Faculty, Bratislava. She works as university teacher at the P.J. Safarik University in Kosice, Medical Faculty, Institute of Public Health, and Department of Social Medicine. Since 2003 she is also chairman of the Slovak Public Health Association, SAVEZ (www.savez.sk) and member of the EUPHA Governing Council (www.eupha.org). Her research activities are oriented on different fields of public health, mainly on the field of health promotion and health of children and adolescents. She has been involved in European research projects - OptiWork, SPHERE, Euro-URHIS, healthPro-elderly. Currently she is member of national team for the HBSC WHO study and member of multidisciplinary working group on social inequities in health in the SR established on Biennial Collaborative Agreement between Ministry of Health of the SR and WHO Regional Office for Europe in 2008/2009. top

Dr. Iveta Rajnicova-Nagyova Executive Director Slovak Public Health Association SLOVAKIA Website After graduation, in years 1995-1999 she was appointed as a researcher at the Faculty of Medicine, PJ University, Kosice, Slovakia. Her research topic dealt with quality of life in patients with rheumatoid arthritis and was carried out within the framework of the EURIDISS study (4th FP). Between 1999 and 2003 she worked for Social Work Advisory Board as a project manager. She co-operated on projects aimed at improving the quality of social services in Slovakia, in particular their transformation, decentralisation and deinstitutionalisation. Since 2004 has been appointed as a senior researcher at the PJ Safarik University, Kosice Institute for Society and Health (KISH). Her main research interests lie in chronic disease, disability and quality of life. She is also involved in supervision of PhD students at the University of Groningen, the Netherlands and educational programmes at the PJ Safarik University. Since 2003 she is an executive director of the Slovak Public Health Association (SAVEZ). Her duties involve overall management of the organisation, lobbying, consultancy, national networking and international co-operation. From 2003 she is a member of the European Public Health Association (EUPHA) International Scientific Committee and from 2006 she is the president of the EUPHA section on Chronic Diseases. top

Dr. Igor Krampac Head of Regional Centre of Public Health and Health Promotion Maribor Regional Institute of Public Health Maribor, Slovenia SLOVENIA Website Igor has studied General medicine (GM) as well as pediatrics at the Medical Faculty of the University Ljubljana, Slovenia (1978 - 1984). He has done postgraduate study in Croatia, Austria, Hungary and Slovenia of pediatric cardiology, ultrasound diagnostics, pediatric rheumatology and neonatology, health promotion and public health, health systems management and social medicine and public health. His work experience includes 22 years as a specialist in pediatrics cardiology in ICU of the Clinical Hospital - Teaching Hospital, Maribor, He is the Head of the Regional Centre of Public Health and Health Promotion Maribor and the WHO Centre Healthy City Maribor as well as being the National Coordinator of the Slovenian WHO Healthy Cities Project Network and an advising member of the WHO/EURO Urban Health Advising Committee. He is also president of EURONET (European Association of National Healthy Cities Networks). He has researched and coordinated many studies, projects and MCAP's (Multi City Action Plan Collaborations), including European Union Commission projects: DETOUR - Compact Cities and Tourism: The Development of Tourism in Urban Europe; GEP - Getting Evidence into Practice; PHASE HIA Programme - Consultation on the Development of a Health Impact Assessment (HIA) Toolkit; and he was involved in EURO-URHIS 1. Publications top

Olivera Stanojevic-Jerkovic Head of the Department of Social Medicine Institute of Public Health, Maribor SLOVENIA Website Olivera was born in Belgrade, Serbia and graduated at Medical Faculty, University of Belgrade before moving to Slovenia to work in 1988. After working as a general practitioner, including work in Urgent services in Ptuj region, Olivera became a trainee at the Regional Institute of Public Health Maribor. In 1997 she finished training in social medicine at Medical Faculty, University of Ljubljana, Slovenia and acquired the title of Specialist in Social Medicine, she was then promoted to head of the Department of social medicine a year later. In 2007 she became a teaching assistant for Public health at Medical Faculty, University of Maribor. Olivera is a member of the Medical chamber of Slovenia and has vast experience of projects such as ESPAD (European Survey Prevalence on Alcohol and Other Drugs), Cindi Health Monitor study of Health Behaviour in Adults and coordinating a Project “Let's live healthy” - Health in Rural Areas in Maribor region 2003, 2004 and in other seven Slovenian regions in 2004. She has organised several educational seminars and taken part in regional development programmes as well as cooperating in some European projects DETERMINE – EuroHealthNet, MMHE (Monitoring Mental health Environment) - EC, partly EURO-URHIS 1 and currently EURO-URHIS 2. She has had many articles published. top

Mahmut Saadi Yardim, M.D. Hacettepe University, Department of Public Health TURKEY Website Mahmut graduated from Ankara University, School of Medicine in 1993 and became a Public Health Specialist after a residency program in Hacettepe University School of Medicine, Department of Public Health between 1995 and 2001. He has worked in Hacettepe University Student and Staff Health Center as a primary care physician as well as making contributions to the development of an electronic patient record programme used in the university health center. He has also worked in the occupational health unit to serve health care workers of the Hospitals of Hacettepe University. He then returned to Hacettepe University Faculty of Medicine, Public Health Department as a lecturer in 2007. He is interested in social determinants of health, health inequalities and health economics, and his areas of expertise include public health, social determinants of health, health inequalities, health economics. top

Prof. Nesrin Cilingiroglu Hacettepe University, Department of Public Health TURKEY Website Nesrin studied Economics and graduated from Hacettepe University Faculty of Social and Administrative Sciences in 1774. Between 1974-1976 she took some demography courses and worked as research assistant for the population and development project that was carried out by the Hacettepe Institute of Population Studies. She studied Medical Sociology for her MSc and Demography for PhD. She then became Associate Professor in the field of Demograpy and Professor in the field of Public Health. Nesrin has been a Researcher/ Lecturer/Professor in the Department of Public Health, Faculty of Medicine, Hacettepe University since 1976 and this affiliation includes Health Economics, Public Health and Health Demography in general, including Development and Health, Poverty and Inequalities, Health Systems and Financing, Population and Health in Developing Countries, and woman related issues in terms of teaching, research and consultancy. She has conducted national and multinational projects funded by national sources, WHO, USAID and UNFPA. She has been a Temporary Adviser of WHO/ EURO in health economics (1983-1988) and worked as health planner and consultant for State Planning Organization, Prime Ministry (1990-1995). She has served as Co-Director of the Woman's Status and Problems General Directory (1996). She is the author of several book chapters, peer reviewed journal articles, conference papers and other scientific publications. She is also supervising masters and PhD students. Her areas of expertise include demography, health economics, public health, inequalities. top

Prof. Raymond Agius University of Manchester UNITED KINGDOM Website Raymond Agius is Professor of Occupational and Environmental Medicine and Leader of the Occupational and Environmental Health Research Group at the University of Manchester School of Medicine. He is also an honorary consultant in the Central Manchester and Manchester Children's Hospitals NHS Trust and at South Manchester University Hospitals NHS Trust. His previous appointments have included being Senior Lecturer in Occupational and Environmental Health at the University of Edinburgh and before that Director of Medical Services at the Institute of Occupational Medicine. His research interests have ranged widely from occupational to environmental ill health including respiratory and cardiovascular disease, stress and back pain, and audit and quality in the delivery of occupational health services. He has a special interest in education in occupational medicine especially utilising the internet and other innovative approaches. His book 'Practical Occupational Medicine' is now in its second edition. He is a Fellow of the Royal Colleges of Physicians of London and of Edinburgh, a Fellow of the Faculty of Occupational Medicine of the Royal College of Physicians of London and an Honorary a Fellow of the Faculty of Occupational Medicine of the Royal College of Physicians of Ireland. He serves or has served on several national and international committees, governmental and non-governmental bodies, and is a past president of the British Occupational Hygiene Society. He has lectured widely and his 'eponymous' lectures or orations include the Donald Hunter lecture (Faculty of Occupational Medicine, Royal College of Physicians of London), the Smiley lecture (Faculty of Occupational Medicine, Royal College of Physicians of Ireland), the Ferguson Glass oration (Australasian Faculty of Occupational Medicine, Royal Australasian College of Physicians) and the Heijermans lecture (University of Amsterdam). top

Frank De Vocht University of Manchester UNITED KINGDOM Website Frank de Vocht conducted his MSc studies in environmental sciences at Wageningen Agricultural University, during which he worked at the IMIM Institute of Medical Research in Barcelona, the US National Cancer Institute, and Harvard School of Public Health. He started his Ph.D. at Utrecht University in 2002, and during this period he was further involved as project coordinator for a European Union Concerted Action assessing historical occupational exposure levels and harmonization of exposure assessment in the European rubber manufacturing industry. He further obtained a European Union Marie Curie exchange fellowship to work the NOFER institute in Poland. After completing his Ph.D. in 2006, Frank de Vocht obtained a position as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Gene-Environment Epidemiology group at the International Agency for Research on Cancer (WHO-IARC). Subsequently, in 2007 he moved to the University of Manchester where he started as a Lecturer in Occupational and Environmental Health in the School of Translation Medicine. In addition to urban health indicators, his current research interests include the analysis of gene-environment studies, cancer patterns in the rubber manufacturing industry, Bayesian methods, occupational and environmental exposure assessment, occupational latex allergy, environmental exposure to ultrafine particulates, and effects of exposure to static magnetic fields from MRI systems. top

Debbie Abrahams University of Liverpool UNITED KINGDOM Website Debbie Abrahams is a Director of IMPACT - the International Health Impact Assessment Consortium – based in Public Health, a World Health Organisation (WHO) Collaborating Centre, at the University of Liverpool. She is the lead for HIA research and the commercial work of the Unit. Debbie started work in public health 17 years ago as Head of a WHO Healthy Cities project. Since 1999 Debbie has led over 40 HIAs of various policies, strategies and projects at local, regional, national and international levels. These include HIAs of Birmingham International Airport’s Runway Extension, the European Employment Strategy in the UK and across the EU, the North West Regional Economic Strategy, and many health policies, services and facility developments across the country. Debbie has co-ordinated various multi-centred national and international HIA research projects developing HIA methods, procedures and tools. For example, the European Commission-funded 'Policy HIA for the European Union' project and the 'HIA: Measuring the Effect of Public Policy on Variations in Health' project, funded by the Department of Health. She has acted as an advisor to national HIA developments in Brazil, Italy, Finland and Portugal as well as to the EC and WHO, e.g., on Health Systems Impact Assessment, HIA capacity and methodological development. In addition to collaborating in EURO URHIS 2, Debbie is co-ordinating a project to develop impact indicators for the European Food Safety Authority. Other work includes supporting the development of a new Health Equity Impact Assessment methodology. In addition to contributing to the MPH and e-MPH programmes, Debbie has facilitated HIA Capacity Building projects across England; she is currently leading the North West HIA Capacity Building programme for IMPACT, a joint project with North West Public Health Observatory. Whilst working at Liverpool, Debbie also worked in the National Health Service for nearly 10 years, firstly as Director of Bury & Rochdale Health Authority and then between 2002 and 2006 as Chair of Rochdale Primary Care NHS Trust. Debbie is an advisor to the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence, Chair of the charity, North West Action on Smoking and Health, a board member of the healthcare charity, ‘Hope Citadel’ and Governor of a local primary school. She is married with 2 daughters. top

Dr Nigel G Bruce Reader in Public Health, and Head of Division of Public Health University of Liverpool UNITED KINGDOM Website Nigel trained in Medicine at the University of Cambridge (pre-clinical) and the London Hospital (clinical), and completed professional training in General Practice before embarking on a career in Epidemiology and Public Health. He gained an MSc in Epidemiology from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine in 1985, and whilst working at the Royal Free Hospital Medical School and Hampstead Health Authority gained a PhD - an investigation of geographic variations in UK population levels of blood pressure - from London University in 1991. He moved to the University of Liverpool in 1992, where he was Director of Studies for the MPH programme at Liverpool University from 1992-2006. During this time, he led the transition of the programme to a modular, open learning style course, and more recently has contributed to the development of an internet-based version managed by Laureate on-line Education. His research interests include environment and child health, in particular the impact of air pollution on respiratory illness in adults and children, the promotion and evaluation of health development through community participation and partnership working (including the World Health Organisation (WHO) European Healthy Cities network) and the development of indicators for urban health development within Europe. During the last fifteen years, Nigel has worked in close collaboration with the WHO, and a range of other international partners including researchers, NGOs and donor agencies, on research and policy for global environment and health. He has contributed to work on WHO air quality standards, and the global burden of disease (GBD) project, methods which he is also applying at sub-national level in the NW of England as part of a multidisciplinary project involving Primary Care Trusts, the NW Public Health Observatory and the Health Protection Agency. His interests also include climate change, and he is currently contributing to a Wellcome Trust funded project on health co-benefits of climate change mitigation measures. Nigel's other interests include climbing, mountain-biking and skiing, and helping young people in outdoor activities such as the Duke of Edinburgh Award. Other leisure activities include photography, reading, film and music. top

James Higgerson University of Manchester UNITED KINGDOM Website James has a BSc in Psychology from Lancaster University, and is also part of the Manchester Urban Collaboration on Health (MUCH) team, with an interest in Hepatitis C and health protection. During the course of the EURO-URHIS 2 project, James will be undertaking his PhD, investigating the use of aggregate measures such as Disability Adjusted Life-Years and Healthy Life-Years in relation to the impact of smoking and excessive alcohol use on cancer and heart disease rates in the participating urban areas. top

Dr Alexis Macherianakis MBBS, MRCPCH, MPH, FFPH University of Manchester UNITED KINGDOM Website Dr Alexis Macherianakis is a consultant in public health medicine. He has extensive knowledge and experience of European health and public health policy. He has detailed knowledge and deep understanding of the NHS, UK local and national government and the EU institutions and civil society through his paediatric work (A&E, hospital, community, neonatology, primary), public health and health protection work. He speaks English, French, and Greek. He has worked in public health at all levels such as Health Authority/Primary Care Trust, Regional Government Office, UK Department of Health (DH) and Directorate General of Health and Consumer Protection (DG SANCO). He has completed a Master in Public Health. His research activities include the planning and development of alcohol services in Liverpool and Sefton PCTs including resource allocation. He has led the service evaluation and planning of the ‘management of blood borne viruses in Cheshire drug users’. He has assessed the health care needs of gypsy children aged 0-5 years old in Sofades, organised and delivered vaccination programmes, thalassaemia and hepatitis B testing in a high prevalence population. He has led the successful funding proposal (1M euros) ‘European urban health indicator system’ under the EU Public Health Programme 2005 and analysed the EHLASS database to investigate whether health inequalities exist in non-fatal childhood accidents in Athens, Greece and developed socioeconomic indicators to examine health inequalities in Athens. His work experience includes working for the UK EU Presidency - Health Inequalities team leading the development of policy workshops to progress EU policy on key health determinants (nutrition and alcohol). DG SANCO – Public Health Directorate. His main involvement was with the development of policies and actions in the DG SANCO ‘Rare Diseases programme’ as well as experience of multi-agency work at local, regional, national and European level (including local government, voluntary sector, and health service). He has teaching experience on European public health policy in postgraduate courses and has been invited to make presentations on European public health policy in regional, national and European conferences. top

Dr. Ifeoma Onyia University of Liverpool UNITED KINGDOM Website Ifeoma graduated from medical school in Nigeria in 1994 and worked in a variety of junior doctor posts in hospitals the UK and Trinidad before completing General Practice training rotations in Liverpool. She obtained her MPH at the University of Liverpool in 2004 and is finalising her postgraduate public health training, working as a Specialist Registrar in Public Health on the North-West Public Health Training Scheme. Her current work involves service public health work in a National Health Service local setting. She has been involved in public health teaching to junior doctors and other health professionals in hospitals. top

Mahesh Patel University of Manchester UNITED KINGDOM Website Mahesh has a BSc in Computer Studies from University of Brighton, and is also part of the Manchester Urban Collaboration on Health (MUCH) team. Mahesh has 20+ years commercial experience with various blue chip companies such as BT Mobile, Lloyds bank, Royal Life, American Express and AstraZeneca PLC. His skills are primarily in database design and programming using a variety of computer languages on projects ranging from small in-house systems to global databases used by large corporations. During the course of the EURO-URHIS 2 project, Mahesh will be the Database Manager and his role is to design, develop and maintain the databases and websites required for the project. top

Dr Daniel Pope BSc, MSc, PhD University of Liverpool UNITED KINGDOM Website Dr Pope is currently a lecturer in epidemiology based in the Division of Public Health at The University of Liverpool. I am also an honorary senior research fellow at The University of Manchester. I graduated in psychology from The University of Bolton (BSc hons) before obtaining an MSc (1995) and PhD (1998) from The University of Manchester specialising in population based research into musculoskeletal pain. My PhD focussed on the relationship between psychosocial working environment and the development of back and upper limb pain and was funded with a COLT foundation fellowship. In 2001 I secured my current position and have developed research interests in (i) respiratory illness associated with indoor air pollution in mothers and children from low income countries, (ii) barriers to access to health care for mothers and children in low income countries and (iii) assessment of population physical and psychological health in Europe. My teaching responsibilities include being a lead on research methods modules for the Masters in Public Health at The University of Liverpool and in partnership with Laureate. I also convene on modules for the MBChB undergraduate curriculum. top