Berkeley Speakers

Barcelona Speakers

Ronald Leslie Akehurst, Ph.D.

Dean and Professor of Health Economics, School of Health and Related Research (ScHARR), The University of Sheffield, United Kingdom. Dean of ScHARR, a major centre for Health Services Research in Europe with some 200 staff, and Professor of Health Economics.  His interests are primarily in Health Technology Assessment (HTA) and he has published widely in that area.  He has had some involvement in developing HTA processes in other countries, including Hungary, Korea and Australia. Founding member of the National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE), serving on NICE Committees for 7 years.

Oriol Amat, M.B.A., Ph.D.

Professor and Vice-Chancellor, Department of Economics and Business, Universitat Pompeu Fabra. Director of the Master in Accounting and Financial Management, Continuing Education Institute (iDEC), Universitat Pompeu Fabra

John Appleby, Ph.D.

Chief Economist, The King's Fund, focusing on current health policy matters.
Visiting Professor, City University. Worked in the NHS in Birmingham and London. Worked for the National Association of Health Authorities (now the NHS Confederation) as manager of the Association's Central Policy Unit. Acted as an advisor to the UK government and Parliament in various capacities, for example, carrying out a review for Ministers of the future funding needs of Northern Ireland's Health Service, health inequalities and the future of nursing and midwifery.

Boris Azais

Director of European Government Affairs at Merck, Sharp & Dohme, a subsidiary of the pharmaceutical company Merck & Co. In 2003, he was seconded to the International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers and Associations in Geneva, where he worked as Director of External Policy. His activities included interacting with the United Nations agencies, such as the World Health Organization on partnership programs and pharmaceutical policy.

Rafael Bengoa, M.D.

Health Minister of the Basque Country Region of Spain. Previously,Director, Health System Policies and Operations, World Health Organization (WHO), Geneva, Swtizerland. Responsible for producing several policy reports on health care reform and public health to the Spanish Parliament. His main technical interest is connecting medicine and public health agendas.

Philip C. Berman, Ph.D.

Former Director, European Healthcare Management Association
Dr. Philip Berman is the immediate past Director of European Healthcare Management Association (EHMA). Dr. Berman has considerable experience of health care systems in Western, Central and Eastern Europe. He has acted both as a World Bank and WHO consultant, advising healthcare management strategies in Poland, Hungary, Romania and Turkey.

Antonio Cabrales, Ph.D.

Professor, Department of Economics, Universidad Carlos III de Madrid

Josep Figueras, MD, MPH, PhD

Director of the European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies and head of the WHO European Centre on Health Policy in Brussels. In addition to WHO, he has worked in collaboration with all major multilateral organizations such as the European Commission and the World Bank. He is member of several advisory and editorial boards and has served as advisor in more than thirty countries within the European region and beyond.

Jose Manuel Freire, M.D., M.P.H., M.H.S.A.

Chairman, Department of International health, escuala Nacional de Sanidad (National School of Public Health; Instituto de Salud Carlos III

Dr. Beatriz González

Professor, Applied Economics, Department of Quantitative Methods, University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria. Former President of the Spanish Health Economics Association. Foci: health professionals demographics in Europe, in pharmaceuticals policy and health technology. Consultant for the WHO, OECD and other international organizations as well as the Spanish Ministry of Health. Involved in projects in several developing countries such as Mozambique and Brazil.

Pere Ibern, M.B.A., Ph.D.

Associate Professor of Business, Department of Economics and Business, Universitat Pompeu Fabra. Past President, Associacion de Economia de la Salud (Spanish Health Economics Association). Strategic Development Director, DKV Seguros (insurance company). Research activity has been focused on the application of the economics of organization and regulation to the health care sector.

Mireia Jofre

A reader in Economics at the Department of Economics of City University, London, UK
and Senior Associated Researcher at LSE Health and Social Policy . Fields of interest: Health production functions and Lifestyle decisions; Impact of Substance Abuse and Mental Health on productivity. Economic Evaluation applied to Substance Abuse and to Eye Disease. Demand of Health Insurance and topics of Industrial Organization applied to the demand for Health Care.

Panos Kanavos

Senior Lecturer in International Health Policy in the Department of Social Policy and Head of the Medical Technology Research Unit at LSE Health. Advisor to a number of international governmental and non-governmental organizations, including the World Bank, the World Health Organization and the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, the American Association for Retired Persons and Ministries of Health in over 21 transition and developing countries. Currently participating in the European Pharmaceutical Forum as advisor to the European Commission. Research interests:comparative health policy and health care reform; pharmaceutical economics and policy; quality in health care; and the socio-economic determinants of health.

Peter Littlejohns, M.D.

Clinical and Public Health Director, National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) Website: http://www.nice.org.uk
Professor Peter Littlejohns was formerly Professor of Public Health at St Georges Hospital Medical School and Director of the Health Care Evaluation Unit. As the Clinical Director of NICE, he is one of 4 Executive Directors and has been in post since the Institute was created in 1999. He has contributed to the establishment of all the guidance development program and currently has lead responsibility for Research and Development.

Felix Lobo, Ph.D.

Professor, Applied Economics, universities of Santiago de Compostela, Oviedo and Carlos III de Madrid (1990-2005; 2008-)Director, Seminar of Social Studies on Health and Medicines, Universidad Carlos III de Madrid. Previously, General Director for Pharmaceuticals and Medical Devices, Ministry of Health and Consumers Affairs, Spain
Officer and consultant to international organizations: UNIDO, WHO, PAHO, World Bank, European Union and various firms. Member, World Health Organization Expert Advisory Panel on Drug Policies and Management

Guillem López-Casasnovas, Ph.D.

Faculty Advisor, Global Health Leadership Forum
Member of the Governing Council, Bank of Spain. Research interests: Public Finance, Fiscal Policy, Health Economics. As a member of the Advisory Council of the Spanish Ministry of Health and the Catalan Health Department, Dr. López has served on commissions on Health Policy, Pharmaceuticals, Health System Reform, Hospital Financing, Ageing and Social Security, and Long Term Care. Chair of the International Health Economics Association (iHEA) 2005 Conference and president of iHEA in 2008-2009.

Núria Mas, M.A., Ph.D.

Assistant Professor of Economics, IESE Business School, Universidad de Navarra. teaches the "Markets and Managers" and microeconomics. Research interests focus on the interaction between the public and the private sector, with an emphasis on the health care market, and incentive mechanisms for hospitals and doctors.

Marc le Menestrel

Associate Professor, Universitat Pompeu Fabra (Barcelona)
Visiting Professor of Ethics, INSEAD (Fontainebleau and Singapore)
Core expertise in decision-making, in particular the role of ethical values in business decisions. He proposes frameworks to improve decision-making in the presence of dilemmas between economic, environmental, social and individual values. In 2008, Dr. le Menestrel created the "Dreaming in Business" sessions, directed to Senior Executives.

Gillian Morgan, DBE, DSc (Hon), DRCOG, M.D. B.S.

Permanent Secretary of the Welsh Assembly Government, Cardiff, Wales
Previously, Chief Executive, National Health Service Confederation and England chairman from 1996-1997 and president from 1997-1998 of the National Council for the Institute of Health Services Management.

GHLF alumna

Carles Murillo-Fort, Ph.D.

Professor of Quantitative Economics, Department of Health Sciences, Pompeu Fabra University

Philip Musgrove

Editor of Health Affairs Journal for
Global Policy Issues

Vicente Ortún, M.Sc., Ph.D.

Senior Lecturer of Economics and Business
Director of CRES and
Previous, President of Spanish Health Economics Association

Ivan Planas, MSc

Responsible for outside contracts, Catalan Health Service, Spain. Previously,
researcher and lecturer, CRES, Pompeu Fabra University

GHLF alumnus

José Luís Pinto Prades, M.Sc., Ph.D.

Professor of Health Economics and Applied Political Economics, Universitat Pompeu Fabra and Universidad Pablo de Olavide

Jaume Puig-Junoy

Co-director of the Research Center for Economy and Health (CRES), UPF, since 2006.
Associate Professor, Department of Economics and Business, Universitat Pompeu Fabra. Served the Autonomous Government of Catalonia as Head of the Information Division of the Catalan Health Service, was also Head of the Social Security Budget Office of the Health and Social Security Department, Autonomous Government of Catalonia and worked at the Government as Economist in different staff positions in the Health and Social Security Department during previous years

Octavi Quintana, M.D.

Director for Health Research for the European Union
Responsible for the 6th Framework Program for research and technological development.  He has served in several positions in the Spanish Health Administration and as president of the European group on Ethics in Science and Technology.

Ana Rico, M.A., M.Sc., Ph.D.

Associate Professor of Health Politics, Institute of Health Management and Health Economics, University of Oslo, Norway
Associate Professor of Political Science and Health Policy, Institute of Health Politics and Management, Erasmus University, The Netherlands. Expert on consumer surveys.

Marisol Rodríguez, M.Sc., Ph.D.

Professor of Economics, University of Barcelona
Deputy Director, Welfare Economics Research Center, Centre de Recerca en Economia del Benestar (CREB). Expert in equity and equality measurement.

Elly Stolk, M.Sc., Ph.D.

Senior Researcher, institute for Medical Technology Assessment (iMTA), Erasmus University Medical Center, The Netherlands. Recent studies have included equity in health, quality of life measurement, pharmaceutical reimbursement, and the consequences of Alzheimer disease.

Jeffrey L. Sturchio, Ph.D.

Vice President, External Affairs, Human Health, Europe, Middle East and Africa, Merck & Co. Responsible for the development, coordination, and implementation of a range of health policy and communications initiatives for the region. Member of the private sector delegation to the Board of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria.

Gail Wilensky, Ph.D.

John M. Olin Senior Fellow, Project HOPE
Co-chair, President's Task Force to Improve Health Care Delivery for U.S. Veterans. nationally and internationally recognized expert on a wide range of health policy and financing issues. Previous positions: Administrator of Health Care Financing Administration (HCFA) directing the Medicare and Medicaid programs and subsequently
in the White House, serving as Deputy Assistant to the President for Policy Development.

Peter Zweifel, Ph.D.

Professor, Socioeconomic Institute of the University of Zurich
Dr. Zweifel is a prominent expert on health insurance.