Team

Caroline Costongs is Director of EuroHealthNet, the European Partnership for improving health, social equity and wellbeing, based in Brussels. Caroline leads a multi-disciplinary team working on European Union and (sub)national policy, research and capacity building addressing health inequalities and the social determinants of health. She oversees EuroHealthNet’s Framework Agreement with the European Commission (2022-2026) and leads on activities taking forward EuroHealthNet’s MoU with WHO Europe (2021-2026). Caroline is active in various EU and WHO fora, as well as in Advisory Boards of European projects and is a member of the Economy of Wellbeing Expert Group for Finland and of the ICC – International Council for the European Public Health Conference.

Caroline has a strong international background with 30 years of public health and health promotion experience. In 1992 she started as a researcher at the National Capacity Building Institute (INICE) of the Honduras Ministry of Education. She subsequently worked for the Health Institute of the Liverpool John Moores University and the Netherlands Olympic Committee and Sports Confederation (NOC*NSF) linking health and physical activity. In 2000, she joined the European Network of Health Promoting Agencies (ENHPA), where she helped establish EuroHealthNet as a not-for-profit association in Belgium in 2003. Caroline graduated from the University of Maastricht with a MSc in Public Health.

Alison supports the Director with overall management activities, and specifically in the development and implementation of EuroHealthNet’s operational objectives and business plan. Alison is the Project Coordinator of IMMUNION (“Improving IMMunisation cooperation in the European UNION”), a 2-year project funded by the 3rd Health Programme to work with the Coalition for Vaccination to deliver better vaccine education to healthcare professionals and better information to the general public. She also leads EuroHealthNet’s contributions to the RIVER-EU project (“Reducing Inequalities in Vaccine uptake in the European Region – Engaging Underserved communities”) as the Communication and Dissemination Work Package lead.   

Alison holds an MSc in Public Health (Health Promotion) from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, as well as a BA in International Affairs and Anthropology from The George Washington University in Washington DC. Alison brings significant experience in project and association management to EuroHealthNet, as well as experience in designing and implementing health promotion interventions at the community level. She has worked at global and (sub)national levels with policy makers, health professionals, community leaders, researchers, and other stakeholders from regions as diverse as Latin America, the Middle East and North Africa, and Southeast Asia.  

Ingrid Stegeman is Programme Manager with almost 20 years of experience in the field of EU health and social policies, and in managing EU co-funded projects. She works across EuroHealthNet’s Policy, Practice and Research Platforms, and is responsible for overseeing and ensuring the quality of EuroHealthNet’s wide-ranging activities to reduce health inequalities through underlying determinants of health. She is currently managing EuroHealthNet’s Schools4Health project and our contributions to the FEAST research consortium, that focuses on transforming food systems, as policy lead.

Ingrid’s other main areas of work and interest are child and adolescent health, integrated approaches to (community) health and ensuring a fair green and digital transition to more sustainable economies of well-being. Prior to joining EuroHealthNet, she was mainly active in the field of children’s rights. She has a BA in International Studies from Vassar College in New York, and an MA in Political Sciences from the University of Amsterdam (UvA).

Dorota is a public health advocate with almost 15 years of policy and advocacy experience at a European, national and global level with a strong interest in health equity, poverty and social exclusion, early years and vulnerable groups, mental health, gender policies, as well as food systems. As EuroHealthNet’s Policy Manager, Dorota leads the Policy Platform, providing policy advice and intelligence to the Partnership, developing consultation responses, liaising with EU institutions, its strategic and expert groups, and EU public health and social rights stakeholders.

Before joining EuroHealthNet, Dorota worked for a number of European civil society organisations in the field of public health and international development, as independent consultant for health and social justice NGOs as well as the WHO Europe Governance for Health and European Healthy Cities Network. She was also involved in several EU Health Programme and Horizon2020-funded projects (JA CHRODIS+ & Best-ReMaP, ESIF Funds for Health, iFamily, FRESHER).

Anne supports the Director with overall management activities, notably developing and implementing EuroHealthNet’s operational objectives and business plan, managing its ESF+ core grant as well as providing strategic planning expertise.

Anne holds a MSc ‘Politics and Government in the EU’ from the London School of Economics and Political Science, as well as a Franco-German double diploma in Political Sciences (European Studies) from Sciences Po Lille and the Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster. As former Head of Caritas Germany’s EU Office, Anne brings significant experience in association management and advocacy as well as profound knowledge about EU social policies to EuroHealthNet.

Alba is part of the Research Platform. She focuses on the area of environmental health and health equity, helping to translate cutting-edge research into policy and practice and advocate for a green and just transition. Alba leads EuroHealthNet’s contribution in a number of Horizon Europe & Horizon 2020 projects, including BEST-COST (on improving methodologies for the socio-economic cost assessment of environmental stressors such as air pollution), PSLifestyle (on co-creating an online tool to enable everyone to take personalised steps towards more sustainable lifestyles), and BlueAdapt (on adapting to climate-change induced changes in our waters in ways that reduce health impacts). Alba also coordinates IMMUNION (“Improving IMMunisation cooperation in the European UNION”), a 3rd Health Programme project which aims to increase vaccine uptake in the EU. When she joined EuroHealthNet in 2019, Alba worked on the Horizon 2020 INHERIT project, which aimed to jointly improve health, equity, and environmental sustainability.  

Before joining EuroHealthNet Alba was a public affairs consultant in Brussels for three years, focusing on health, food and sustainability. Prior to this, she completed a traineeship at the European Union Fundamental Rights Agency and volunteered in a Turkish NGO working on child education and female literacy.  

Alba holds a BA in History from the University of Cambridge, and a Masters in International Relations from the University of Amsterdam. She is French and British.

Eleanor joined EuroHealthNet in January 2023 as the Health and Climate Communications Officer. She supports the Research platform on its projects related to health and climate, including BEST-COST and Blue Adapt.

Before joining EuroHealthNet, Eleanor worked in communications for a European patient organisation and previously as a communications consultant. She holds an MA International Relations from Institut Barcelona d’Estudis Internacionals and a BA in English Literature from Queen Mary, University of London.

Samuele joined EuroHealthNet in July 2021. He is focused on strengthening the capacity of EuroHealthNet research platform to enhance associate members’ knowledge related to EU policy processes and instruments, while also cooperating with the Policy platform to help ‘translate’ EU policies into researchable actions and to facilitate scientific excellence of EuroHealthNet’s outputs. 

Samuele is currently focusing on two main topics, namely food system policies and physical activity.  Concerning the former, he is working on the Joint Action Best-ReMaP and the Horizon project FEAST. In the Joint Action Best-ReMaP, he is supporting the WP4 in their goal of fostering sustainability and integration of core WPs results into national policies. In FEAST, he is part of the EuroHealthNet team leading the policy work package (WP7). For what concerns physical activity, he is working on the IceHearts project, where EuroHealthNet will be supporting the scaling up of the Ice Heart activities across other European countries.  

Before joining EuroHealthNet, Samuele worked as a Researcher in Political Science and as a Lecturer Assistant at Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand, where he focused on democratic theory, social and economic inequalities, and class conflict. He holds a B.A. and a M.Sc in Sociology from the University of Trento, Italy, and a PhD in Political Science at the Victoria University of Wellington. 

Emilia joined EuroHealthNet in July 2022 as a Policy Assistant. Her role is focused on supporting the policy platform, in particular with the production of the annual analysis of the European Semester and Recovery Plans.

Before joining EuroHealthNet, Emilia was a Junior Expert at the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control. Emilia has a MSc in Global Health Policy from London School of Economics and BSc in Biomedical Science from Imperial College London.

Vania is part of the Policy Platform and provides expertise and first hand information on EU processes and policies relevant for the public health sector, health equity and social determinants of health. He is responsible for the coordination of the annual analysis of the European Semester and Recovery Plans. Vania is also in charge of monitoring of and contributing to EU digital policies developments, including the participation to the EU eHealth Stakeholder Group. Moreover, Vania is project officer working on the Joint Action on Health Equity in Europe (JAHEE).

Prior to joining EuroHealthNet, Vania worked for a number of Brussels-based organisations, including a Blue Book traineeship at the European Commission (DG SANTE). Vania holds two MA degrees in Political Science and European Studies.

Hannes is EuroHealthNet’s Project Officer specialised in mental health. His work focuses on the transfer and implementation of good practices in the field of mental health and social inclusion. In this capacity, he contributes primarily to the MENTALITY project which addresses the mental health impact of the COVID-19 pandemic; as well as IceHearts Europe, which aims to upscale a national programme integrating mental health into sports programmes to European level.

Prior to joining EuroHealthNet in April 2023, Hannes coordinated patient engagement activities within multiple multi-stakeholder projects. He also managed country-wide randomised controlled trials in the UK and worked as a scientist in academia, primarily in the fields of mental health and evidence-based policy. Hannes continues to be active in research through his associateship with the University of Cambridge’s Centre for Business Research and directing managerial and sustainability aspects of a global research initiative. He holds Master of Science degrees in psychology and public health.

Lina primarily works on the practice platform where she coordinates EuroHealthNet Country Exchange Visits between national experts striving to ensure that the best approaches and evidence for improving health and equity are translated into policy and practice.  

She also contributes to Invest4Health (“Mobilising novel finance models for preventive health ecosystems”) project, where EuroHealthNet leads the Work Package on Organisational Readiness and Capacity Building for public authorities; and RIVER-EU (“Reducing Inequalities in Vaccine uptake in the European Region – Engaging Underserved communities”) project, where EuroHealthNet serves as the Communication and Dissemination Work Package lead.  

Most recently, she was involved in EuroHealthNet’s work on health promotion and disease prevention in the context of the EU Joint Action CHRODIS PLUS and developing an eGuide for financing health promoting services. Prior to joining the team in September 2018, she gained experience working at the European Commission (DG SANTE), the European Regional and Local Health Authorities (EUREGHA) and the public affairs consultancy in Brussels. Lina holds an MSc in politics and government in the European Union from the London School of Economics and a BA in International Relations from the University of Essex in the United Kingdom.

Gabriella joined EuroHealthNet in July 2021 as a Policy and Practice Officer. Her role is focused on supporting EuroHealthNet’s policy and practice activities, which include fostering collaboration and exchange of promising policies and practices with the organisation’s membership, within the context of EU policy processes.

Gabriella is actively involved in two EU-funded projects:

The Blueprint Alliance for a Future Health Workforce Strategy on Digital and Green Skills” (BeWell) project (2022-2026) aims to build a movement of healthcare stakeholders which support and contribute to the development, implementation, and upscaling of a strategy on the upskilling and reskilling of the European health workforce.

The Schools4Health project (2023-2026), strives to introduce, strengthen, and sustain the adoption of a participatory whole-school/health-promoting school approach to health and wellbeing. It will invest in promising policies and practices that improve healthy lifestyles within school settings, across the socioeconomic gradient, underpinning the main principles of this approach.

Before joining EuroHealthNet, Gabriella was a policy researcher in a Brussels-based public affairs consultancy, primarily focusing on health matters. Prior to that, she was an intern at the WHO Regional Office for Europe in Copenhagen, and at the European Parliament Liaison Office in Malta. Gabriella holds a B.Sc in Applied Biomedical Science and a M.A in International Relations from the University of Malta. 

Caoimhe joined EuroHealthNet as a Communications Assistant in September 2021 and works as part of the Communications team.

Caoimhe is actively involved in two projects:

The Centre for Global Health Inequalities Research (CHAIN) works to increase the understanding of health inequalities and to research effective policies and practices to protect the health of vulnerable groups and decrease health disparities. By doing so, it produces evidence and tools for policy makers and public health institutes to create effective policies and practices to increase health equity. EuroHealthNet leads the work on Work Package 4; bridging research, policy and practice.

Label2Enable is an EU-funded project which aims to promote the adoption of CEN-ISO/TS 82304-2 and its quality label for health and wellness apps. Our aim is a digital single market in which quality health apps are used at scale in prevention, health care and self-care. The project consists of three pillars: Trust, Use and Adoption. EuroHealthNet is involved in Work Package 4: use of health app label, testing the label with those with low health literacy across four corners of Europe.

Caoimhe holds a BSc in Public Health from University College Cork, with an MSc in Social Policy and Public Health from Utrecht University. She has a keen interest in health promotion and disease prevention and works to contribute to a healthier and more equitable Europe.

Ruth joined the EuroHealthNet team in April 2022 as Communications Officer.

She holds a BA Hons degree in Print Journalism from the University of Gloucestershire (UK) and has worked in the not-for-profit sector for over ten years. Ruth has applied her communication skills to a number of positions including for an energy trade association in Brussels and as part of a National Research Network (Sêr Cymru / Stars Wales), where she was based at a UK university.

Chantal joined EuroHealthNet’s communication team in September 2018. She has an academic background in public health, public management, and human rights, and a strong interest in health inequalities and the social determinants of health.

Before joining EuroHealthNet, she worked as social worker in the Netherlands and as a trainee at the European Commission.

David Hargitt joined EuroHealthNet in February 2015 as Management Assistant. He provides administrative support to the team and Directors. He organizes EuroHealthNet’s General Council and Executive Board meetings, study visits, workshops and webinars. He is also in charge of liaising with potential and existing members, partners and observers of the EuroHealthNet Network.

Prior to joining EuroHealthNet, David worked as Project Officer at the Centre for Research on the Epidemiology of Disasters (CRED) of the Université catholique de Louvain. He holds a B.A. in Biology from Hartwick College in Oneonta, New York, an M.Sc. in Human Ecology from the Vrije Universiteit Brussel and a D.E.S. in Cartography and Remote Sensing from the Université Libre de Bruxelles.

Renaud Rollet joined EuroHealthNet in November 2013 as Administrator & Financial Officer and supports the team and Directors. He prepares financial reports for submission to funders. He also manages HR, bookkeeping and office logistics.

Renaud Rollet has a degree in English studies from the University of Reims in France. Before joining EuroHealthNet he worked for a medical European association and more recently for SOLIDAR, a European network of NGOs working to advance social justice in Europe and worldwide.

Ioanna Tsetika joined EuroHealthNet’s team in September 2022 as Administrative and Operations Assistant. She has professional experience in administration and operations management having working in non-profit organisations in Greece and Belgium.

Ioanna is a graduate of the Faculty of Philology from the National University of Athens and a holder of a Master’s degree in Social Discriminations, Migration & Citizenship.