Team

Caroline Costongs is Director of EuroHealthNet and expert in public health and health promotion. Caroline leads a multi-disciplinary team working on European and (sub)national policy, advocacy, research and capacity building addressing health inequalities. Caroline is active in various EU and WHO fora, as well as in Advisory Boards such as for APHEA (Public Health Education Accreditation Agency) and various EU projects and is a member of the ICC – International Council for the European Public Health Conference.

Caroline has a strong international background with 25+ years of public health, health equity and health promotion experience. In 1992 she started her career 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 with legal statutes in Belgium.

Caroline graduated from the University of Maastricht with a MSc in Public Health.

Caroline has three children and lives with her partner and family in Tervuren.

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.

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.

Caoimhe joined EuroHealthNet as a Communications Assistant in September 2021.

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

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.

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.  

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.

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.

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.

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 Senior Policy Coordinator, 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).

Ingrid Stegeman is Programme Manager and responsible for overseeing and ensuring quality of various activities conducted at EuroHealthNet, making the link between evidence and EuroHealthNet’s outputs, and providing strategic planning expertise. She was closely involved in the design of and oversees the implementation of the INHERIT research project. Ingrid has experience in health inequalities, sustainable development, health in all policies, early child development, and capacity building. She has helped to develop, coordinate and been involved in a range of EuroHealthNet initiatives in these areas. Prior to joining EuroHealthNet, she was mainly active in the field of children’s rights and worked as a project assistant and researcher for various organisations in this field.

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), and a Certificate in Project Management from Boston University.

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. 

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.

Samuele joined EuroHealthNet as a Research and Policy Officer 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. 

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.

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.