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.  

Silvia is EuroHealthNet’s Policy Manager and holds almost 20 years of work experience in European advocacy, policy analysis, and EU project management. At EuroHealthNet, she leads European advocacy work and policy development, promoting health equity and the wellbeing economy, as well as contributing to the overall management of the organisation. Silvia has experience in designing capacity-building and mutual learning programmes, covering a variety of topics such as fighting poverty, inclusive employment, health promotion measures, better access to EU funds, and investment in social infrastructure.

Silvia holds a Master’s degree in European Policy Evaluation from the University of Bath and Roskilde and a Master in Urban Economic Development from the University of Birmingham. She took her first degree in political science at Pavia University and graduated with a dissertation on EU environmental policy.

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).

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 the Coordinator 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), BlueAdapt (on adapting to climate-change induced changes in our waters in ways that reduce health impacts), and RESONATE (on building individual and community resilience through nature-based therapies). When she joined EuroHealthNet in 2019, Alba worked on the Horizon 2020 INHERIT project, which aimed to jointly improve health, equity, and environmental sustainability. She also coordinated IMMUNION (“Improving IMMunisation cooperation in the European UNION”), a 3rd Health Programme project which aimed to increase vaccine uptake in the EU.

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.

Sofia joined EuroHealthNet in June 2023 as a Research Officer and supports the Research platform with the development of activities for the Horizon Europe funded projects FEAST and RESONATE.

Before joining EuroHealthNet, Sofia worked for more than three years in a European patient organisation on their activities related to internal and EU funded research projects as well as on matters related to membership. She holds a Master’s in Public Health from Karolinska Institutet and a Bachelor’s in Sociology from the University of Barcelona.

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. Samuele also works as part of the ERA4Health Strategic Advisory Board. 

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. 

Sebastian joined EuroHealthNet in October 2023 as part of the Policy Platform.

He holds a joint MA in Euroculture: Society, Politics, and Culture in a Global Context from Georg-August University Göttingen and Jagiellonian University Kraków. Before that, he graduated with a BA in International Relations and International Organization from the University of Groningen.

Prior to joining EuroHealthNet, Sebastian worked with Eurochild and did a Schuman traineeship in the European Parliament.

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 oversees EuroHealthNet’s mental health project and policy portfolio. His work focuses primarily 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. He also provides evidence based advocacy in mental and behavioural health across various stakeholder groups, and supports work on topics such as the Wellbeing Economy.

Prior to joining EuroHealthNet in April 2023, Hannes coordinated patient engagement activities within various public-private partnerships. 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 the Junior Researcher Programme, a global research initiative. He holds Master of Science degrees in psychology and public health.

Afsaneh is part of EuroHealthNet’s practice platform and contributes to EU-funded initiatives, including the RIVER-EU (Reducing Inequalities in Vaccine uptake in the European Region—Engaging Underserved Communities) project and Joint Action PERCH (PartnERship to Contrast HPV). Additionally, she supports EuroHealthNet Country Exchange Visits, which bring together national experts to ensure the effective translation of the latest evidence and strategies for improving health and equity into policy and practice.

Afsaneh holds a Doctor of Medicine (MD) degree from Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Iran, and an Advanced Master’s in Global Health from an interuniversity programme in Belgium, jointly organised by Ghent University, KU Leuven, University of Antwerp, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, and Hasselt University.

Prior to joining EuroHealthNet, Afsaneh worked as a primary healthcare physician in Iran during the COVID-19 pandemic, gaining hands-on experience in patient care and public health during a critical global health crisis.

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 supports EuroHealthNet’s policy and practice platforms, and is actively involved in two EU-funded projects:

• Schools4Health (2023-2025), an EU4Health-funded initiative led by EuroHealthNet which strives to introduce, strengthen, and sustain the adoption of participatory health-promoting school approaches.
• The Blueprint Alliance for a Future Health Workforce Strategy on Digital and Green Skills (BeWell) project (2022-2026), an Erasmus+ initiative which supports the upskilling and reskilling of European health and care professionals.

Before joining EuroHealthNet in 2021, Gabriella gained working experience at the WHO Regional Office for Europe in Copenhagen, the European Parliament Liaison Office in Malta and a Brussels-based public affairs consultancy. Gabriella holds a B.Sc in Applied Biomedical Science and a M.A in International Relations from the University of Malta.

Emmi is part of the EuroHealthNet’s Practice Platform and is actively involved in three EU-funded initiatives on health-promoting school approaches (Schools4Health), novel finance models for health promotion and disease prevention (Invest4Health), and reducing inequalities in vaccine uptake in the European Region (RIVER-EU).

Prior to joining EuroHealthNet, Emmi worked as a project officer at a European health NGO focused on public health and as a policy officer at a European health association specialising in health management.

Emmi holds a Bachelor degree in Global Public Health from Leiden University College (the Netherlands), with an exchange semester at the Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine (United States). She is a graduate of the Erasmus Mundus Master’s degree in European Health Economics and Management taught jointly by the University of Oslo (Norway), the University of Bologna (Italy), and the Management Centre Innsbruck (Austria).

Simina joined EuroHealthNet team in October 2024 as Communications Officer.

She holds an academic background in public policy and human development. She brings a passion for promoting health equity, having worked with patient communities in various public health organisations based in Brussels. During her career, she has was involved in various communications campaigns, from cancer prevention campaigns to the 2024 European Elections at the European Parliament.

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 serves as Senior Communications Coordinator at EuroHealthNet, where she has been part of the team since 2018.

Chantal’s studies and career reflect a deep commitment to advancing health and social equity. She holds an academic background in European public health, human rights, and international public administration. Prior to joining EuroHealthNet, she worked as a social worker in the Netherlands, where she supported migrants and people in vulnerable situations as they entered or re-entered the workforce. She gained her first experience working on international public health matters 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.

Chris joined EuroHealthNet in February of 2023 and works as an Administrative Assistant.  He has over 10 years of experience in Brussels based NGO’s working in similar capacities, which gives him a good knowledge of the workings of the public health civil society space.

He has a Bachelor of Arts having studied Acting and Directing for 4 years in London, where he then worked as a professional actor both for stage and screen. He also has more than 10 years working in I.T. at larger organisations such as Allianz Insurance and smaller start-up businesses which mostly specialised in different areas of the financial sector.

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.