Statutory Committees

Michele Bertolotto (IT)
Julia Camps Herrero (ES)
Magnus A. Lúðvíksson (IS)
Tetyana Yalynska (UA)

Chairperson
Nicola Bedlington
European Patients Forum (EPF) Nicola Bedlington European Patients Forum (EPF)
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Nicola Bedlington is British and was born in Kirkcaldy, Scotland.

She joined the European Patients’ Forum (EPF) in 2006, led the organisation until April 2019 and now serves as special advisor. Under her leadership, EPF grew from 23 to 74 umbrella patient organisations covering the spectrum of disease areas. She co-ordinated EUPATI for patient education, a former IMI project continued by EPF (2012-2016), and co-led the IMI project PARADIGM.

Nicola co-founded Patient Access Partnership (PACT), is member of the European Health Forum Gastein Advisory Board, co-chair of the EFPIA Patient Think Tank, of the Patient Medtech Dialogue and advisor for organisations advancing on patient involvement and engagement. She authored articles, contributed to publications on patient empowerment and led a European campaign to advance this on the political agenda.  She spearheaded EPF's campaign to prioritise SDG3 in Europe.

Previously, Nicola was the founding Director of the European Disability Forum (1996-1999), and an expert for the European Commission HELIOS Programme, which promotes equal opportunities for disabled people (1991-1996).

Nicola has chaired ESR-PAG since 2014.

Vice-Chairperson
Nikoleta Traykova, Chairperson of the ESR Communication and External Affairs Committee

Representatives of pan-European patient organisations
Judy Birch
Pelvic Pain Support Network (PPSN) Judy Birch Pelvic Pain Support Network (PPSN)
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Judy Birch is a member of the International Alliance of Patients Organizations (IAPO) , the European Federation of Pain (EFIC) and founder member in 2011 of Pain Alliance Europe (PAE).

As the co-founder of the Pelvic Pain Support Network (PPSN), she provides support, information and advocacy for those with pelvic pain via the website, the message board and Facebook. The network advocates for those with pelvic pain at policy, clinical, guideline development meetings and conferences keeping up to date with research and practice.

A key aim is to improve health care professional and public awareness of the impact of pelvic pain. They deliver university sessions on “patient experience” for undergraduate health professionals as well as for practicing clinicians. Judy represents those with pelvic pain in many research trials and studies to improve the quality of life of those with pelvic pain. All of her roles are voluntary, and she supports research trials to improve the Quality of Life of those with pelvic pain.

Judy became a member of the ESR-PAG in 2013.

Erik Briers
Europa Uomo (European Prostate Cancer Coalition) Erik Briers Europa Uomo (European Prostate Cancer Coalition) Erik Briers is Belgian and born in Hasselt, Belgium.

He is co-founder (2004) of the European Prostate Cancer Coalition (Europa Uomo), board member of the Belgian patient prostate cancer support group Us-Too Belgium, and chief editor of the magazine “PROSTAATinfo”. Erik played many roles in patient engagement including on medicines and development of new medicines.

He served a 3 year-term as an alternate patient representative on the Committee for Advanced Therapies (CAT) of the EMA, and acts regularly as a speaker on how to engage patients in the development of both new medicines and clinical trials.

One of his key issues is the imbalance between literacy and access to healthcare, novel medicines, and clinical trials - patients must be able to understand documentation. Erik was an invited speaker at many fora on this subject and on doctor-patient communication.

He has been an active member of ESR-PAG since 2013. He believes imaging in all its forms is of highest importance for diagnosis, treatment and follow-up of cancers, including his own, with the increased importance of new guidelines including MRI imaging.

Birgit Bauer
European Multiple Sclerosis Platform (EMSP) Birgit Bauer European Multiple Sclerosis Platform (EMSP)
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Birgit is German and was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis in 2005 and is an influential blogger about Multiple Sclerosis and Healthcare with “Fast normal! Mein Leben mit MS”  (“Almost normal – My Life with MS”) created in 2007. She supports the European MS Platform, was PCWP co-lead of the Digital Media & Health Topic Group at the EMA (2017 – 2019), contributes to advisory boards, committees and is a member of the EFPIA Patient Think Tank and the vfa Patientenbeirat.

She works with her business partner as digital health & social media expert, speaker, data analyst and journalist specialised in healthcare with more than 15 years’ experience. She develops workshops and talks and designs strategies for projects on social networks. She also performs feasibility studies and analyses consumer groups.

Birgit joined the ESR-PAG in 2018. Innovation and the growing use of digital solutions in medicine entails greater patient-doctor discussions and collaborations. She believes ESR-PAG will enable such patient-doctor communication on the use of digitalisation.

Nancy Van Hoylandt
European Federation of Neurological Associations (EFNA) Nancy Van Hoylandt European Federation of Neurological Associations (EFNA)
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Nancy Van Hoylandt is a neurology patient advocate.

Nancy started advocating at a Belgian and European level after being affected with Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (ME) and dealing with the limitations of her disease. As current vice-president of the European ME Alliance she was elected board member of the European Federation of Neurological Associations (EFNA) in 2015 and became a patient representative at the neuro-imaging panel of the European Academy of Neurology linking up with her work in the ESR-PAG. At national level she recently was elected board member of the Belgian Brain Council.

In 2019 she joined the European Society of Radiology’s Patient Advisory Group understanding the increasing importance imaging has as part of diagnosing and managing neurological diseases and others.

Nancy’s goal is to represent patients affected with different (neurological) diseases and address their needs, issues, experiences and expectations improving understanding of imaging as part of their disease care path.

Cheryl Cruwys
Dense Breast Info Cheryl Cruwys Dense Breast Info
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Cheryl Cruwys is British, born in London, UK.

Cheryl was diagnosed early with breast cancer in 2016 in France thanks to the French standard practice of performing supplemental screening on dense breast tissue.

She is co-founder of Breast Density Matters UK and has been instrumental in the UK Breast Density Education effort for both health professionals and patients, raising awareness of the implications of dense breasts. Based on her research-driven approach to raising awareness, Cheryl was invited by medically-sourced DenseBreast-info to join the organization as European Education Coordinator.

Cheryl regularly lobbies Westminster for improved education for patients and more effective screening for women with dense breasts. Cheryl is also a patient representative on the ecancer medical science Editorial Board. All her roles are voluntary.

In March 2019, she became a member of the European Society of Radiology’s Patient Advisory Group, and recognised that the ESR-PAG offers the ideal platform to encourage discussion on patient-focussed initiatives. Her principal aim is to improve information and communication between imaging experts and patients.

Caroline Justich
(no affiliation) Caroline Justich (no affiliation) Caroline Justich, an experienced salesperson, with a focus on communication, financial services and real estate holds commercial power of Infomica Immobilienbörse GmbH.

Always aware of the big picture, she brings all stakeholders together to lead them towards a common target. She studied Industrial Psychology in Miami at FIU and a module of languages, economics and law at Karl Franzens University in Graz.

She joined the ESR-PAG group in 2019 with the goal to create a better doctor-patient relationship in order to meet all participants’ needs. This has a lot to do with communication. Due to her experience, she is able to train and develop tools and strategies to improve this interaction. This will strengthen the radiologists’ position as its unique selling point (USP) in times of surge of the artificial intelligence and improve “how” critical information is transmitted to a patient. The importance of the way information is communicated has been shown in various studies.

ESR 2nd Vice-President
Regina Beets-Tan

ESR Quality, Safety and Standards Committee Chairperson
Adrian P. Brady

ESR National Societies Committee Chairperson
Andrea Rockall

ESR Subspecialties and Allied Sciences Committee Chairperson
Alexandre Krainik

European Federation of Radiographer Societies (EFRS)
Vasilis Syrgiamiotis

The ESR Patient Advisory Group (ESR-PAG) was launched during the ECR in March 2013.

The group is chaired by a patient representative, and the Chairperson of the ESR Communication and External Affairs Committee serves as vice-chairperson.

The goal of ESR-PAG is to bring together patients, the public and imaging professionals in order to positively influence advances in the field of medical imaging to the benefit of European patients.

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