Patient Information

Chairperson
Caroline Justich
Be accepted Caroline Justich Be Accepted 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.



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)
Facebook | Website 1 | Website 2

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.

Cheryl Cruwys
Dense Breast Info Cheryl Cruwys Dense Breast Info
Twitter | Facebook

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.

Stefan Gijssels
Patient Expert Center Stefan Gijssels Patient Expert Center
Twitter | LinkedIn

In 2016, after he recovered from a metastatic colon cancer, Stefan Gijssels became a patient advocate and health policy consultant.

Stefan is the pro bono Chair of the Patient Expert Center (PEC) in Belgium, an organisation that trains members of patient organisations to become patient experts in their disease area.

He is Patient Expert at Sharing Progress in Cancer Care (SPCC), the international organisation created by the European School of Oncology.

Stefan Gijssels is a health policy consultant, publicist and speaker, primarily focused on making health systems more patient-centric and smarter.

In 2019, Stefan Gijssels co-founded and led Digestive Cancers Europe, as the continuation of EuropaColon, moving the organisation from the UK to Belgium, expanding its scope, hiring new staff and significantly increasing the organisation's activities and funding.

Stefan is the author of the “Roadmap for the Prevention and Treatment of Colorectal Cancer in Europe”, published in 2021 by Digestive Cancers Europe. He is the co-author of the European Code of Cancer Practice, organised by the European Cancer Organisation.

He was formerly:
- Co-Chair of the Patient Advisory Committee of the European Cancer Organisation, and a member of the Board and the Executive Committee.
- Member of the Board and Executive Committee of FT3P (From Testing to Targeted Treatment Programme)
- Co-Chair of the European Alliance for Value in Health.

Before his advocacy work, Stefan was a public affairs consultant in various agencies, as well as VP Public Affairs & Communications at Johnson & Johnson.

Natalia Maeva
BSPPH Natalia Maeva Bulgarian Society of Patients with Pulmonary Hypertension
LinkedIn

Natalia Maeva lives in Sofia, Bulgaria and holds a master’s degree in Journalism and Mass Communication, as well as a Ph.D. in Political Science from Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski”. She started her career as a radio reporter and continued to work as a PR & marketing specialist for several Bulgarian ministries, banks and private companies. Her international career led her to Greece, Poland and Switzerland, where she worked as a regional manager.

Starting from her personal drives it is essential to share that she have been fighting pulmonary hypertension (PH) for more than 13 years. In addition, she is also a double lung transplant patient (2016), who is blessed to live a normal active life for the last six years.

Natalia is a founding member and current President of the Bulgarian Society of patients with pulmonary hypertension (2012). She is Vice President of the Bulgarian National Patient Organization, responsible for rare diseases and transplantation (December 2021). Since 2018 she also works as a Deputy Chair of the Bulgarian association of patients with respiratory failure and lung transplantation. As well as this, she is a Board member of PHA Europe (2022-2024).

Natalia is also a PAG member of the European Lung Reference Network, which covers nine groups of rare lung diseases, as well as a member of the COVID-19 PAG and part of the European Lung Foundation’s (ELF) united PAG’s group. She was scholar of EURORDIS Leadership school 2021.

She joined the ESR-PAG in December 2021 with the goal to create a better doctor-patient relationship in order to meet all participants’ needs.

Lavinia Magee
Lung Cancer Europe (LuCe) Lavinia Magee Lung Cancer Europe (LuCe)
Twitter

Lavinia Magee is Nurse Consultant, Thoracic Oncology, Royal Papworth Hospital. Her Papworth career started in 1997 as clinical research nurse and database manager. As a Lung Cancer Nursing UK (LCNUK) member she was awarded the first Research Interest Group Grant to look at the psycho-social impact of taking TKIs. In 2013 she became a committee member of LCNUK and was involved in developing the Using Your Voice (UYV) and Thoracic Oncology Research Concept to Home Run (TORCH) projects. She represents LCNUK within the UK Lung Cancer Coalition and Lung Cancer Europe and is a member of LORD NCRI subgroup.

I would be delighted to help in any way I can and represent LuCE.



Evelyn Steinthaler
(no affiliation)

ESR Quality, Safety and Standards Committee Chairperson
Núria Bargalló Alabart

ESR National Societies Committee Chairperson
Christian Loewe

ESR Subspecialties and Allied Sciences Committee Chairperson
Apostolos Karantanas

European Federation of Radiographer Societies (EFRS)
Dr. Andrew England

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.

Please click here for more information.