Speakers GA 2026

Short biography

Ahmet Mücahit Güven is a PhD student in musicology at Istanbul Technical University, works in an international NGO focused on addiction prevention, and is a Network-Focused Representative in the JA PreventNCD Youth Advisory Group. His work examines how commercial interests shape cultural and music environments, and how these spaces can be reclaimed as settings for health promotion and NCD prevention. Bridging musicology, urban studies and public health, he focuses on cultural participation as an overlooked determinant of wellbeing and on engaging young people as active partners in prevention.

Short biography

Ana Medina is the Project Manager for the Joint Action PreventNCD in Cantabria, Spain. Prior to her current position, Ana worked in clinical trial management and provided support to the Cantabria Research Ethics Committee. She holds a Bachelor's degree in Business Administration and Management (2021) and a Master's degree in Health Services Management and Administration (2023), both from the University of Cantabria. Her Master's thesis focused on Spain's Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan, analyzing the alignment and implementation of its proposals related to science, innovation, and the strengthening of the National Health System.

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Andres Metspalu completed postdoctoral studies at Columbia University and Yale University from 1981 to 1982. In 2010, he was elected to the Estonian Academy of Sciences. Prof. Metspalu served as the President of the European Society of Human Genetics and has participated in several national and international committees, including as a board member of the Mission for Cancer in Horizon Europe and lead/co-lead of WG10 in the EU 1+Million Genomes Initiative, Genome of Europe, and the ERC Identification Committee. In 2024, he was elected as a full member of Academia Europaea.

Short biography

Angela Giusti is a PhD, IBCLC, Senior Researcher at the Istituto Superiore di Sanità since 2002, and Professor of Nursing, Midwifery, Health Promotion and Public Health. For over a decade, she has worked in international Primary Health Care programmes in low-income countries. Her expertise includes qualitative and mixed-methods research, epidemiology, programme planning and evaluation, NCD prevention, health promotion, participatory community approaches, and training interventions. Her main research interests are pregnancy and childbirth, breastfeeding protection and support, Nurturing Care and Early Child Development, prevention of domestic violence, nurturing fatherhood, social and gender equity, and women’s health.

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Anna Bulzacka-Bogucka is an EU4Health Project Adviser at HaDEA, the Executive Agency of the European Commission for Health and Digital. She is responsible for the mental health and NCDs portfolio and for the implementation of JA PreventNCD. With a background in psychology and neurophysiology, she specialised in clinical studies and ethics. Before joining HaDEA, she worked at the European Innovation Council as a business coach for innovators in biotech and medical devices scaling up internationally and finding partners and investment. She has expertise in cultural and linguistic mediation and migration, and has lived and worked in Poland, Italy and Austria. She is currently based in Brussels, Belgium.

Short biography

Dr. Arnfinn Helleve Dr. Arnfinn Helleve is a researcher and the Head of the Centre for Evaluation of Public Health Measures at the Norwegian Institute of Public Health. He is a sociologist by profession and holds a PhD from the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Oslo. In JAPreventNCD he is leading the work package on the use of regulation and taxation.

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Dr. Benedetta Armocida is a medical doctor and global health expert specializing in noncommunicable disease (NCD) prevention, adolescent health, and health systems strengthening. As a Senior Researcher at the Italian National Institute of Health (ISS), she coordinates Joint Action on Cardiovascular Diseases and Diabetes (JACARDI). Holding a PhD in Global Health and serving as a Lead Collaborator for the Global Burden of Disease Study, Dr. Armocida drives international research, projects, and education to shape equitable, evidence-informed public health policy.

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Brit Sandgren is a Senior Project Manager at Lillebaelt Hospital which is leading several EU-funded oncology and public health initiatives, including Joint Actions and Horizon Europe projects. With a background spanning clinical nursing, oncology research, and senior leadership roles in the private industry, she has extensive experience in strategic project management, health policy, compliance, and international partnerships. She co-founded and helped build the EU research unit at Lillebaelt Hospital’s Department of Oncology and has contributed to multiple European cancer research collaborations and publications. Her work focuses on translating complex research and policy agendas into impactful solutions for patients and healthcare systems.

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A public health specialist with over twenty years of experience connecting research, education and implementation to build healthier communities. Carolyn has a B.A. in Environmental Studies (Brown University), MPH (Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health) and a Master in Psychosocial Intervention (University of Barcelona). Her work centers on how to generate greater impact in policy and society using scientific evidence and ensuring evidence-based practices in the creation and implementation of health promotion projects. She works with local and regional governments across sectors to understand how the built environment can influence health and the importance of monitoring and evaluation for urban interventions.

Short biography

Dr. Cristina Martínez is the Head of the Cancer Prevention Program and Tobacco Control Unit at the Catalan Institute of Oncology, a WHO Collaborating Center for Tobacco Control since 2014. She also holds academic positions at the University of Barcelona and the University of California, San Francisco. Her research focuses on applying implementation science to tobacco control, with a particular emphasis on smoke-free environments and smoking cessation interventions. Dr. Martínez has developed innovative programmes such as “Smoke-Free Hospital” and “Smoke-Free Homes,” integrating evidence-based practices into clinical and community settings. She has pioneered training initiatives including INSTrUCT, an Erasmus+ project combining online training, interactive materials, videos and virtual simulation. Her work prioritizes vulnerable populations, including those affected by substance abuse and mental health disorders, refugees and low socio-economic groups. Dr. Martínez leads international projects including PIECES, one work package in JA-SAFE, and several pilots in JA PreventNCD, together with national initiatives in Spain addressing tobacco use alongside alcohol and cannabis addiction. She has approximately 120 peer-reviewed publications and serves as a reviewer for several public health and substance use journals.

Short biography

Federica Rossetti is a researcher at the Cancer Centre of Sciensano, Belgiums national institute of public health. She currently leads WP10 of JA PreventNCD, focusing on personalised prevention and the identification of individuals at risk. She holds a PhD in Sociology and has previously worked on an EU-funded project investigating the gendered and intersecting impacts of COVID-19 policies.

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Finja Daegling is a public health consultant working at the Center for Child and Adolescent Health in Copenhagen. As a Youth Advisory Group member representing Denmark, she uses her expertise on mental health, interdisciplinary collaboration and monitoring and evaluation to advocate for young people’s wellbeing.

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Freyr holds a Master’s degree in Marketing from Kingston University, London, and has extensive experience in marketing, communication, and the online ecosystem. He joined the Directorate of Health in Iceland in 2024 and is one of the leaders of dissemination and communication work in JA PreventNCD, with a focus on strategic communication, visibility, and stakeholder engagement across the project. He also leads coordination on cross-cutting work related to commercial determinants of health, helping bring together perspectives from across the consortium and support collaboration in this area. Freyr is a member of the Data Management Board of JA PreventNCD and the organising committee of the Wellbeing Economy Forum.

Short biography

Gabriele Gruber, MA, is sociologist and Senior Health Expert at the Austrian National Public Health Institute (GÖG), department Health, Society and Equity. Her key areas of work are Health in All Policies (HiAP) processes, Health (in) Impact Assessment, (social) Determinants of Health and Health Equity. She has experience on international collaborations within EUPHA or EU Joint Actions. Since 2024, she is main scientific contact for Austria in the EU JA Prevent NCD, in which she is also a leading a task on Health (in) Impact Assessments.

Short biography

Giorgia Rossi is a researcher at the National Centre for Global Health of the Istituto Superiore di Sanità (ISS). She serves on the leadership team of Work Package 7, focused on Social Inequalities, within the Joint Action Prevent NCDs. Her background lies in health economics and population health management, with a particular interest in addressing health inequalities, global health and improving population health outcomes.

Short biography

Gorazd Levičnik is a researcher at the National Institute of Public Health (NIJZ). He joined the Institute in 2020, initially working in adolescent mental health before moving into alcohol policy research. His focus of research is digital alcohol marketing and alcohol availability, and affordability restrictions. He previously worked on the European Commission’s AlHaMBRA project and is currently involved in all alcohol-related research within the Joint Action PreventNCD and Joint Action SAFE. He holds a master's degree in public health and environmental engineering and is a PhD student in Public Health at the University of Ljubljana, Faculty of Medicine.

Short biography

Hanna Ollila Ms. Hanna Ollila, MSSc, senior specialist in the Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare (THL), leads the WHO FCTC Knowledge Hub on Surveillance promoting research, surveillance and information exchange under the Article 20 of the WHO FCTC. Ms. Ollila has contributed to several WHO FCTC Global Progress Reports, and she has experience of the development and evaluation of Finnish tobacco control initiatives. She is a theme-coordinator for tobacco in the JAPreventNCD-project, and in the Joint Action on Tobacco Control 2 -project she led a work package on tobacco endgame. In JA-SAFE, she leads tasks on forward-looking tobacco control measures.

Short biography

Hanna Tolonen is a Deputy Director General of Research, Development and Innovation at the Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare (THL). She has a long experience on NCD risk factor monitoring and she is the President of the Section on Public Health Monitoring and Reporting in the European Public Health Association.

Short biography

Helena Križan is a social pedagogue working at the Croatian Institute of Public Health in Zagreb, Croatia. Her primary areas of work are health promotion and surveillance of health determinants, especially in the area of obesity prevention. She is part of a multidisciplinary team working on the implementation of the national health promotion programme Healthy Living. She is a PhD candidate in Prevention Science at the University of Zagreb. In JA PreventNCD she is acting as a co-leader of WP6 Healthy living environments and a pilot leader in the same work package.

Short biography

Helena Mayerhoffer holds a Bachelor of Science degrees in nursing and physiotherapy. She currently works as a nurse in the Department of Pediatric Endocrinology and Diabetes, providing care for children and adolescents with chronic conditions. She is actively engaged in international health initiatives through JA PreventNCD as a Youth Advisory Group member, contributing to European efforts in non-communicable disease prevention. She also supports patient-rights advocacy through the International Council of the Patient Ombudsman in Croatia. Her focus is on strengthening preventive, youth-centered approaches in healthcare and promoting early intervention in clinical practice.

Short biography

Hugrún Snorradóttir is a project manager at the Directorate of Health in Iceland, working in the field of public health, health promotion, health impact assessments and intersectoral collaboration. She has experience in public health at both local and national level, including previous work at the Mayor’s Office in Reykjavík City. Within JA PreventNCD, Hugrún is task leader for the Stakeholder Analysis in the Work Package on Communication and Dissemination. In this role, she oversees the establishment and development of the JA PreventNCD stakeholder group. She also contributes to tasks within the Health in All Policies work package. Hugrún has educational background in anthropology and public health sciences.

Short biography

Ingrid Stegeman is Programme Manager at EuroHealthNet, with over 20 years of experience in EU public health and social policy and the management of EU co-funded projects. Her work links evidence to action, ensuring quality and providing strategic guidance in areas like tackling health inequalities, health-promoting schools, sustainable food systems, integrated community approaches, and well-being economies. She holds degrees in Political Science from Vassar College, New York and the University of Amsterdam.

Short biography

Juliette Legendre works at the French Ministry of Health and specializes in EU project management. She is actively involved in monitoring European initiatives related to noncommunicable diseases and monitors the EU4Health programme in France. She previously worked for UNICEF and international NGOs.

Short biography

Kaja Lund-Iversen (M.Sc.) is a senior adviser at the Norwegian Institute of Public Health (NIPH) with 25 years of experience working in the food and nutrition policy domain, both in a health authority and an NGO context. She is now doing research and coordination activities in JA PreventNCD, especially in tasks related to marketing of unhealthy foods to children, commercial determinants of health and policy monitoring. At NIPH, she is a member of the Centre for Sustainable Diet and the Centre for Evaluation of Public Health Interventions. She is also part of the research teams on the evaluation of the statutory ban on unhealthy food marketing to children and the ban on sales of energy drinks to under 16s, newly adopted in Norway.

Short biography

Katarzyna Brukało, Associate Professor, PhD, MBA in healthcare, clinical dietitian and public health specialist, Department of Health Policy, Faculty of Public Health, Medical University of Silesia, Poland. She serves as an expert for the European Federation of the Associations of Dietitians within the European Specialist Dietetic Networks for Older Adults and Public Health and the International Group of Urban Planning for Health Equity under the Academy of Territorial Development in the Leibniz Association. Dr. Brukało has actively contributed to numerous international projects supported by the Ministry of Health, the World Health Organization, and the European Commission. She served as researcher and coordinator in projects such as JANPA, JAHEE, EPHOs, Best Re-MaP, Com.HeNet, PEN, FoodPath, StratKIT+, Health4EUkids and JA PreventNCD.

Short biography

Prof. Knut-Inge Klepp, Ph.D., MPH, the Norwegian Institute of Public Health (NIPH) is the Scientific Coordinator of JA PreventNCD, and Professor, Department of Nutrition, Faculty of Medicine, University of Oslo. Klepp is previous executive Director for the Division of Mental and Physical Health at NIPH, and before that he was Director General of Public Health at the Norwegian Directorate of Health. He has served as Coordinator and WP-leader of several EU DG Research projects, and he is Past President of the International Society of Behavioural Nutrition and Physical Activity. Klepp has published more than 300 scientific journal articles, primarily around adolescent health promotion and evaluation of public health measures.

Short biography

Leena Tervonen, MSocSc, PhD, is a health policy expert at the Cancer Society of Finland with over 20 years of experience in analyzing public health policy from an international comparative perspective. Her work focuses on global policy initiatives and their national implementation, drawing on critical policy analysis, comparative research, and governance studies. She has worked as a university researcher and as a civil servant at Stakes and THL.

Short biography

Léopold Vandervliet is a researcher in the Implementation, Monitoring and Evaluation team at Sciensano’s Cancer Centre, focusing on the sustainability of the Joint Action PreventNCD and the long-term continuation of pilots and practices in European public health systems. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in European Public Health and a Master’s degree in Environmental and Occupational Health. He has experience in European health policy, environmental health, and international project management across EU institutions, NGOs, and the private sector. Since joining Sciensano in 2022, he progressed from Project Management Assistant to Scientific Researcher, contributing to evidence-based policy and European public health initiatives.

Short biography

Dr. Linda Granlund is the Project Coordinator of JA PreventNCD, and Director General of Division of Prevention and Public Health, Directorate of Health (DOH). PhD in Nutrition. Has extensive experience in leading large national and regional programs and participating in several JA projects. Has several years of experience in working within the food industry, with the aim of tur ning the product portfolio in a healthier direction. More than 20 years of experience with working within The Norwegian diabetes federation (eg as a vice president), both at national, regional and international level.

Short biography

Marcela Fu is an associate researcher at the Tobacco Control Unit at ICO. Her main area of research is tobacco prevention and control. She has collaborated in national and international projects about the monitoring of tobacco and electronic cigarette use and exposure in diverse populations as well as the impact of tobacco control interventions. She is member of the tobacco working group in the Spanish Society of Epidemiology.

Short biography

Martin is a researcher and project manager in the Department of Epidemiology and Health Monitoring at the Robert Koch Institute (RKI), a national public health institute in Germany. He coordinates RKI activities within the Joint Action PreventNCD and is leading together with Julika Loss the Work Package on evaluation. He has background in Geography and Public Health.

Short biography

Martina Serra is a public health professional specialised in health promotion and disease prevention. Throughout her career, she has developed expertise in project coordination, systems thinking, Health in All Policies, and healthy urban planning. Since 2024, she has been working as a European Project Manager at the French Healthy Cities Network (Réseau français Villes-Santé). Her work focuses on supporting local authorities in integrating health considerations across policies and sectors and promoting healthier living environments. Within JA PreventNCD, she leads Subtask 9.1.2 on the implementation of the Health in All Policies approach at the subnational level. She also coordinates Pilot 6.3.3b, which focuses on developing a One Health-based evaluation tool for assessing the impacts of car-free areas around schools. Since March 2026 she is thematic coordinator for Physical Activity.

Short biography

Dr Matthew Baldacchino is a medical doctor, has worked in media and journalism spaces, and is now involved in youth, health and climate advocacy spaces. He is present here in his capacity as the Country-Focused Representative for Malta on the JA PreventNCD Youth Advisory Group. He serves as Director for Policy with the National Youth Council of Malta (KNŻ) and as an EU Climate Pact Ambassador. He is also on the boards of the Youth Health Organisation, is a trustee for LGBT Youth Scotland, and works on WHO Youth Council communications. Based in Scotland, he completed an MSc Global Health at the University of Glasgow; his dissertation critiqued Malta’s sexual health strategy, investigating participatory policymaking through the lenses of reproductive justice, decolonisation and Catholic oversight.

Short biography

Meg is a researcher in the Department of Epidemiology and Health Monitoring at the Robert Koch Institute in Germany, where she contributes to the evaluation Work Package of the JA PreventNCD. She brings a background as an Economist in the Australian Government, with experience in the economic evaluation of public initiatives spanning public health and socioeconomic development.

Short biography

Dr Larsen is leading the task on implementation of risk stratified prevention. She is a specialist in early diagnosis of cancer.

Short biography

Mette Svendgaard, MSc in Food Science and Technology (Can. Techn. Al.), serves as a project manager and chief consultant for the City of Copenhagen, Denmark. Her expertise spans food science, the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), project management, and meeting facilitation. Based in the Strategic Procurement and Food Department, she manages the project portfolio for initiatives linked to the city’s Food and Meal Strategy and public food procurement (PFP). Her work focuses on advancing healthy and sustainable food and meals through a holistic approach, driving systemic change toward a more sustainable food system.

Short biography

Dr. Mojca Gabrijelčič, Senior Adviser at NIJZ, the Slovenian National Institute of Public Health, is a medical doctor, specialist of public health, holding PhD in social sciences. Her fields of interest and expertise are health promotion approaches, public policies, health equity and wellbeing, nutrition and physical activity, aging and frailty and quality of life, being mostly involved in policy and programme development, and in research projects. Mojca was the scientific coordinator of the JA Best-ReMaP 2020 – 2023 and she is the WP coordinator for policy sustainability in the JA Prevent NCD 2024 – 2027. Mojca was heading Health promotion centre at the NIPH Slovenia 2003 to 2010, Health Research and Health Development Centre 2020 – 2021 and she is heading Healthy Lifestyle Unit from 2022 on. She is intensively involved in WHO and EU activities, she has been nominated as the WHO nutrition focal point for Slovenia in 2000. She holds assistant professorship at the Medical Faculty, University of Ljubljana, where she teaches health promotion theory and health in all policies. Mojca is the president of the Expert Board for Public Health at the Slovene Medical Society. She was EuroHealthNet President in years 2018 – 2022 and she is Honorary Advisor to the Executive Board of the EuroHealthNet Partnership from 2022 on.

Short biography

Morten Sønderskov Frydensberg Morten is the task leader of our task 8.1 which serves as the knowledge foundation of our monitoring work package. An important cornerstone of Work Package 8 is the mapping of monitoring practices across 16 JAPNCD countries. Morten is an experienced project manager with experience from various international health innovation projects such as eCAN, DELIVER and JADECARE. Morten holds a master in Political Science.

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Dr. Maani is a Lecturer in Inequalities and Global Health Policy at the University of Edinburgh’s Global Health Policy Unit, in the School of Social and Political Science. His research focuses on the commercial determinants of health, seeking to describe the mechanisms through which commercial actors affect health inequalities, knowledge and public discourse. This includes primary research on the alcohol, sugar sweetened beverage, firearm, social media and fossil fuel industries, as well as policy research on the relationships between underinvestment, commercial influence and health inequity. He is co-editor, with Sandro Galea and Mark Petticrew, of the Oxford University Press textbook The Commercial Determinants of Health, and the host of Money Power Health, a podcast series discussing the social and commercial forces that shape health. He serves as a technical expert to the World Health Organization’s global programme on economic and commercial determinants of health, is a fellow of the Royal Society of the Arts, and a Commonwealth Fund Senior Harkness Fellow.

Short biography

Neda Tavassoli is a hospital pharmacist and PhD in Pharmacoepidemiology. She is coordinator of the Regional Team for Ageing and Prevention of Dependency (ERVPD) within the HealthAge Institute – Toulouse University Hospital. She coordinates the deployment of actions for the prevention of dependency among seniors in the Occitanie region in particular the implementation of the ICOPE program. She is involved in several large-scale studies (IDEM, FINE, RISING-DOM, etc.) and several European projects (APTITUDE, APTITUDE-PROXI, JA PreventNCD, etc.) in the field of ageing. Her area of expertise and research is the prevention of functional decline in older people and healthy ageing.

Short biography

Nicolas Giraudeau is a public health dentist and Associate Professor of Dental Public Health at the University of Montpellier and Montpellier University Hospital, where he also serves as President of the University Foundation. His work focuses on oral health, digital health, and reducing health inequalities through innovative care models. An expert for the World Health Organization in digital health and noncommunicable diseases (NCDs), he has contributed to several international initiatives, including WHO mOralHealth and the Global Oral Health Coalition. He leads several public health and telehealth programs, including "Montpellier Santé Orale" and "e-DENT". His research combines public health, health policy, and digital innovation to improve access to care for vulnerable populations. He is actively involved in the Joint Action PreventNCD, he is the PI for the University Hospital of Montpellier and leads the subtasks: 7.4.2, 7.4.3 and 7.4.5 and the pilot 7.5.20 on Oral Health.

Short biography

Peder Ringnes Berrefjord is Senior Adviser at the Norwegian Directorate of Health, in the Department for Social Determinants of Health. He leads Task 7.4 on health literacy under WP7 of JA PreventNCD, coordinating work on population and organizational health literacy across the participating countries

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Raffaella Bucciardini is Director of the National Center for Global Health at the Italian National Institute of Health (Istituto Superiore di Sanità). She has extensive experience in global health research, policy and implementation, contributing to national and international initiatives with ministries, European institutions, and WHO frameworks. Her work focuses on reducing health inequalities and translating global health strategies into concrete, equity-oriented interventions, including programmes on vaccination, cancer prevention and health systems strengthening. She is involved in several large-scale European Joint Actions and international cooperation projects, including holding the leadership of the work package on social inequalities in JA prevent NCD.

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Mr. Rafn M. Jónsson is a Senior Specialist in alcohol and drug prevention at the Directorate of Health in Iceland. He has a background in psychology and 23 years of experience in prevention and policymaking in the field of alcohol and drug prevention. He has served as Iceland’s national focal point for WHO and participated in the EVID-ACTION project. He has also contributed to numerous projects on alcohol and other substances at local, Nordic, and European levels. He currently serves as Theme Coordinator for Alcohol in JA PreventNCD.

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Dr. Roberto Pasetto is senior researcher at the Italian National Institute of Health (ISS), Environmental and Social Epidemiology Unit. He leads research on Environmental Health Hotspots and Environmental Justice, bridging environmental health sciences and humanities. His expertise covers Health Impact Assessment (HIA), including methodological development and epidemiological evaluations for mandatory regulatory and supervisory procedures for industrial projects. Additionally, he oversees health equity and environmental justice activities for the WHO Collaborating Center for Environmental Health in Contaminated Sites. Publications: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Roberto-Pasetto

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Dr Sebastián Peña is a Senior Researcher at the Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare. He is a medical doctor and social epidemiologist with a keen interest in health equity, NCDs and health policy. He leads task 7.1 in JA PreventNCD, where he coordinates the development of several umbrella reviews on social factors and NCDs and assessments of health inequalities reporting in European countries.

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Silke Cnockaert is a public health scientist at Sciensano, Belgium’s institute for public health. She is based in the Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, where she works within the Unit of Food Systems and Nutrition. She holds a Master’s degree in Clinical Psychology and a Master’s in Global Health. Her research is part of the Joint Action PreventNCD, with a focus on the commercial determinants of health. She particularly examines strategies used by the food, alcohol and tobacco industries, and their influence on policy-making. Within the Joint Action, she serves as co-lead of the Key Achievements Working Group on CDoH. Additionally, she is involved in research on Health Impact Assessment.

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Sofie Randby is a senior adviser at the Norwegian Institute of Public Health, currently working as Deputy Scientific Coordinator in JA PreventNCD. Before this, she worked for 12 years at the Norwegian Directorate of Health, focusing on regulation of food marketing to children, school meals and obesity prevention. She also worked for three years at WHO Headquarters on regulation of food marketing and childhood obesity prevention. In her PhD from the University of Oslo she applied an implementation science lens to study implementation of Norwegian guidelines on school meals. She holds a Master’s degree in Food Policy from City University London, a Master’s degree in Public Health Nutrition and a Bachelor’s degree in Human Geography.

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Taija Voutilainen (PhD) is a Senior Specialist at the Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare (THL) and she leads Task 9.3 of the JA PreventNCD project. Her work focuses on alcohol and tobacco related perspectives in policy implementation, including stakeholder analysis, assessment of tobacco and nicotine industry interference and monitoring, retail regulation, and mystery shopping as a method for age-limit control. Her research supports evidence-informed policymaking and contributes to the objectives of the European Beating Cancer Plan and the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control.

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Tord Finne Vedøy is a sociologist (PhD) and senior researcher in the Department of Alcohol, Tobacco and Drugs at the Norwegian Institute of Public Health. He has worked extensively with tobacco statistics and researched various aspects of tobacco use, such as historical changes in smoking habits, social inequality in tobacco use, risk perceptions related to tobacco, and cross-border trade with tobacco and other nicotine products. In JA PreventNCD he leads task 5.2.2 on cross-border trade with alcohol and tobacco products.

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Urška Polanc is a Communications Specialist at the National Institute of Public Health, Regional Unit Ravne na Koroškem. She coordinates the Healthy Cities programme and is involved in the JAPrevent NCD project, focusing on health promotion and non-communicable disease prevention at the local and regional level. She has nearly ten years of experience in journalism, working as a regional correspondent for a national newspaper, where she covered local and regional developments.

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Valentina De Cosmi is a researcher in human nutrition, public health, and nutrition policy at the Italian National Institute of Health, Rome. She is actively involved in European Union-funded projects addressing non-communicable diseases and advancing public health strategies, contributing to the development of nutrition policies. Her research aims to generate scientific evidence to support the implementation of effective, system-level interventions to reduce the prevalence of obesity and other non-communicable diseases. She is a member of the National Committee on Nutritional Safety at the Italian Ministry of Health and of the Public Health and Nutrition Committee of the Italian Society of Pediatric Nutrition.

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Valentina Possenti is a Senior Researcher at the National Centre for disease Prevention and Health Promotion of the Istituto Superiore di Sanità. Since 2006, she has been gaining experience on population behavioural risk factor surveillance methods and working on national and international programs for disease prevention and health-related promotion and communication, ranging from lifestyles to cancer screenings and vaccination uptake.