KNOWLEDGE THAT DRIVES CHANGE
Join us where expert insights meet real-world experience to spark ideas, inspire action and accelerate innovation in healthcare. With interactive formats and expert speakers, HIMSS27 Europe gives you the chance to explore, learn and grow well beyond traditional boundaries.
Call for Proposals
HIMSS is a community of do-ers. We’re looking for experts to share their experiences on the stage at HIMSS27 Europe.
Deadline to apply: 15 December 2026. You'll hear back from us by mid-February.
Meet our HIMSS27 Europe Programme Committee
Join us where expert insights meet real-world experience to spark ideas, inspire action and accelerate innovation in healthcare. With interactive formats and expert speakers, HIMSS27 Europe gives you the chance to explore, learn and grow well beyond traditional boundaries.
Dr Sara AlShaya
Director of Data and Statistics, Emirates Health Services,
United Arab Emirates
Dale Atkinson
Dale Atkinson is co-founder of Clear Signal Partners, which measures whether patients can verify what a healthcare provider tells them. His work sits on the harm side ofa digital trust: what happens when a patient cannot check a claim, a credential or an outcome before deciding, and how easily the tools now being built around them widen that gap rather than close it.
He is a stage IV cancer patient, diagnosed in October 2024, and has continued to build and govern throughout treatment. Before healthcare he spent nearly two decades governing risk and data inside regulated institutions including Wellington Management, Schroders, HSBC and Deutsche Bank, chairing a global financial-crime committee, directing regulated entities and working with regulators across more than twenty jurisdictions. He builds and runs AI systems himself, which is what he brings to questions of responsible deployment.
He is also the founder of Beyond the Standard, a charity in formation working on education, research and a registry of real-world treatment data, and runs Peak Health and Fitness, an e-commerce business operating in the health space.
Ahmad Awada
Ahmad Awada is the Innovations & Digital Health Director at Mediclinic Middle East, focusing on digital health, telemedicine, AI-enabled care models, and innovation—bridging clinical needs, operations, and technology to deliver measurable outcomes at scale.
Previously, he served as Divisional General Manager, Digital Health Transformation & Innovation at Mediclinic Group, supporting transformation across Mediclinic Middle East. A digital health enthusiast and entrepreneur with ~18–20 years of experience spanning digital transformation, healthcare platforms, and agile software delivery, Ahmad has helped launch and scale initiatives including Mediclinic app, Chronic Disease Management, Virtual Clinic, and the Care Collaboration Center. He also supported the scaling of telemedicine to 153,000 teleconsultations in 2022.
Ahmad co-founded Mobile Doctors 24-7 and TruDoc 24x7, contributing to telemedicine and digital health platform development. He has pursued executive education in innovation and telehealth (HarvardX, Johns Hopkins, UC Davis) and has a Master of eHealth Management at Rome Business School. He is a JCI telehealth certification SME, an International Society for Telemedicine & eHealth member, and Vice Chair of the HIMSS Virtual Care Community.
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Leontina Braganza
Director, Incisive Health
United Kingdom
Leontina Braganza
Leontina Braganza brings over a decade of experience in the healthtech industry, starting out as a journalist with HIMSS before moving into the policy and public affairs space. She is currently a Director at Incisive Health, the UK’s leading specialist health policy and public affairs agency.
Prior to joining Incisive, Leontina led the policy and public affairs function at Feebris, a virtual care startup, and before that served as Head of Health and Social Care at techUK, the UK’s technology trade association. At techUK, she worked with hundreds of technology and healthtech companies to address barriers to the adoption of innovation across the NHS and social care.
Jordi Piera-Jiménez
Jordi Piera-Jiménez, PhD, MBA, is the chief executive officer of openEHR International and a principal investigator of the Digitalization for the Sustainability of the Healthcare System (DS3) Research Group, Barcelona, Spain. He previously served as the director of Digital Health Strategy for the Catalan Health Service, where he led Catalonia’s digitally enabled, integrated‑care transformation and chaired key initiatives in health information infrastructure and standards.
A fellow of both the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society and the International Academy of Health Sciences Informatics, Dr Piera‑Jiménez has a special interest in how technical standards drive real‑world health‑system change. His work focuses on digitally enabled integrated‑care services, semantic interoperability and the transition from vendor‑specific data silos to open platform architectures, including the design of clinical decision‑support systems.
He serves as the core architect for the World Health Organization’s Digital Public Infrastructure for Health, holds editorial positions at the Journal of Medical Internet Research and the Journal of Integrated Care and is an ambassador of the Global Health Connector, reinforcing his long‑standing commitment to bridging communities and institutions across borders.
Rita Kadic
Rita Kadic is Director of Quality, Environment and Safety at Hospital de Cascais (Portugal), part of the Ribera Salud Group. A nurse by training, she holds postgraduate, master's and specialist qualifications, complemented by the Advanced Management Programme for Executives at Católica Lisbon School of Business & Economics.
After 10 years of clinical and teaching experience, she transitioned into healthcare management in 2014, leading initiatives in quality improvement, patient safety, operational excellence and digital transformation. With more than a decade of collaboration with HIMSS, she has played a key role in advancing digital maturity across Portuguese healthcare, including leading the achievement of HIMSS Analytics EMRAM Stage 7 certification for the only three hospitals in Portugal to attain this level. Recognised as a HIMSS Europe Future50 leader, she is an active member of HIMSS and the HIMSS Iberian Community.
Hylke Kingma
Partner Digital Health, KPMG
Netherlands
Stefan Loretan
Stefan Loretan is the Deputy CIO at Swiss Medical Network, where he leads digitalization strategies, architecture visions, and patient-centered technology initiatives across healthcare systems. With over 15 years of experience in healthcare IT, enterprise architecture, and strategic management consulting, he specializes in driving digital health transformation and value-based care delivery.
He holds a Master of Advanced Studies in Information Technology (MAS-IT) and is certified as a Certified Professional in Healthcare Information and Management Systems (CPHIMS) and a CHIME Certified Digital Health Executive (CDH-E). An alumnus of the HIMSS CIO Connect Masterclass, Stefan has served as a HIMSS DACH committee member since 2026 and represents his organization on governance bodies including AD Swiss and WELL in Switzerland.
Jose Rodriguez Maniega
Jose Rodriguez Maniega graduated in computer engineering and began his career in healthcare in 1991 as a hospital intern. He went on to serve as CIO of several hospitals and later became CTO at Hospital Gregorio Marañón in Madrid. From there, he moved to Siemens to lead its healthcare IT business unit. After Cerner acquired the unit, he served as General Manager across France, Portugal, Spain and Latin America. When Oracle acquired Cerner, he took on a sales leadership role for Oracle Health in Southern Europe and Latin America.
Throughout his career, Jose has been driven by the ways information technology can improve clinical practice. After more than three decades in healthcare, he believes the most exciting advances still lie ahead, as technology brings health systems closer to the care they have long aspired to deliver.
Montserrat Daban Marin
Montserrat holds a PhD on Molecular Biology and master's degrees in Science Communication (Focus Medicine), and in Diplomacy and Foreign Affairs. She has over 35 years of experience in life sciences, as a researcher, publisher, communicator and ecosystem connector. She served as advisor at the Ministry of Research and Universities, Government of Catalonia (2011-2020).
As member of the Biocat team since 2006, Montse has held several positions, being her current role Director of Strategic Foresight and International Relations. In the last 5 years she has been also serving as President of the Council of European BioRegions (CEBR), Member of the Board of Directors of the European Clusters Alliance (ECA), Member of the Joint Industrial Cooperation Forum of the Health Emergency and Preparedness Agency (HERA), EIT Health Innostars mentor, Member of the Expert Committee for AI/Health Program (Government of Catalonia). Member of the Expert Committee for the National Agreement for health System Transformation (Government of Catalonia) and Member of the Expert Group on Cluster Policy, DG GROW (EC).
Jaanika Merilo
Digital Transformation Leader
Estonia
Paul Mussach
I am a Senior Electronics Engineer (UPC, 1998) and Master of Business Administration (MBA) from ESADE (2004-2006), as well as a Leadership and Social Innovation Program certification (ESADE, 2010-2011). Since 2012, I have been the CIO at Fundació Aspace Catalunya and a member of its Security Committee. My daily work revolves around integrated digital health and related areas such as cybersecurity and data protection. At my organization, we integrate health, social care, and education, exploring the synergies this integration offers—especially when technology is involved—to foster innovation and collaboration in the community. Since 2024 I have also been a member of the Iberian Community Committee at HIMSS, on behalf of La Unió. Previously, I worked on various national and international IT consulting projects, focusing on sectors such as banking, call centers, international cooperation, and disability within the third sector.
Petter Østbye
Petter Østbye has over 25 years of experience in Imaging IT, both from the customer side and within the industry. He currently serves as Managing Director of Sectra Norway, and the Vice President of Sectra Nordic, where he supports the delivery of healthcare IT solutions to the Nordic healthcare sector. With a strong belief in the potential of technology to enhance healthcare, he actively contributes to eHealth research and innovation through various initiatives (i.e. IHE, Nordic Interoperability, HIMSS Nordic Community). His focus is on improving diagnostic and treatment processes by leveraging AI and advanced technology in medical imaging and diagnostics, aiming to support healthcare providers in delivering better patient outcomes across the region.
Prof. Natasha Phillips
Founder, Future Nurse, Former Chief Nursing Information Officer for England
United Kingdom
Natasha Phillips
Natasha Phillips is the Founder and CEO of Future Nurse, a think-and-do tank committed to bringing nurses and tech together for better care. Natasha created the CIC to put nurses firmly in the ideation space to shape technology – not just being on the receiving end of innovation.
Driven by the belief that nurses can change the world, Natasha has built a focused, mission-driven team to create a growing community of innovators, disruptors and partners across healthcare, industry and academia. Together they are reimaging the future of the profession while honouring its nursing roots.
Previously the first Chief Nursing Information Officer for England, Natasha set the pace of the national digital agenda creating the strategic conditions that continue to influence the education, digital safety and workforce capability.
Today, her mission is clear: ensure nurses are recognised, valued, and central in designing the future of care.
Maurizio Rizzetto
Maurizio Rizzetto is Director of the Technical Department at the Friuli Occidentale Health Authority (ASFO) and Director of the Unit for Innovation, Technologies, Processes and ICT. An electronic engineer MS with a background in biomedical engineering, he has more than thirty years of experience in the planning, procurement, management and innovation of healthcare technologies, information systems and digital infrastructures in the public sector.
Throughout his career, he has led clinical-engineering, technological-innovation and ICT units, contributing to regional and national initiatives on interoperability, digital imaging, telemedicine, the Electronic Health Record, and the digital transformation of the Health Service. He serves as ASFO’s Single Point of Contact for Mission 6 of Italy’s National Recovery and Resilience Plan (PNRR) and as the regional healthcare cybersecurity steering group’s point of contact.
His main areas of expertise include the governance of healthcare technologies and data, cybersecurity for medical devices and clinical networks, health technology assessment (HTA), artificial intelligence in healthcare, regulation of medical software, and the design of interoperable digital-health ecosystems. He is an adjunct lecturer at the University of Trieste, serves on scientific committees and national working groups, and is an active member of professional and scientific associations including AIIC, HIMSS and IHE Italy.
Patricia Ripoll
Patricia Ripoll is the Founder and President of Fundación VISIBLE, a patient-led organisation working to make invisible health challenges visible and bring lived experience into healthcare decision-making. She is a patient advocate, lecturer and advisor with experience in patient engagement, health innovation and co-creation across European healthcare projects. Her work focuses on connecting patient knowledge with healthcare strategy, research and innovation to ensure that patients are involved not only as participants, but as partners in shaping better health systems.
Tamara Srzentic
First Digital Minister of Montenegro, Open Gov & Digital Service Lead California State
Montenegro
Tamara Srzentic
Tamara leads high-stakes national reforms, most recently as Montenegro's Minister of Public Administration, Digital Transformation and Media. In California under Governor Newsom she led digital services, open government, and the state's pandemic digital response.
With nearly 20 years of experience in government reform, policy and digital transformation leadership, Tamara has developed a global reputation for introducing the culture and practices of the digital era to help governments better serve the public. Over two California administrations, she helped shape and advance priority policy and digital reforms across the world's fourth-largest economy. Tamara built digital teams and led key open government, data and digital service reform initiatives; her team was responsible for California's digital response during a worldwide pandemic, modeling a radically human-centered "test and learn" approach to public service delivery. As a senior advisor and member of the leadership team at California's Health and Human Services Agency, she also helped lead major health and human services reforms, including crisis response efforts, advancing healthcare access, health equity, and service delivery for millions of Californians.
Following Montenegro’s first democratic transition in three decades, she returned home to serve as Minister of Public Administration, Digital Society and Media, becoming the country’s first digital minister and leading national reforms across government modernization, digital services and some of Montenegro’s most complex EU accession priorities. She later founded Rebel Alliance, a global movement bringing together world-class technologists, reformers, public leaders and communities to build new government capabilities, launch mission-driven teams and demonstrate what becomes possible when government works with, and not simply for, the people it serves.
Tamara writes and speaks globally about transforming government, iterative and human-centered policymaking, and building technology that advances opportunity, agency and the public interest. Ultimately, her work is about demonstrating that government can work differently by building the institutions, leadership and culture needed to restore trust in democracy and deliver better outcomes for people.
Eric Sutherland
Eric Sutherland is a Senior Health Economist leading the OECD’s work in Digitalisation of Health, bringing together policy guidance for digital security, integrated data, and responsible analytics including artificial intelligence. In that role, he is accountable for measuring and evolving the OECD’s Recommendation on Health Data Governance (2016) and supporting policy for digitalisation of health that provides data protection (e.g. security and privacy) and timely access to quality data to optimize the use of data for information, insights, and impact among individuals, health workers, policy makers, researchers, and innovators.
“Throughout the different sessions and discussions, one message stood out clearly: real transformation happens when we successfully balance three essential pillars: processes, people, and technology. Innovation only creates value when it enhances the human experience, empowers professionals, and helps deliver more integrated, efficient, and patient-centered care.”
DULCE CACHATA GONÇALVES
Chief Innovation Officer, Hospital de Cascais, Portugal
