Chairman – Assoc. Prof. Dr. Francesc Xavier Cos Claramunt

Ass. Prof. dr Francesc Xavier Cos
Dr Francesc Xavier Cos is a general practitioner graduated in 1997 and currently working as a Director of Sant Martí Primary Health Centres (Catalonian National Health  Service) Barcelona,Spain.

Dr. Cos’ main areas of interest are Research and Education in Primary Care with a special emphasis on the Diabetes field. He is member of the Primary Care University Research Institute Jordi Gol and currently its European representative in Diabetes and Endocrine disorders. At this research institution he is an active member in 2 working groups: Diabetes Prevention and Epidemiological Database analysis.  He was also the Spanish national representative of the European General Practice  Research Network, WONCA Europe research Group (www.egprn.org) on behalf of the Spanish Primary Care society (www.semfyc.es) from 2009 to 2015.

He started his activities on Diabetes at GEDAPS “Primary Care Diabetes Study Group” (www.redgdps.org) in1997, working on Diabetes treatment. In Spain he has been working in many institutional projects for the Catalonian Health Department, (Type 2 Diabetes treatment Guidelines, SBMG recommendations and the Diabetes Expert Patient Programme).

He is regularly invited to participate in national and international meetings to lecture as an expert on Diabetes in Primary Care or to develop and conduct educational activities. He also participates in many advisory boards and expert groups.

He is currently working in various research projects in Diabetes prevention (DP Transfers), CATRisc, , DE-PLAN, DISCOVER, LadyDiab and OBINDIAB. His unit has recently been involved in many randomized clinical trials (Dapagliflozin, Lixisenatide, Early treatment with MET+Vilda).

He is also involved in the academic field as an Associate Profesor at the medicine department of the Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona since 2009 and he is currently an associate editor of the Primary Care Diabetes journal.

In 2009 he was elected as vice chairman of the Primary Care Diabetes Europe (www.pcdeurope.org) and since February 2016 as Chairman elect. In February  2017 he is appointed as Chairman of PCDE for a term of 4 years.

Vice Chair – Prof. Dr. Pinar Topsever

Ass. prof. dr. Pinar Topsever
Prof. Topsever is professor of family medicine and chairing the department of family medicine at Acibadem University School of Medicine in Istanbul. She is member of TAHUD, WONCA, EGPRN (active member of the EGPRN Research Strategy Committee), EURACT, PCDE and EASD. Prof. Topsever has served terms in the executive committees of two EASD study groups (steering group member and local organizer of the meeting of the EASD Study Group on Hypertension in Diabetes (EASD HID) in 2003; founding member and steering group member (since 2005) and chair (2012-2016) of the EASD Primary Care Study Group – formerly called EASD SG on Primary Care Research in Diabetology).

Prof. Topsever’s PCDE (Primary Care Diabetes Europe) membership began as a working GA member (2005-2009), she was elected executive board member in charge of research in 2010 and was re-elected in 2014 as board member of PCDE for a second and last term of 4 years. She acted as scientific secretary/local organizer of major conferences like the PCDE annual conferences in 2010, 2011 and 2012, the WONCA Europe Istanbul Regional Conference (2008) and the EGPRN conferences in Antalya (2008) and Kuşadası (2013).

Prof. Topsever has been involved in the curriculum development and implementation of the in-service retraining of family doctors within the Turkish primary health care reform programme “Transition in Health” organized by the Ministry of Health, as well as evidence based guideline development for primary care. She is involved in CME activities (especially about management of diabetic individuals in primary care) for Turkish family doctors organized by professional societies like TAHUD and ISTAHED. Her fields of interest are diabetology in primary care, epidemiology in the context of health promotion and preventive care, evidence based medicine and research methodology. She is editorial board member of several peer reviewed scientific journals, referee in several scientific award committees and has worked as a clinical referee for the Cochrane Collaboration, as well as, for several peer reviewed scientific journals.

In March 2016 Pinar Topsever is voted Vice Chair Elect and in February 2017 appointed as Vice Chair (General Secretary) of PCDE for a term of 4 years.

Board Member Treasurer – Dr. Philip Domeyer

Current and recent positions
Philippe-Richard J. Domeyer is an Academic Tutor of Health Management at the Hellenic Open University. He is also a Specialist Family Physician in the Greek National Health System.

Qualifications and background
Philippe is Greek Board-Certified in Family Medicine. He also holds a MSc Degree in Health Management, a MSc Degree in Biostatistics and a PhD in the academic field of quality of life and healthcare quality. Philippe has received post-graduate training in numerous scientific fields, including Diabetes Mellitus, Obesity, Breast Diseases, Emergency Medicine, Substance Abuse, Pulmonary Medicine and Quality in Healthcare. He has earned 4 scholarships during his studies as well as 10 national prizes and awards for his research work. He holds 15 foreign languages degrees and is proficient in Greek (native language), French (native language), English, German and has a basic knowledge of Swedish.

Teaching
Philippe has taught a variety of subjects, including -but not limited to- Healthcare Management, Family Medicine, Anatomy and Physiology to more than 1200 students of various Universities and Technological Institutions in undergraduate and postgraduate levels. He has also supervised over 40 Thesis projects related to Healthcare Management.

Clinical and Research Work
Philippe has 15 years of experience in salaried posts in the Greek NHS and has been conducting research for several years. He has been a research, clinical and teaching fellow in two Greek health centers and in the Breast Unit of the 1st Propaedeutic Surgical Clinic of the University of Athens. He is the author and co-author of more than 40 research manuscripts (full papers and abstracts) in International Scientific Journals and 9 papers in National Journals and has participated in 83 research projects presented in National and International Conferences. He has taken part in international research protocols and funded research projects. He is an Editorial Board Member in four International Journals, a Lead Guest Editor in Special Issues of his choice in two International Journals and a Reviewer in several other Journals. He has contributed to the translation of one English and one German medical book into Greek and has authored book chapters of two other medical books.

Membership
Philip is member of major international and national professional bodies and associations, such as WONCA (World Organization of National Colleges, Academies and Academic Associations of General Practitioners/Family Physicians), AAFP (American Academy of Family Physicians), EHMA (European Health Management Association), EQuiP (European Society for Quality and Safety in Family Practice), EURACT (European Academy of Teachers in General Practice/Family Medicine) and PCDE (Primary Care Diabetes Europe).

Research interests
Primary Care, Quality of life, quality in healthcare, healthcare administration, breast diseases, diabetes.

Dr. Philippe Domeyer is PCDE working group member since 2018 and is appointed board member treasurer in March 2019 for a period of four years.

Executive Board Member – Research – Dr. Samuel Seidu

Prof. dr. Johan Wens
Dr Samuel Seidu BSc, DFFP, PGCME, MSc, MD, FRCGP is a practising Leicester City GP. He started his Diabetes career at the Ulster Hospital in Belfast as a junior doctor in 2003. He subsequently moved to Leicester, England to train as GP. He is now a Partner, lead undergraduate tutor and GP trainer at the Hockley Farm Medical Practice.

He is a primary care research fellow in diabetes at the University of Leicester and his area of interest is around quality improvement in diabetes care. Due to his expertise in this area, he is a regular reviewer of related articles submitted to peer-reviewed journals like Diabetes Research and Clinical Practice, Diabetic Medicine, Primary Care Diabetes Europe Journal, BMJ and the European Journal of Medical Informatics. He also reviews abstracts related to diabetes submitted for national and international conferences.

He is currently the Clinical Lead and GP mentor for Diabetes in the Leicester City CCG and is involved in the design and re-configuration of diabetes care in Leicester alongside other clinical leads in primary and secondary care. He also leads primary care diabetes research at the University of Leicester.
He is a Faculty Member of Collaboration for Leadership in Applied Health Research and Care—East Midlands (CLAHRC-EM) and also held the post of CLAHRC Primary Care Research Fellowship until February 2013.

He is a member of the Primary Care Academy of Diabetes Specialists in the UK and liaises with other leading GPs with interest in diabetes all over the country to foster understanding on the key elements essential for delivering a diabetes service and the potential challenges involved. He is author of the “Simple-to-do-audit–series” published every couple of months in the Diabetes and Primary Care Journal-UK.

He is currently the head of research and continuing medical education for Primary Care Diabetes Europe (PCDE). He is an associate editor for Primary Care Diabetes journal.

In September 2016 Dr. Sam Seidu has been elected Chair of the EASD-PCDE Study Group for a term of 4 years. In February 2017 Dr. Sam Seidu is elected as executive board member for a term of 4 years.

EXECUTIVE BOARD MEMBER Dr Waqas Tahir (U.K.) 

Dr Waqas Tahir is a practising general practitioner and partner in Affinity Care, a multi-site partnership covering 65,000 patients. He also works as a specialist GP in Diabetes and Cardiometabolic medicine, advising and teaching local GPs and nurses. As Clinical lead for Diabetes, he has been leading the re-design of diabetes services, clinical guidelines, outcome measures and quality indicators across Bradford & Craven place with a focus on cardio-metabolic pathways.

He has a particular interest in translating evidence into practice, cardio-metabolic medicine, multi-morbidity and the role of technology and innovation in the delivery of patient care. He is a standing member of the NICE Indicator Advisory Committee as well as the ICS clinical diabetes lead for West Yorkshire Health and Care Partnership. In the latter role, he has taken an avid interest in reducing health inequalities and championing diabetes awareness and prevention across the region. He is also a specialist committee member for the NICE Quality Standards on both Type 1 Diabetes and Type 2 Diabetes. He has been appointed as the primary care clinical lead for Yorkshire & Humber diabetes clinical networks to support local health systems improve quality outcomes for their communities, reduce variation and drive improvement across the region. More recently, he has joined the expert parliamentary working group to develop policy reforms that can help to improve outcomes for people living with diabetes across the UK and is a member of the council of healthcare professionals (CHP) for the charity Diabetes UK (DUK). He is the Deputy Vice President for the PCDE Education Committee and has a pivotal role in leading and shaping our new and innovative e-learning platform, PCDE Campus. Waqas has recently been elected to the Executive Board of PCDE for a term of 4 years.

EXECUTIVE BOARD MEMBER Dr. Bogdan Vlacho (Spain)

Dr. Bogdan Vlacho, a pharmacist since 2009, currently holds the position of Postdoctoral Researcher at the Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red de Diabetes y Enfermedades Metabólicas Asociadas (CIBERDEM: CB15/00071) based at the Hospital de la Santa Creu i Sant Pau in Barcelona, Spain. As a young researcher, Dr. Vlacho actively investigates and manages various clinical projects focused on the complications of diabetes mellitus and associated metabolic conditions. He is interested in epidemiology and pharmacoepidemiology research of diabetes within primary healthcare, using large real-world databases and prospective cohorts. Furthermore, Dr. Vlacho is a Project Manager for the Research Group on Diabetes from Primary Care (DAP_CAT) in Barcelona, Spain. In this capacity, he oversees various diabetes-related projects in primary care, focusing on coordinating studies addressing critical issues such as diabetic foot disease, cardiovascular risks associated with diabetes, and precision medicine of diabetes. Bogdan has recently been elected to the Executive Board of PCDE for a term of 4 years.

Executive Board Member – Dr. Gerardo Medea

Gerardo Medea
Dr. Gerardo Medea Gerardo Medea is professor and tutor at General Practice Specialization course in Brescia (Italy) since 1996. He works in a small GP practice in Brescia (Italy) together two colleagues since 1988. He is member of the Executive Board and President of Metabolic Group of the Italian College of General Practice (SIMG, www.simg.it). His main interests are the clinical and epidemiological research in diabetology and the promotion of high quality diabetes care trying new and advanced patterns of care. He promotes and organizes meetings, conferences, training courses and clinical\epidemiological research for the Italian general practitioners. He participates as delegate of the Italian General Practice in numerous Italian national boards to define the Path Diagnostic Therapeutic Care of the diabetic patients (e.g. Diabetes Italia, Italian Barometer Diabetes Observatory, Ministry of Health, etc) and the guidelines for diagnosis and treatment of diabetes type 2 in Italy (Full text can be downloaded at https://www.google.it/search?q=Italian+College+of+General+Practice.&rlz=1C1CHVN_itIT505IT505&oq=Italian+College+of+General+Practice.&aqs=chrome..69i57.1651j0j8&sourceid=chrome&es_sm=122&ie=UTF-8#q=standard+cura+diabete+2014 and http://www.aemmedi.it/algoritmi_it_2013/) . He is the chairman of an endocrinological journal, sent to 40,000 Italian general practitioners (Media http://www.pacinieditore.it/?page_id=8579 ) He is chairman of two clinical audit networks, one regional in Brescia (“Unire Network”) involves 600 GPs, the other national involves 4000 GPs.(“MilleGPG” www.milleGPG.it; “GPG network” https://www.gpgnetwork.it/ ). Gerardo Medea is autor and co-autor of several textbooks for the General practice. Furthermore he has published several scientific articles on national and prominent international journals. Since 2015, February Gerardo Medea is member of PCDE

and was elected in the Executive Board of PCDE in February 2017 for a term of 4 years.

Working Group Member – Prof. dr. Johan Wens

Prof. dr. Johan Wens
Prof. dr. Johan Wens Johan Wens is professor General Practice at the University of Antwerp and working as a general practitioner in Antwerp (Belgium) since 1986. He works, together with his wife, in a GP duo-practice in the northern region of Antwerp.Johan Wens started working as GP in 1986 in a small practice together with his wife, also a GP. Soon after graduating he joined the scientific association of Flemish GPs (now Domus Medica) where he started some regional prevention projects and the “Diabetes Project Flanders”, as a consequence of the Saint Vincent Declaration. This work resulted in a staff position at the University of Antwerp where he finished a PhD thesis, titled “Behind the borders of evidence… towards a better diabetes care”. His main interests are on “quality of health care delivery in primary health care”, “comprehensiveness” and “patient centeredness”.Besides some chapters in different books, he published different research papers in peer reviewed Journals on diabetes care, and more recently also on different topics of chronic and complex health care delivery.

Johan Wens is member of the Belgian National Council for Quality Advancements in Health Care, the High Council for GPs and specialists, and different (inter-)national boards related to the topics of interest. He is examiner for the Inter University Centre for Undergraduate Training (ICHO) in General Practice. As board member of PCD Europe ivzw since 2001 he chaired the Scientific Committee of the conferences in Paris (2003) and Munich (2004). He finished the constitutions of the organisation which now is an international non-profit organisation in accordance with Belgian Laws. In 2005, Januray 1st he took over the position of treasurer and was installed as chairman for the upcoming 4 years during the General Assemblee meeting of 2009, February 7th. In 2013 Johan Wens was re-elected for a second and last term of 4 years as chairman of PCDE.

 

In February 2017 Johan Wens stepped down as Chairman and is appointed working group (G.A.) member for a period of 4 years.

Working Group Member – Dr. Martin Hadley Brown

Guusje Neijens

Having trained at St. Thomas’ Hospital in London Martin Hadley-Brown undertook postgraduate hospital training before moving into General Practice just as much diabetes care in the UK was moving from hospitals into the community.  

HB was a General Practice partner in the East of England from 1989 to 2019, and now concentrates his work in Medical Education at the University of Cambridge where he started as a tutor in 2001.

He also has inpatient and outpatient hospital diabetes experience. He was a founder member of the Primary Care Diabetes Society in the UK and Ireland and its first elected Chair from 2005 – 2012, subsequently joining PCDE as a working group member.

He has particular interest and experience in the design and delivery of medical education at undergraduate and postgraduate levels and to multidisciplinary audiences.

He currently also teaches on the International programmes of the Warwick Diabetes Courses

Working Group Member – Mrs Guusje Neijens

Guusje Neijens
Guusje Neijens MSc is a diabetes specialist nurse since 2001. She started her career in the world of diabetes as diabetes nurse in Community Care, Carinova Leiboomgroup. She joined the transmural Steering Committee of Structuring Diabetes Care in Primary Care, chaired by dr. Paul Cromme. Since the fullfilled implementation she as a diabetes nurse specialist is seen as a complementary disciplin, close to GP’s and physician assistents in Primary Care. She was involved in several working groups of Dutch Federation of Diabetes Caregivers (EADV). She was appointed previous chair of EADV Expertise Group Primary Care. She was involved in the Dutch National Diabetes Program (NAD). As policy advisor in the Dutch Diabetes Association (DVN) she increased patients’ participation.

Currently she works as diabetes nurse specialist in Rijnstate Hospital (Arnhem). Currently she is very active in her private practice in Deventer. As diabetes consultant she shares her experience and knowledge in the field for education, case management and healthy participation being a trainer for HCP.

Mrs Neijens is PCDE Working group member since 2008.

Working Group Member – Professor Imre Rurik

Guusje Neijens
Professor Imre Rurik MD, PhD, MSc in Health services management is a chairperson of Department of Family and Occupational Medicine at the University of Debrecen, Hungary, since 2008. From 1992 he was the first GP in Hungary who was appointed in leading academic position. He also runs his practice in Budapest, recently in part time activity. His main research topics are; nutrition and related metabolic diseases (diabetes, obesity), andrology, geriatric, “aging male”, sexual medicine and primary care health services research. He established the first doctoral (PhD) programme for family physicians in Hungary. Imre Rurik is vice-chairperson of the Hungarian Association for the Study of Obesity. Since 2011 he is an awarded European SCOPE fellow (Specialist Certification of Obesity Professional Education) recognized by the IASO (International Association for the Study of Obesity) and member of the European Academy of Nutritional Science from 2010. He is a direct member of WONCA, invited speaker and chair of its World and European Conferences, an academic adviser of the EGPRN (European General Practice Research Network), one of the contributors of its European Research Agenda for FM/GP. Since 2003 he is a member of Executive Committee and from 2011 a member of the General Assembly of Primary Care Diabetes Europe). In 2006 Imre Rurik joined the European Forum for Primary Care, participated yearly on its conferences and in 2013 he was elected as member of Advisory Board. He has been a national coordinator in some EU FP7 funded projects (QUALICOPC, APRES, SWEET). He led many Hungarian primary care research and epidemiological projects as well. He is a founder and recent coordinator of CENAPC initiative (Central European Network of Academic Primary Care). Imre Rurik is an Editor-in Chief of the Hungarian Forum for Family Physicians, and editorial board member of 3 international primary care and many Hungarian journals. In 2012, he has been invited as Primary Care Editorial Advisor of the British Medical Journal. He got many Hungarian professional and state awards.
In February 2017 Imre Rurik is elected as working group member for another term of 4 years.

Working Group Member – Dr. Ana Cebrián

Ana Cebrián, MD, PhD is a Family Physician since 2005.

MS degree in Diabetes, Universidad de Alcalá de Henares, Madrid, Spain.

She is currently working as a GP in Cartagena, Murcia, Spain since 2013.

She is also currently professor of Family Medicine in Universidad Católica San Antonio (Murcia) and professor of MS degree “Research in Family Medicine”, University Miguel Hernández, Alicante, Spain.

She is a member of numerous profesional societies, including “Spanish Society of Family Medicine”, where she is a member of Diabetes Research Group, “Spanish Diabetes Association”, where she is the secretary of Primary Care and Prediabetes Group,  Group for Diabetes in Primary Care in Spain “red GDPS” and “Primary Care Diabetes Europe”.

She is currently working in various research projects in Diabetes.

She has more than 50 communications in national and international congress, three of them awarded.

Ana Cebrián has published numerous papers in national and international journals and she is an active reviewer of manuscripts for a number of scientific journals.

OPERATIONAL MANAGER – Ottilia Hoogeslag

Guusje Neijens