Associates

John Bowis, Former MEP

President Health First Europe; Vice-President, European Health Forum Gastein;  Chairman Health Advisory Board, GSK and Conservative Europe Group; Adviser to FIPRA, Policy Action and Hanover; Board Member: TBVI, Global Initiative on Psychiatry, Gamian Europe, European Men’s Health Forum, European Health Academy, European Institute of Health, SANE, Mental Disability Advocacy Centre and Maastrich University European Health Faculty; Patron: Fund for Epilepsy; Apex Trust; Vice President: Diabetes UK; Ambassador: National Aids trust and Alzheimer’s Society. Chaired RCPsych’s Service Redesign Review and European Commission’s initiative on Healthy Ageing.

John Bowis was born on 2nd August 1945. He was educated at Tonbridge School and Brasenose College, Oxford (MA Philosophy, Politics and Economics). He is married with three children.

1999-2009
•    Member of the European Parliament for London 1999-2009
•    EPP/ED Group Coordinator/Spokesman on Environment, Health and Food Safety
•    Member of the Development Committee and Vice President of ACP JPA

He was Rapporteur for the Parliament on Food Safety; Health and Enlargement; Professional Qualifications; Health and Poverty in Development Policy; the European Centre for Disease Prevention & Control; Patient Mobility; Mental Health; Neglected Diseases; and, finally, Cross Border health.

1997-1999   International Policy Adviser to the World Health Organisation on global campaigns: ‘Nations for Mental Health’ and ‘Out of the Shadows’ (epilepsy).  

1987-1997  Member of UK Parliament for Battersea

1989-93:  Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Rt.Hon.David Hunt at Environment and then the Welsh Office.  
1993-96:  Health & Social Services Minister at the Department of Health, responsible for social services, mental health, disability, children, the elderly and addiction.  He represented the UK at meetings of the Council of Health Ministers.
1996-97:  Minister for Transport in London and for Road Safety

Honours:  OBE 1981, Hon. Fellow of the Royal College of Psychiatrists 2003, Hon Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians 2009, First recipient of the European Public Health Alliance Award for Service to Public Health 2009

Dr Panos Kanavos, Deputy Director at LSE Health, London School of Economics

Panos Kanavos (BSc, MSc (Oxon), MSc (LSE), PhD) is Reader in International Health Policy in the Department of Social Policy, London School of Economics (LSE) and Programme Director of the Medical Technology Research Group (MTRG) at LSE Health. Panos is Visiting Professor at the University of Basel, Switzerland and also has a Visiting appointment with the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM). He has previously been Harkness Fellow in Health Care Policy in the Dept of Ambulatory Care and Prevention, Harvard Medical School. Previous visiting appointments have included the University of Lausanne and the University of Delaware. He is an Economist by training, currently coordinates the Programme in International Health Policy at LSE and teaches Health Economics, Pharmaceutical Economics and Policy, Health Care Financing, and Health Systems Performance Measurement.

Panos leads the activities of MTRG, which is a research unit comprising 11 researchers within LSE Health and concentrates on interdisciplinary and comparative policy research on medical technologies.

As part of its activities, MTRG administers the Programme on Pharmaceutical Policy Issues (PPPI), the Programme on Medical Devices, conducts research under the auspices of and participates in the European Medicines Information Network (EMI-net), the network for the study of rare diseases (BURQOL-RD), and is a member of the European Health Technology Institute for Socio-Economic Research (EHTI). It also coordinates the activities of The Patient Academy, an initiative between academia, health care regulatory agencies and patient groups.

Panos has acted as an advisor to a number of international governmental and nongovernmental organizations, including the European Commission, the European Parliament, the World Bank, the World Health Organization, the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, the American Association for Retired Persons, and Ministries of Health of over 21 transition and developing countries. He has participated in the European Pharmaceutical Forum as advisor to the European Commission – DG Enterprise and has been involved in the Commission's reflection process on the Economics of Medical Devices.

Panos' research interests include comparative health policy and healthcare reform, pharmaceutical economics and policy from a developed and developing country perspective, quality and access in healthcare, and socio-economic determinants of health.

Mo Girach, BSc (Hons), MBA, Business Strategist, Special Advisor to the NHS Alliance (Social Enterprise, Co-ops and Mutual’s)

Prior to his current role, Mo was Chief Executive of South East London Doctors Co-operative (SELDOC), one of the largest GP co-operatives in the UK with some 500 principal GP members, covering over a million patients. Mo was instrumental in changing structure/governance of SELDOC and with the new corporate co-operative platform diversified the organization into a number of subsidiary businesses, giving ownership to clinical and non-clinical staff. Mo has a BSc (Hons) in Podiatric Medicine and a Masters in Business Administration (major in Strategic Management) and is Chartered Director. Mo has spent a varied career in NHS Management (Ex-MTS Trainee), commencing as a clinician, followed by NHS Management Trainee with various senior posts, in the NHS, to include: Mental Health, Primary Care and Community Services, Commissioning and Performance Management …
Mo has written and spoken on Social Enterprise (SE), Co-ops and Mutual at local, national and international level on this subject and continues to be an advisor to a number of public and Third Sector health care organizations .He has advised and supported PCT staff on R2R and helped and supported a number of small and medium size new Social Enterprises locally, nationally and internationally, to include securing funds/grants…
He has advised PBC and now and working with a number of Clinical Commissioning Groups to include support with authorisation process, governance and performance management and recently written on this subject in a number of GPmags/journals together with articles on De-Commissioning
Mo holds membership of the Institute of Directors and was awarded the Inner City Entrepreneur Award (06/07 and 07/08). Mo holds a number of lead responsibilities and advisory positions as follows:
• Special Advisor on Social Enterprise to the NHS Alliance (on Social Enterprise, Co-ops and Mutual’s)
• Associate Consultant- KINGS FUND
• An accredited assessor for Investors in People
• Advisor to the New Economic Foundation