The Board of Directors

Laurent Vigier, former Senior Advisor to the President of the French Republic on multilateral/G8 matters, has been President of the Friends Europe since April 2003, when he succeeded Michèle Barzach, a former Minister of Health in France, who chaired the association since its inception in April 2005. The Board gathers European political and parliamentary figures, as well as of personalities of the research / academic and civil society world, and from non-governmental organisations and the private sector, all committed to the fight against AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria.

President

Laurent VIGIER, appointed President of Friends Europe in April 2013, is a former Senior Advisor to the President of the French Republic on multilateral/G8 matters. He succeeded Michèle Barzach, former Minister of Health in France and founding member of the association.

Vice-president in charge of European Institutions, of Belgium and Luxembourg

Charles GOERENS, former Minister of Cooperation in Luxembourg, Member of the European Parliament.

Vice-president in charge of Italy

Stefano VELLA, Professor of Immunology, Director of the Superior Institute of Health in Roma.

Vice-president in charge of Germany

Heidemarie WIECZOREK-ZEUL, former Minister of Economic Cooperation and Development in Germany.

Treasurer

Louis-Charles VIOSSAT, former French Ambassador in charge of AIDS and other contagious diseases.

Michèle BARZACH, former Minister of Health and Family in France.

Christoph BENN, Director for Global Health Diplomacy at the Joep Lange Institute and former Director of External Relations of the Global Fund.

Estelle CEULEMANS, Member of the European Parliament.

Sylvie CHANTEREAU, former Executive Director of Friends of the Global Fund Europe.

Patrice DEBRÉ, Professor of Immunology, former French Ambassador in charge of AIDS and other contagious diseases.

Michel GOLDMAN, founder of the Institute for Interdisciplinary Innovation (I3h) at the Université libre de Bruxelles.

Michel KAZATCHKINE, Special Advisor to the World Health Organization Regional Office for Europe (WHO/Europe), former Executive Director of the Global Fund to fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria.

Neven MIMICA, former European Commissioner for International Cooperation and Development.

Stephen Rothwell O’BRIEN, KBE, former United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, former Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for International Development.

Andris PIEBALGS, former Secretary of State for European Affairs in Latvia and former European Commissioner for Development.

Andrzej RYS, medical doctor, former Deputy Minister of Health of Poland, former senior official of the European Commission.

Guido SCHMIDT-TRAUB, Partner at SYSTEMIQ.

Svenja SCHULZE, former Minister of Economic Cooperation and Development in Germany, Member of the German Parliament.

Robert SEBBAG, Expert in public health.

Marina SERENI, former Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation in Italy.