Parents' Advisory Board
Vilni Verner Holst Bloch
Norway
Vilni's professional background lies in resource geography and landscape ecology. He has worked for ten years at Statistics Norway, with emphasis on use of geograhical information systems. He has previous experience with web journalism as a free lancer. He also has experiences in international reporting, cooperation and projects through precidency of European Forum for GeoStatistics.
Vilni joined the steering committee of the Norwegian Parents Organisation - Prematurforeningen – in February 2010. He is father of a daughter born in gestational week 26+0 in September 2009, and of a boy born in gestational week 42/43 in May 2000. Both times appropriate support of parents was needed.
Vilni speaks the Scandinavian languages, English and some Spanish. He can also read German. Vilni joined the EFCNI Parents' Advisory Board to support and gain from cross-border cooperation.
Mandy Daly
Ireland
Mandy Daly is a parent of a preterm infant born at week 25 in 2006 and is the Advocacy & Policy Making Officer / Family Liaison Manager for Irish Premature Babies. Mandy has a background in Medical Underwriting and has been working in the area of Preterm birth since 2006. She currently sits on the Board of NIDCAP Federation International and is a member of the Strategic Group for the Masters in Nursing (Advanced Practice ) Neonatology Programme in Ireland.
Mandy co-ordinates the Family Support division of Irish Premature Babies but her primary focus is on raising the profile of the Irish organisation on both the national and international political and medical platforms.
Paula Guerra
Portugal
Paula Guerra is one of the founders of the Portuguese preemies association XXS - Associação Portuguesa de Apoio ao Bebé Prematuro, being a board member of XXS since the creation of the association in November 2008.
She has two daughters, one born in 1993 as a term baby and a second one, an extremely premature girl, born in 2001 with 26 weeks of gestation and 615g of weight.
Since 1993, Paula worked in IT development departments of three diferent Portuguese banks and she now coordinates the IT Human Resources Department in one of those Portuguese banks.
Paula has been representing XXS within EFCNI since the first joint parents' organization meeting taking place in 2008, when XXS had only one week of existence.
Dr. Tomasz Makaruk
Poland
Dr. Tomasz Makaruk is the founder and Chairman of the Polish Premature Baby Foundation (Fundacja Wcześniak), which has existed since 2004, shortly after Tomasz became a father to a preemie born in week 29 at 1600 g.
Tomasz holds a PhD in Economics from the Warsaw School of Economics and also completed a course in Managing Professional Service Firms at Harvard Business School Executive Education. During his work with the Premature Baby Foundation, Tomasz was also the co-creator of a highly successful fundraising campaign for the organisation in 2010.
Over the past 15 years Tomasz has worked in both management and executive positions within the marketing departments of top international corporations. Tomasz also co-owns and manages a marketing firm specialised in building brand loyalty.
Tomasz is an active communicator and in addition to keeping a blog on marketing and economics, he has written a number of articles that have appeared in the press. He speaks Polish, English and Russian.
Dr. Gert Jan van Steenbrugge
The Netherlands
Director of the Dutch parent organization VOC (Association of Parents of Newborn Infants)
Gert van Steenbrugge started his activities within VOC in 1994, having a background as father of two preterm born children, respectively at 34 and 26 weeks of pregnancy. He started as member of the VOC board and after one year became chairman for a period of 7 years. From 2003 on he has been holding the position of director, a new function in an expending organization of volunteers.
By education, Gert is a biochemist and worked for many years in biomedical research followed by a managerial function in oncology research. Having this background his special interest has always been (medical) lobby activities. In close cooperation with care providers he is focusing at aftercare programs, development of a quality mark for the neonatology ward and he is member of several guideline committees.
Together with other parents, Gert brings the parent perspective into working parties of various kind and is member of the advisory board of Babybloom Health Care.
Gert has been representing VOC within EFCNI since the first joint parents' organization meeting in 2008.
Yannic Verhaest
Belgium
Yannic Verhaest is not only board member of the Belgian parents organisation VVOC (Vlaamse Vereniging voor ouders van Couveusekinderen) since 2007 but also the Chairwoman of VVOC, collaborating closely with EFCNI in the fight against preterm birth and for best possible care for preterm infants and their families in Belgium and Europe.
She is mother of two children, the oldest born at 30 weeks of gestation.
Yannic is a clinical psychologist, psychoanalytic psychotherapist and works as research assistant at the UPC KULeuven and as affiliated staff of the Center for Psychoanalysis and Psychodynamic Psychology at the University of Leuven.
Mónica Virchez
Spain
Mónica is mother of triplets born in 29 weeks of gestation in London, UK. Her babies received NIDCAP attention 11 years ago in the Winnicott Neontatal Unit in St. Marys Hospital.
Mónica has been president of PREMATURA Association for families and parents in Spain for 10 years. She is a trainer in baby massage, infant reflexology, kangaroo mother care. She is a clinical psychologist and attended a post-degree-course in prematurity at the Italian Hospital in Argentina.
In her daily work, she is in contact with issues like: attachment, bonding, kangaroo mother care, baby massage, reflexology for babies, breast-feeding, follow up for premis, pregnancy, baby body language and stress in mothers, Brazelton, NIDCAP. She has working experience with babies, small children, parents and families of preterm infants and guided workshops with parents groups.
Mónica is a member of Multiple Births Association UK, Baby Massage, National Health Ministry Program for Natural Births in Spain, Pro-birth National Platform Spain, Kargaroo Mother Care, Reflexology Association, Winnicott Baby Foundation, EFCNI and is in regular contact with hospitals and associations in Spain and other countries.
Mónica lived in Italy,UK, Germany and Spain and speaks fluently Spanish, English and Italian.
Xenia Xenophontos
Cyprus
Having two premature nephews, Xenia Xenophontos was involved voluntarily in the NICU support. She is one of the founders of the FNICU-Cyprus and is also on the Board of Directors since the creation of the Association in 2011. Xenia is the Event & Press Manager and European Affairs Representative of the Association among others .
Xenia studied medicine and is a Certified Infant Massage Instructor by the IAIM. For the last 10 years she has been working in the Media. She has been the Excecutive Producer in two television Programs, Editor in Time Out Cyprus Magazine and a local newspaper. From 2009-2012 she was the Editor in Chief of the “Cyprus Health Journal”. Now she is the Assistant Manager of Sigmalive, the biggest newsportal of Cyprus.
