Ms Sandra Elisabeth Roelofs was born on December 23 1968 in Terneuzen, the Netherlands.

In 1991 Ms Sandra Elisabeth Roelofs graduated with honours from the State Economic Institute for Translators and Interpreters in Brussels where she majored in French and German. In addition to these languages and her native Dutch, she is fluent in English, Georgian and Russian. Subsequently, she studied human rights in Strasbourg and later worked at Columbia University and a Dutch Law firm in New York City.

Ms Roelofs’ active involvement in health related issues started in 1996 when she moved to Georgia. At that time, she first started to work for the International Committee of the Red Cross and the Consulate of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. Then, in 1998 she founded the SOCO foundation (www.soco.ge) that is a charitable NGO focused on reproductive health issues in Georgia.

Besides many charitable activities in the fields of education and culture, Ms Roelofs takes pride in working towards the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals with a special focus on reducing maternal and child mortality, extreme poverty and infectious diseases. In October 2004, Ms Roelofs became the Chair of the Country Coordinating Mechanism for projects of the Global Fund to fight AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria in Georgia.

In 2006 Ms Roelofs was elected as the STOP TB Ambassador and during 2006-2009 she successfully led the advocacy process for STOP TB global strategy and drug-resistant TB response plan in the region. In 2007, Ms Roelofs became the Chair of the National Reproductive Health Council of the Georgian Ministry of Health and Social Affairs where she works to promote immunization and healthy life style choices, including the fight against drug abuse. Then, in the spring of 2008, Ms Roelofs finished with honours a three-year nursing course in Tbilisi.
Ms Roelofs’ interest in women’s health led her to work for the creation of the Tbilisi Breast and Cervical Cancer Screening Program in Tbilisi in 2008. This program has successfully implemented many of the recommendations of the European Guidelines for Breast and Cervical Cancer Screening and in recognition of this, has been awarded a Pearl of Wisdom Cervical Cancer Prevention Award in 2009.

To help develop cooperation with neighbouring countries in the area for cancer prevention, Ms Roelofs initiated the Black Sea Countries Coalition on Breast and Cervical Cancer Prevention in September 2008.  This coalition has now been established and the member countries have elected Ms Roelofs as the Chair of the group in March 2010.

Finally, in recognition of her hard work and dedication to the cause of cervical cancer prevention, Ms Roelofs was elected as the President of the ECCA in March of 2010.

Chief Executive Officer, ECCO - the European CanCer Organisation

After studying economics in his native Belgium and in the United States, Mr Michel Ballieu worked for several large, multinational companies including Xerox and BASF, where he obtained high-level experience in sales, marketing and strategic management at a multinational level.

Mr Ballieu entered the non-for-profit sector 12 years ago as the head of European Operations for the ‘Up with People’ exchange programme that provided students with international learning opportunities. He was then appointed European Executive Director for MCI, a renowned association management organisation, and subsequently became Chief Executive Officer for the World Federation of Biological Psychiatry.

Mr Ballieu joined ECCO as Chief Executive Officer in 2006 where he is responsible for leading a team of 21 professionals that develop and execute scientific educational programmes, communication programmes, policy and regulatory awareness campaigns and congresses on behalf of the ECCO membership.

Mr Ballieu joined the Board of the ECCA in 2009.

Member of Cyprus Parliament

Mrs Stella Kyriakides is a Clinical Psychologist specialising in the area of Child and Adolescent Psychology. Since being diagnosed with breast cancer in 1996, Mrs Kyriakides worked to establish the Breast Cancer Awareness movement in Cyprus which became a full member of EUROPA DONNA in 2000. Mrs Kyriakides served as Vice-President on the European Board of EUROPA DONNA since 1999, was elected as its President in 2004, and presently serves as President of EUROPA DONNA Cyprus.

Mrs Kyriakides has been a tireless advocate for breast cancer awareness both within her native Cyprus and across Europe. She has presented at many conferences on breast cancer in Europe, North America and Australia, has participated in numerous working groups and taught in ESO and Europa Donna Courses on the psychosocial needs of women with breast cancer, the rights of patients and other related topics. Mrs Kyriakides has been honoured with a large number of awards, and was selected as an Olympic Torch bearer for her country at the Athens Olympics.

In 2006 Mrs Kyriakides was elected a Member of the Cypriot Parliament where she is Vice Chair of the Health Committee and a member of the Committees on Human Rights, Equality, Anti Social behaviour and Drug Abuse.

Mrs Kyriakides joined the Board of the ECCA in 2009.

Head of the Scientific and Primary Care Department and Deputy Director of the Scientific Centre of Obstetrics, Gynaecology and Perinatology at the Russian Academy of Medical Science.

Professor Prilepskaja graduated from the Smolensk State Medical Institute in 1966 and then practiced as a doctor in Tula. In 1975, she started a clinical internship in Obstetrics & Gynaecology at the 11th Maternity Hospital in Moscow, and in 1977 moved to become a Senior Scientific Officer at the Moscow Regional Scientific Research Institute of Obstetrics and Gynaecology. In 1982, Prof Prilepskaja was appointed as the Head of Scientific Advisory Department of the Moscow Regional Scientific Research Institute of Obstetrics and Gynaecology. Then in 1987, she was appointed the Head of the Scientific and Primary Care Department and Deputy Director of the Scientific Centre of Obstetrics, Gynaecology and Perinatology at the Russian Academy of Medical Science where she continues to work. Prof Prilepskaja is also Chair of the Commission of Experts on Medicines for Obstetrics & Gynaecology in the Russian Federation, an editor of the journal Gynaecology and the associate editor of 5 Russian medical as well as 3 international medical journals.

Professor Prilepskaja joined the ECCA Board in March of 2010.

Professor of Public Health, University of Montpellier, France
Scientific Director, Epidaure, Montpellier, France

Prof Hélène Sancho-Garnier has devoted much of her career to research on cancer epidemiology and and public health.  Her particular areas of interest include epidemiology and prevention, evaluation methods for mass screening programs, cancer registration and national cancer planning. Prof Sancho-Garnier participated in the establishment of France’s pilot national screening program for breast cancer and she is currently involved in the development of a pilot mass screening program for colo-rectal cancer in Hérault (France). 

As an active supporter of cancer control efforts in developing countries, Dr. Hélène Sancho-Garnier consultants for various cervical screening programs in Cambodia, Tunisia, Morocco and Latin America.  She has also served as Strategic Leader for Cancer Prevention and Early Detection at the International Union Against Cancer (UICC) for 8 years where she is also a member of the Task Force for Cervical Cancer Prevention

Dr Sancho-Garnier is author or co-author of more than 150 papers in international journals, has contributed to 65 books including International Agency for Research on Cancer monograph on breast cancer screening, and has been the editor or co-author of five books on cancer prevention.

Dr Sancho-Garnier has served on the ECCA’s Board of Directors since 2007.