2022 ESPACOMP Election Candidate Information

ESPACOMP 2022 Elections

Candidates for ESPACOMP President

(term: January through December 2023)

The profile of the ESPACOMP President is:

  • being engaged in ESPACOMP for the last three years or longer and to be an effective member of ESPACOMP
  • having a PhD-degree in medication adherence research or have equivalent publications or to be a healthcare professional (MD, DNP, PharmD) with expertise in adherence
  • having a broad network in the field of adherence
  • having strong leadership skills

The responsibilities of the ESPACOMP president are:

  • endorsing the objectives of ESPACOMP
  • chairing the scientific committee of the Annual Conference
  • overseeing and coordinating ESPACOMP’s activities
  • chairing the meetings of the administrators and the General Assembly
  • to be a leader in other ESPACOMP activities and willing to actively participate or initiate in such activities

Alexandra Dima, PhD

Miguel Servet Research Fellow
Sant Joan de Déu Research Institute, Barcelona, Spain

Short bio:

I am a health psychologist, currently Miguel Servet Research Fellow at the Sant Joan de Déu Research Institute, Barcelona, Spain. I have been working on medication adherence since 2008, in several European countries and always in interdisciplinary health services research contexts. I am a long-standing active member of ESPACOMP, attending annual meetings since 2012, involved actively in ESPACOMP initiatives since 2018, and Executive Board member since 2020.

My main research interest is in adherence measurement and research methodology. I have led the development of the R package AdhereR for computing and visualizing adherence using electronic healthcare data, released in 2017. Within ESPACOMP, I have led the development of the TEOS framework, building on ABC and EMERGE, and in the last 5 years I have coordinated the pre-conference workshops on data analysis.

In 2018, under the umbrella of the ESPACOMP education initiative, I have initiated, with Marie Schneider (coordinator of this initiative) and colleagues from the University of Lyon, and obtained funding for a training course on medication adherence and Motivational Interviewing, active since 2021. Brief videos in French, English and Italian are available to ESPACOMP members building on this work.

Since 2020, I am Chair of the Medication Adherence Technologies Working Group in the ENABLE Action, a COST network endorsed by ESPACOMP, where I lead the development of a repository of technologies of relevance to ESPACOMP members.

As Executive Board member, I have contributed to tackling the challenges 2020 brought, including changing to virtual, now hybrid, format for annual meetings.

Vision:

Last year marked the 25th anniversary of ESPACOMP. With this occasion, discussions have started within the Executive Board on the ESPACOMP vision, mission, and strategy for future years. A new workflow has been drafted for ESPACOMP activities based on the prior initiatives and projects and will be shared and discussed with members. In 2023, it will be important to ensure that this consultation is completed, and the agreed strategy implemented. For this, it is essential to strengthen the society’s basis through the following concrete actions I would be keen to lead as president:

1) expanding membership through clear online application procedures and information on member benefits and opportunities for involvement in the society,

2) increasing internal and external communication on ESPACOMP activities and organization – website, social media, mailing list and events,

3) showcasing results of projects initiated or endorsed by ESPACOMP and facilitating initiation of new projects by members, and

4) strengthening collaborations with related organizations and projects, to increase impact and coordinate with other initiatives.

Finally, the ESPACOMP annual meeting needs to remain the highlight event of the year where we all can find constructive feedback, peer support, and inspiration for improving adherence research, training and practice.

These objectives are within our reach with the support of the Executive Board and with the active participation of members (associate and effective) available and interested to contribute. Importantly, recent experience has taught us we need to remain flexible and ready to adapt both to difficulties and opportunities that may lie ahead.

Przemyslaw Kardas, MD, PhD

Professor of Family Medicine
Medical University of Lodz, Poland

Short Bio:

Prof. Przemyslaw Kardas, MD, PhD is a founder and Director of Medication Adherence Research Center at the Medical University of Lodz, Poland. He is also Professor of Family Medicine and the Head of the Department of Family Medicine at the Medical University of Lodz, Poland. His professional activities focus on patient adherence to medication, management of chronic conditions, active and healthy ageing, Big Data and eHealth. He is the author of a number of peer-reviewed scientific publications and conference presentations, as well as four monographs. He is a member of several editorial boards and a reviewer for a number of medical journals. He serves as an expert to European Commission in Public Health under Horizon 2020 program. He was a Promoter to EIP on AHA Action Group A1: Prescription and adherence to treatment. He is involved in numerous international research collaborations, and EU projects. He was a Scientific Director of the European research initiative Ascertaining Barriers for Compliance (www.ABCproject.eu) under 7th Framework Programme (2009-2012), and the President of European Society for Patient Compliance, Adherence, and Persistence (ESPACOMP) scientific association (2010-2011). Between 2017-2020, he headed SKILLS4ADHERENCE Project – a European training program for medical professionals in the area of adherence and polypharmacy management in elderly. From 2020, he is a Vice-chair of Work Group 3 ‘Sustainable implementation of adherence enhancing technologies’ of the COST Action ENABLE.

Vision:

Hereby, I would like to nominate myself both for the role of president and the new administrator of ESPACOMP.

Having a long track of commitment to adherence studies, and participating in ESPACOMP activities for years, I am well aware of the areas needing more attention in future. In particular, I would be happy to make our society more active and visible in some new geographical regions: both European (e.g. Eastern Europe), as well as non-European ones, such as Asia and Oceania, Americas, etc. Many of courtiers of these regions are sharing the same problems that we know from Europe: rapid ageing of their societies, leading to multimorbidity, related polypharmacy, and – in a consequence – prevalent non-adherence. However, for various reasons, they are not advanced yet in adherence-related research and practice. Involving these regions in the ESPACOMP activities, stimulating adoption of good practices, and – last but not least – helping new generations of local professionals to increase their skills in adherence management is of high importance. Therefore, I would be happy to stimulate organisation of next ESPACOMP congresses in these area, being more than convinced that with this step, one can start the process of changes.

Having in mind fast process of digitisation of healthcare, I would be happy to take special care of adherence in this context, as well. Stimulating elaboration of relevant standards, which may support cross-country benchmarking of both scientific research, as well as the results of interventions adopted locally, is my great dream.

Candidates for Administrator (Member of the ESPACOMP Executive Board)

(Term: 2023 through 2025)

Administrators’ responsibilities:

  • endorsing the objectives of ESPACOMP;
  • participating in ESPACOMP executive board meetings (monthly teleconferences);
  • actively participating in ESPACOMP activities and or initiating such activities (e.g. conference scientific planning, abstract review, pre-conference planning, or other ESPACOMP initiatives).

Sabina De Geest

Statement

Having been part of ESPACOMP from the early days, I value the vibrant ESPACOMP community. A community in which patients, researchers, clinicians, policy makers, and pharmaceutical industry all collaborate  to develop and continuously improve the science, knowledge base and clinical expertise of medication adherence management.

So far, I have served in various roles in ESPACOMP, e.g. as president, as board member, and as a team member of the yearly implementation science workshop. I was part of the team that developed the ABC taxonomy and have led the team that developed the EMERGE guidelines.

My vision for the future of ESPACOMP is one where we further strengthen our interdisciplinary and intersectorial collaborations, and where we invest increasingly in translation of evidence in real-world settings combing implementation science methodology combines with data science and also technology. Joint EU grant submissions will be one of the instruments to achieve this goal. I endorse the strategic planning for ESPCACOMP’s future that is currently in preparation and I am especially committed to support younger colleagues include their voice in this strategic planning and stimulate them to take up leadership roles in ESPACOMP. Only by stimulating young talent we can make ESPACOMP even more impactful to tackle the major public health issue that medication non-adherence represents.

Rob Heerdink

Przemyslaw Kardas

Biography

Prof. Przemyslaw Kardas, MD, PhD is a founder and Director of Medication Adherence Research Center at the Medical University of Lodz, Poland. He is also Professor of Family Medicine and the Head of the Department of Family Medicine at the Medical University of Lodz, Poland. His professional activities focus on patient adherence to medication, management of chronic conditions, active and healthy ageing, Big Data and eHealth. He is the author of a number of peer-reviewed scientific publications and conference presentations, as well as four monographs. He is a member of several editorial boards and a reviewer for a number of medical journals. He serves as an expert to European Commission in Public Health under Horizon 2020 program. He was a Promoter to EIP on AHA Action Group A1: Prescription and adherence to treatment. He is involved in numerous international research collaborations, and EU projects. He was a Scientific Director of the European research initiative Ascertaining Barriers for Compliance (www.ABCproject.eu) under 7th Framework Programme (2009-2012), and the President of European Society for Patient Compliance, Adherence, and Persistence (ESPACOMP) scientific association (2010-2011). Between 2017-2020, he headed SKILLS4ADHERENCE Project – a European training program for medical professionals in the area of adherence and polypharmacy management in elderly. From 2020, he is a Vice-chair of Work Group 3 ‘Sustainable implementation of adherence enhancing technologies’ of the COST Action ENABLE.

Statement

Hereby, I would like to nominate myself both for the role of president and the new administrator of ESPACOMP.

Having a long track of commitment to adherence studies, and participating in ESPACOMP activities for years, I am well aware of the areas needing more attention in future. In particular, I would be happy to make our society more active and visible in some new geographical regions: both European (e.g. Eastern Europe), as well as non-European ones, such as Asia and Oceania, Americas, etc. Many of courtiers of these regions are sharing the same problems that we know from Europe: rapid ageing of their societies, leading to multimorbidity, related polypharmacy, and – in a consequence – prevalent non-adherence. However, for various reasons, they are not advanced yet in adherence-related research and practice. Involving these regions in the ESPACOMP activities, stimulating adoption of good practices, and – last but not least – helping new generations of local professionals to increase their skills in adherence management is of high importance. Therefore, I would be happy to stimulate organisation of next ESPACOMP congresses in these area, being more than convinced that with this step, one can start the process of changes.

Having in mind fast process of digitisation of healthcare, I would be happy to take special care of adherence in this context, as well. Stimulating elaboration of relevant standards, which may support cross-country benchmarking of both scientific research, as well as the results of interventions adopted locally, is my great dream.

Dyfrig Hughes

Biography

Dyfrig Hughes is a pharmacist, pharmacologist and health economist. He is currently Professor of Pharmacoeconomics and Director of Research for the School of Medical and Health Sciences, Bangor University, Wales. He is also honorary professor at the University of Liverpool, and visiting professor at the Università di Torino. Dyfrig’s research focuses primarily on pharmaceutical economics, policy and medication adherence. He has led and contributed to research totalling >€70m in value, resulting in over 220 publications. Dyfrig has national roles supporting the National Health Service in the UK, including membership of the All Wales Medicines Strategy Group, and chair of the national pharmacogenomics groups for both Wales and England. Dyfrig is one of 14 Senior Research Leaders recognised by Health and Care Research Wales, and is an editorial board member of the journals PharmacoEconomics and Clinical Pharmacology & Therapeutics, and executive editor of the British Journal of Clinical Pharmacology.

Dyfrig has been a long-standing active member of ESPACOMP, being its inaugural President when hosting the 2009 conference in Bangor, and becoming an Honorary member in 2019. Dyfrig delivered the John Urquhart memorial lecture in 2021, and has been member of the Executive Board for two terms, with key contributions of chairing the organising committee for the 2016 annual meeting in Lisbon, setting up arrangements for the publication of conference abstracts, and co-chairing the Research, Policy and Implementation sub-group. Dyfrig has also contributed to the EMERGE and TEOS initiatives, as well as chaired the sub-group responsible for translating the ABC taxonomy.

Statement

Now in its 26th year, ESPACOMP – the International Society for Medication Adherence – has grown in size, scope and ambition to become the leading global organisation to focus on medication adherence. Throughout this time, the attention to scientific rigour, inter-professionalism, methodological advances and learning opportunities has been central to the Society’s ethos, all within a welcoming, collegial atmosphere.

If elected I will devote my energies to further develop ESPACOMP in line with its vision and mission. Specifically, in relation to the annual meetings, I will contribute as member of the Executive Board, to the organisation, planning and delivery of conferences to further enrich the experience of attendees, by introducing innovative themes, and increasing the relevance to policy. I will take further steps to promote ESPACOMP, and increase the number of effective members.

ESPACOMP takes pride in its collaborative research in advancing the methodologies of medication adherence, including the ABC taxonomy, EMERGE, and TEOS. With other members of the Executive Board, I will identify, prioritise, facilitate, and lead/contribute on new initiatives that seek to improve the science concerning medication adherence.

Finally, the burgeoning educational activities of ESPACOMP – through its workshops and inter-professional course – are a strength, which can be further exploited. I will work with Executive Board members to identify new audiences for broader expansion to ensure that robust methods become embedded in research and practice.

I look forward to having the opportunity to work with ESPACOMP and its members for the next 3 years.

Sara Mucherino

Biography

Sara Mucherino, PharmD, is a researcher in the field of Drug utilization research and Pharmacoeconomics at CIRFF, Research Center of Pharmacoeconomics and Outcome Research at the University of Naples Federico II. She is actually gaining her Ph.D. in Pharmaceutical Sciences at the Department of Pharmacy of the same University and she spent a period as a guest researcher at EpiChron – Aragon Health Sciences Institute, Zaragoza (ES), and at Nivel – Netherlands Institute for Health Services Research, Utrecht (NL). Her research expertise focuses on the design and implementation of drug utilization studies through the application of computational methods and relational modelling to health Big data and the assessment of medication adherence across multimorbidity and polypharmacy patients and its impact on health and economic outcomes. Research activities at qualified national/international institutions. Sara Mucherino follows and cover an active role at the International Society for Medication Adherence (ESPACOMP) as she has been actively involved as member of the Digitalization and Communication Committee since 2021 and Co-Chair of the Early Career Researchers Committee since 2021 and member of The ABC taxonomy project (Italian translation group) since 2019.  She is also Coordinator of the Early Career Researchers’ Group (GIRF) of ISPOR Italy Rome Chapter and a Steering Committee Member of the Working Group 1 (Current Practices and Unmet Needs in Medication Adherence Research) of the ENABLE (European Network to Advance Best practices & technoLogy on medication adherence) (Cost Action CA19132 2020-2024).

Statement

My personal vision for the next few years, in line with ESPACOMP’s values and mission in research and education, is to increase the dissemination of knowledge on medication adherence among early career researchers, especially by attracting young professionals in the filed in order to create a single vision on the subject that will be maintained and transmitted into the future of adherence research. Through increased communication (i.e. publicizing via social media, through our personal networks, through affiliated research and work groups) we can increase the inclusion of pro-active young members who will embrace and advance the society’s missions by benefiting from: i) Multidisciplinary experts: being a member of ESPACOMP allows to interface with leading international experts in medication adherence allowing to understand all aspects of the adherence process from different points of view; ii) Continuous updating: the membership guarantees a constant update in the field of adherence, which is fundamental for the daily research activity; iii) Networking: thanks to the participation in projects, conferences, workshops and seminars, the Society allows to create professional and personal networks; iv) Advance in adherence research: identify and eliminate gaps in the field and seek to harmonize concepts and methods that encompass the entire adherence process from research to real clinical practice.

Maria Rubio-Valera

Biography

Dr. Maria Rubio-Valera is a pharmacist and obtained her PhD at the University of Barcelona in 2012 evaluating the cost-effectiveness of an intervention to improve adherence to antidepressants in primary care through an interdisciplinary intervention. Since then, she has continued developing research projects, always with a translational and applied perspective, which led her to co-lead the PRISMA research group at Parc Sanitari Sant Joan de Déu (PSSJD, Spain) in 2017. Since 2020, she leads the Quality and Patient Safety Unit at PSSJD.

She has published 70 articles, more than half as the main author, and has received the most prestigious personal grants for young researchers at an international (ERC Starting Grant) and national level (Spanish Miguel Servet contract) as well as national and European research projects as principal investigator.

The ERC Starting Grant awarded to her in 2020 attests to the originality and relevance of her research. It is a study that will demonstrate the effectiveness and efficiency of patient empowerment and shared decision-making interventions to improve adherence to medication for cardiovascular disease and diabetes.

Dr. Maria Rubio-Valera has directed 11 doctoral theses (5 of them completed, all with Cum Laude qualification) and several master theses and undergraduate theses and has been a professor in master’s studies at several universities (Universitat de Barcelona, ​​Universitat Pompeu Fabra and Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona). Between 2013 and 2019, she was lecturer at the Universitat de Barcelona and she is currently a lecturer at Universitat Pompeu Fabra.

Statement

I believe that the health system will be strengthened and the health of the population will improve if a good link is achieved between research and clinical practice. I think that this is possible if interdisciplinary interventions involving all stakeholders are developed, if their impact on health and costs are robustly assessed, and if the mechanisms that explain why these interventions work are understood.

As part of my research, I design health interventions with participatory methods, involving patients and professionals, to improve people’s quality of life, looking for ways to improve health-related behaviours and focusing on the empowerment of patients and professionals. I involve users and professionals at the first stages of my projects to increase the transferability of my research and facilitate the design of original and innovative interventions adapted to the context of the patient and clinical practice. Consequently, the interventions I design are typically complex, so I use specific methodologies to evaluate their effectiveness and cost-effectiveness, taking into account both the improvement of health outcomes and the sustainability of the system. In addition, I use avant-garde research methods, which for years have included the use of health databases (Real World Data or big data), economic evaluation and qualitative research.

To complement the evaluation of effectiveness and efficiency, I incorporate process evaluation into my projects, which allows identifying the weak and strong points of the interventions, maximizing the likelihood of transfer of evidence into clinical practice and promoting highly applied research.

Marie-Paule Schneider

Biography

Marie P. Schneider, PhD, pharmacist, is associate professor of medication adherence, interprofessionality and health communication at the Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences of Western Switzerland (ISPSO), University of Geneva. She is also the scientific Director of the living lab, pharma24, an academic community pharmacy located in the University Hospital of Geneva, at the interface between the community and the hospital practices. Her research focuses on medication adherence in chronic diseases and on the implementation of medication adherence intervention programs in routine care. These programs are built upon motivation interviewing skills, interprofessional collaborations between patients, pharmacists, physicians and nurses. She measures medication adherence through electronic monitoring. At ISPSO, she developed a curriculum in heath communication and medication adherence. Her group is active in the interprofessional education programme, which includes all the students in health disciplines of the University of Geneva (e.g. physicians, nurses, pharmacists). Marie Schneider is a board and honorary member of the International Society for Medication Adherence (ESPACOMP) and has been actively involved in the implementation and data analysis workshops. For the past five years, she has been in charge of the education committee. She organized the ESPACOMP Annual meeting in 2014 in Lausanne, Switzerland. She is a representative of the Swiss management committee for ENABLE (European Network to Advance Best practices & technoLogy on medication adherence) (Cost Action CA19132 2020-2024).

Statement

In alignment with ESPACOMP’s core values in research and education, my personal vision for the next four years is to increase the dissemination of knowledge on medication adherence among researchers, to strengthen the competences of students and healthcare professionals in medication adherence, and to raise the awareness among policy makers, the public and patients on the multilevel origin and endemicity of nonadherence among chronic patients. Five years ago, the ESPACOMP launched its first education programme in medication adherence. The programme focused on the definition of medication adherence, determinants and theoretical frameworks and interventions to support medication adherence, including a workshop on motivational interviewing. Attendees were mostly members of the ESPACOMP community. It is now time to take education on medication adherence beyond the ESPACOMP and to take the ESPACOMP education committee to its next level in order to impact the healthcare systems, policy makers, patients and their families, and the pharmaceutical and technology industries. To do this, I plan to firstly continue to support local education initiatives under the ESPACOMP umbrella, secondly to work closely with the education committee of the ENABLE COST Action in order to combine our efforts to increase and sustain knowledge dissemination, and thirdly to encourage new members to join the ESPACOMP to build the next generation of researchers and educators, and open up horizons. I hope my vision is inspiring, ambitious and realistic!

Bernard Vrijens

Biography

Bernard Vrijens is CEO and Scientific Lead at Advanced Analytical Research on Drug Exposure (AARDEX Group). He is also Invited Professor of Biostatistics at Liège University, Belgium.

Dr. Vrijens holds a PhD from the Department of Applied Mathematics and Informatics at Ghent University, Belgium.

He currently leads a research program investigating (a) the most common errors in dosing using a simple but robust taxonomy, (b) particular dosing errors that can jeopardize the efficacy of a drug, and (c) the optimal measurement-guided medication management program that can enhance adherence to medications and maintain long-term persistence.

Dr. Vrijens is also the co-author of seven book chapters, over 100 peer-reviewed scientific papers, and named as inventor on 6 patents. He is a founding member of the International Society for Medication Adherence (ESPACOMP), and an active member of several EU- and US-funded collaborative projects around the theme of adherence to medications.

Statement

“Continue to drive leadership in Medication Adherence research and its implementation to improve individuals’ care.”