Patrons & Committees

Patrons & Committees

Honorary Chairman
Herman van Rompuy President of the European Council Belgium

Honorary Patrons
Sandra Elisabeth Roelofs First Lady of Georgia Georgia	Prof. dr. Tatjana Josipović First Lady of Croatia Croatia
May Papou Papoulia First Lady of Greece Greece	Michèle Boccoz Ambassador of France Belgium
Poul Skytte Christoffersen Ambassador of Denmark Belgium	Androulla Vassiliou European Commissioner for Education, Culture, Multilinguism and Youth Cyprus
Françoise Grossetête Member of European Parliament France	Antonyia Parvanova Member of European Parliament Bulgaria
Frédérique Ries Member of European Parliament Belgium

Gala Committee Co-Chairs
Eric Emmanuel Schmitt Dramatist, novelist, fiction writer, film director and philosopher Belgium	Milan Macek Head of Department of Biology and Medical Genetics, Charles University Prague

Gala Committee Vice-Chairs
Axel van der Mersch CFO, BREDERODE Luxembourg	Reem Boustany Lawyer at the Brussels Bar Belgium

Gala Committee
Karen Aiach Chairman & CEO, LYSOGENE President, Alliance Sanfilippo France	Riccardo Braglia CEO, Helsinn Healthcare SA Switzerland
Brigitte Forissier Press Officer Belgium	Bo Jesper Hansen Chairman, Swedish Orphan-Biovitrum AB Sweden
Emil Kakkis President, EveryLife Foundation for Rare Diseases USA	Mark Krueger President, Mark Krueger & Associates, Inc. USA
Bruno Metzger Film producer Belgium	Peter Saltonstall President & CEO, NORD (National Organisation for Rare Disorders) USA
Frank Sasinowski Chairman of the Board, NORD (National Organisation for Rare Disorders) USA	Patrick Mahaffy President & CEO, Clovis Oncology USA
Claudia Hirawat Senior Vice President Corporate Development, PTC Therapeutics, Inc. USA	Avril Daly GRDO / Fighting Blindness / EURORDIS Board Member Ireland
Stéphanie Hoffmann European Director Strategic Market Development, Enobia Belgium sprl Belgium	Marlene Haffner President & CEO Haffner Associates USA