Dr. Søren Brostrøm, Director General, Danish Health Authority

Søren Brostrøm was appointed Director General of the Danish Health Authority in October 2015. The position is a non-political government appointment, with Danish Health Authority being the supreme national health agency under the remit of the Minister of Health. As Director General, he is responsible for the Danish Health Authority’s development and implementation of policy on a broad range of issues in public health, health care as well as social services for the elderly.

Søren Brostrøm was born in Aarhus in 1965, a second son of two medical doctors. He holds an MD from the University of Copenhagen, where he also obtained a PhD in neurophysiology in 2003. In 2011, he completed a Master of Public Administration (MPA) from the Copenhagen Business School.

Prior to joining the Danish Health Authority as the Head of Hospital Services & Emergency Management in 2011, he worked as a Senior Consultant Urogynaecologist at the University Hospital of Copenhagen in Herlev and Associate Professor at the University of Copenhagen.

Søren represents Denmark in the World Health Organization and other international fora. He has recently served as the chair of the Standing Committee of the Regional Committee of the WHO EURO.

Asta Valdimarsdottir, Permanent Secretary of the Icelandic Ministry of Health

Asta Valdimarsdottir was appointed Permanent Secretary of the Icelandic Ministry of Health on July 1, 2019. She has held senior managerial positions in Iceland and in an International Organisation. From 2010 until 2019, Asta was a Director in the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO). This role has given her management experience in a multicultural environment, with responsibility for operational delivery, human resources and finances, setting strategy and vision and managing improvement and changes.

She was previously the Director General of the Icelandic Patent Office from 2001 to 2010. Prior to that she was Head of Legal Affairs at the Icelandic Patent Office, and worked in the Ministry of Industry and Commerce, responsible for preparing Iceland’s accession to many international agreements mainly in the field of IP, the TRIPS agreement, the Patent Co-operation Treaty, etc. 

Asta Valdimarsdottir has represented Iceland in international organizations. She has been head of delegations participating in WTO, WIPO, EPO, EFTA meetings and other international forums

Petter Øgar, MD, Director General Department of Primary Health Care, Norwegian Ministry of Health

Petter has been Director General at the Department of Primary Health Care in the Norwegian Ministry of Health and Care Services since 2010. 

Petter has previously served 12 years as a GP and District medical officer in a small Norwegian municipality and 15 years as Chief county medical officer in the County of Sogn og Fjordane. In 2000, he served 6 months as Acting Director General of Health at the Norwegian Board of Health.

Petra Zetterberg Ferngren, Senior Adviser at the Ministry of Health and Social Affairs, Division for Public Health and Health Care, Sweden

Petra has been with the Ministry of Health and Social Affairs for 18 years, working primarily with healthcare reforms and -legislation. For the last one a half year she has mainly been focusing on the ongoing reformation of Swedish primary healthcare. Between 2013 and 2017, Petra participated in the Swedish delegation to the Nordic Committee of Senior Officials for Health and Social Affairs. 

Christian Harsløf, Director, Local Government Denmark (KL)

Christian Harsløf holds a Master’s degree in political science from University of Aarhus. He has been director and member of the Executive Board in Local Government Denmark (KL) since March 2019 with responsibility for health care, senior services, social affairs and technology.

Previously Christian Harsløf has been CEO in the Department of Social Affairs, Employment and Health in the Municipality of Roskilde, deputy director in Local Government Denmark and Senior Consultant in the Ministry of the Interior and Health.

Taina Mäntyranta, Medical Counsellor & Acting Director of the Steering Unit of Health Care and Social Welfare, Ministry of Social Affairs and Health Care, Finland

Taina is currently serving as Medical Counsellor and Acting Director of the Steering Unit of Health Care and Social Welfare at the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health Care in Finland. Taina has previously worked at the Helsinki University, the Nordic School of Public Health and the Karolinska Institute.

Betina Højgaard, Project Director, Danish Center for Social Science Research

Betina Højgaard has conducted a large number of analysis and evaluation in the field of health. The focus of the evaluations range from impact evaluations and cost-efficiency analysis to analysis of the organization and administration of the healthcare system”.

Lene Johansen, Moderator

Lene is a journalist with more than 20 years of experience in radio, television and written press.  She is recognized for her many years as newsreader and host at different news-shows at DR, Danish Broadcasting Corporation as well as a published author, speaker, educator and moderator.

During her career, Lene has moderated a great extent and variety of events and conferences, facilitating debates and doing interviews. Lene has also been external examiner at the Danish School Media of Journalism.