Hon. Minister Dr Jo-Etienne Abela

Jo Etienne Abela is a Maltese politician and Minister for Health and Active Ageing. Studied medicine at the University of Malta and worked as a medical doctor at St Luke's Hospital. Abela furthered his studies in Scotland, becoming the country's youngest consultant surgeon specializing in the esophagus and pancreas. After returning to Malta in 2012, he worked at Mater Dei Hospital and Gozo Hospital while also lecturing at the University of Malta. He has held various administrative roles, including Deputy Head of the Department of Surgery. Elected in March 2022, he now serves as Minister for Active Ageing under Prime Minister Robert Abela.

Dr Martin Balzan

Dr. Martin Balzan has been elected Vice President of CPME, serving until the end of 2024, overseeing professional practice and health systems. He leads the Maltese delegation to CPME and has been a rapporteur for environmental policies since 2014. Currently President of the Medical Association of Malta, he has also served as Secretary of the Commonwealth Medical Association and President of the UEMS section of Pneumology. As the lead respiratory physician at Mater Dei Hospital and a Senior Lecturer at the University of Malta and Queen Mary University of London, he has published over 70 scientific works on asthma epidemiology and environmental issues.

Prof. Sandra C. Buttigieg

Sandra C. Buttigieg is Professor and Head of Department of Health Systems Management and Leadership (HSML), Faculty of Health Sciences, UOM. She is also Consultant Public Health Medicine, Head-Clinical Performance Unit, and Chair-Patient Safety and Quality Improvement Team, Mater Dei Hospital. She is immediate past President of the European Health Management Association and outgoing Global-Representative-at-large of the American Academy of Management-HCM Division. She lectures in HSML, Patient Safety and Clinical Risk Management, Public Health, Family Medicine, Research Methodology and Evidence-based Health Research (EVBRES). 

Professor Buttigieg strongly advocates inter-/trans-disciplinarity within HSML in practice/research. She believes that health organisations'/systems' performance as a macro-concept depends on policies, people and operating systems. Her research, therefore, focuses on, but also links, clinical performance management, quality of care, patient safety, organisational behaviour, SHRM, operations management/research; and policy issues (ageism, migrant health, One Health, person-centred care). 

She authored/co-authored several articles in peer-reviewed international journals, and widely participated in international conferences, and congresses. She is on the Editorial Boards of Heliyon, PloS One, Health Services Management Research, International Journal of Human Resources Management, Journal of Health Organization and Management, and Frontiers Public Health. She is Frontiers Topic Editor: "Network for Evaluation of One Health (NEOH) Case Studies"; "Patient Safety: Delivering Cost-Contained, High Quality, Person-Centered, and Safe Healthcare" and "Health Service Management and Leadership: COVID-Style". 

Professor Buttigieg participated in the EU-funded programmes: Horizon2020 - To REACH; COST Actions: CA17117: EVBRES; CA19113: Second Victims; CA 15222 "cost containment and quality of care (leader-WG 1); TD 1404 NEOH (co-leader-WG 3); IS 1402 “ Ageism (co-leader-WG 1); and IS 1103 “Adapting European Health Systems to Diversity" (country-coordinator).

Mr Boris Curmi

Boris brings over 30 years of extensive experience in the insurance industry, having held senior executive roles with two local insurance operators. Currently, as Chief Commercial Officer at MAPFRE Middlesea plc, Malta’s leading insurance provider and a subsidiary of MAPFRE, the leading insurance group in Spain, Boris plays a pivotal role in shaping the company’s commercial strategy. As a member of the Management Committee, he actively contributes to the organisation's leadership and overall vision.

Throughout his career, Boris has gained broad expertise in managing core insurance functions, including direct and facultative underwriting, business development, and optimising distribution channels.

 Mr Martin Galea

Martin Galea qualified as a chartered accountant with Coopers and Lybrand London (Now PwC) and joined the local firm in 1982. He spent most of his career with Joinwell Limited where we was Managing Director. He is currently Chairman of MAPFRE Middlesea, an insurance company listed on the local stock exchange and was also a director of MAPFRE MSV Life. He is a Non Executive Director of a number of regulated Funds and local companies. He was active in the Malta Federation of Industries where he was a former President and Vice President of the Chamber of Commerce Enterprise and Industry when the two organizations merged during his tenure. He was also a board member of Malta Enterprise, the Government entity for investment, and a Council Member of the Malta Council for Economic and Social Development, the council for social and economic stakeholders.  

Formerly he was a visiting lecturer and examiner in auditing at the University of Malta and the Malta Institute of Accountants and was Vice Chairman on the Board of Governors at St Edwards College. He was President of the National Trust ‘Din L-Art Helwa’, where he remains a Council Member and is Vice Chairman and Trustee of the International National Trusts Organization, an association of National Trusts from all over the world, which is registered as a Charitable Trust in the UK. He was until recently President of the Malta Rugby Football Union, and sat on the finance committee of Rugby Europe.

Ricardo González Garcia

Ricardo González is an economist and Director of Analysis, Sectoral Studies and Regulation at MAPFRE Economics (MAPFRE's research department). Since 2001 he has been a member of the Senior Corps of State Insurance Inspectors in Spain, currently on leave. In the years prior to joining MAPFRE, he worked at the European Commission in Brussels as a seconded national expert in the Directorate General for Financial Institutions, within the Insurance and Pensions Unit.

Dr Kenneth Grech
MD (Melit.), PhD (Warwick), MSc (Lond.), MBA (Melit.), FFPH (UK), DLSHTM (Lond.)

 Dr Kenneth Grech is a Senior Lecturer at the University of Malta, a Consultant in Public Health in the Ministry for Health in Malta and Co-Chair of the EU Expert Group on Health System Performance Assessment.  He qualified as a medical doctor from the University of Malta in 1991 and underwent specialist training in Public Health Medicine. He read for a Masters in Public Health from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, a Masters in Business Administration from the University of Malta and a PhD in health system performance and health policy development from Warwick University, UK.  He is also a Fellow of the Faculty of Public Health Medicine, UK.

 He occupied several senior management and policy positions in Malta and Europe, including that of Chief Executive Officer of St Luke’s Hospital, Director Social Welfare Standards and Permanent Secretary of the Ministry for Health.  More recently he was responsible for the overall coordination of Malta’s national COVID response.  At European level he sat on the Executive Council of the European Public Health Association as Treasurer and is currently the co-Chair of the EU Expert Group on Health System Performance Assessment.  His research interests are in health system performance, leadership, health policy, training and education.

Prof. Pierpaolo Marano

Pierpaolo Marano is an associate professor at the Department of Insurance and Risk Management at the University of Malta. He also lectures at the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart in Milan and the University of Latvia. Professor Marano holds a PhD in banking law and regulation from the University of Siena. His international experience is extensive, having been a visiting professor or lecturer at various universities in Europe, America, and Asia, including Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Universidad Autonoma de Madrid, University of Exeter, University of Connecticut, Chinese University of Political Science and Law, and many others.

Professor Marano's practical involvement in the field of insurance law is significant, as evidenced by his role in drafting the Italian Code of Private Insurance. His expertise is further demonstrated by his academic membership in the Insurance and Reinsurance Stakeholders Group at the European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority (EIOPA). He also chairs the Scientific Committee of the AIDA (International Association of Insurance Law) Europe and the Working Party on the Distribution of Insurance Products at AIDA World. Moreover, he is the Director of the AIDA Europe Research Series on Insurance Law and Regulation, published by Springer and indexed and abstracted in SCOPUS. He has published over 140 academic papers on insurance law and regulation, banking and financial services, capital markets law, corporate law, and bankruptcy law in English, Italian, and Spanish.

Mr Jean Claude Muscat

Jean Claude Muscat currently serves as the Chief Executive Officer of Saint James Hospitals and Clinics, Malta & Internationally. Mr Muscat has over 32 years of experience in the healthcare industry in Malta as well as in international markets in Europe and North Africa.

In 1990, at twenty years of age Mr Muscat joined Saint James Hospital Group. As the company grew organically, he gradually worked his way up the ladder, heading the business development arm which included the opening of the first healthcare branches outside of the main facility in Malta.
In 2002 Mr Muscat spearheaded negotiations on behalf of the Saint James Hospital Group when the family business took over Malta’s largest private hospital at the time – Capua Palace Hospital.
Following this successful takeover, Mr Muscat directed the setting up of a new concept aesthetic clinic in Malta.

In 2006 and 2009 Mr Muscat headed the first tangible expansion of the Saint James business overseas, setting up Saint James Hospital facilities in Libya and Hungary respectively. In 2016 he oversaw the establishment of a specialised ophthalmic centre of excellence in Malta.

In 2019 Mr Muscat oversaw the completion and opening of a modern flagship hospital in Żejtun.

Jean Claude is looking forward to being part of the tremendous changes taking place in the healthcare industry, with a specific focus on introducing AI and Digital Medicine as a standard tool in the delivery of the healthcare services of the Saint James Hospital Group.

Ray Schembri is the Head of the Insurance and Pensions Supervision function within the Malta Financial Services Authority (MFSA) which is the single regulator of financial services in Malta.  Ray joined MFSA in February 2019 following a 30 year career in the insurance industry.  He is also a member of EIOPA’s Board of Supervisors.  He held several senior positions with international insurance and banking groups covering various aspects of the insurance world including captive insurance management, insurance operations, risk management and insurance broking.

Dr Pierre Vassallo 
MD, PhD, FACA, Arzt fur Radiologie, MBA 
Consultant Radiologist 
Managing Director – DaVinci Health 

Dr Pierre Vassallo graduated as Doctor of Medicine and Surgery from the University of Malta in 1984. He then moved to University of Munster, Germany, where he obtained PhD in Digital Imaging in 1990 and his specialisation in Radiology 1991. He then moved to New York City, NY USA to work at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Centre, a world-leading centre for Cancer Care. There he spent almost 4 years (1992-1995) working in highly specialised Cancer Imaging. He returned to Malta in 1995 to the post of Consultant Radiologist at St Luke’s Hospital and Senior Lecturer in Medicine at the University of Malta.  

In 2000, Dr Vassallo founded the Medical Imaging Centre (MIC), a private radiology facility in Birkirkara. The MIC eventually expanded its services and scope to cover a wide variety of medical and surgical specialities and changed its name to DaVinci Hospital (DVH), Birkirkara. In 2018, a strategic decision was taken to expand DVH’s focus to preventive health care with a consequent name change to DaVinci Health, which will shortly be celebrating its 24th anniversary of service.  

In 2019, he obtained an MBA in Strategic Management and Leadership from the University of Cardiff, UK. 

Dr Ana Villanueva

As Chief Medical Officer, Ana is responsible for leading the medical department at MAPFRE RE and for managing at Risk Med Solutions the operation of a new online underwriting tool. She has more than 35 years of experience in Life and Health insurance and reinsurance at international level. She is very involved in the implementation of new medical advances and technologies in risk assessment and underwriting decisions, as well as in healthcare management.

Ana is an MD & PhD and holds an MBA from the University of Houston, a Master in Law from The European University and a Master in Life & Health Insurance from INESE. She is a professor at UNIR (International University of La Rioja) at the Master in Healthcare Management, member of several associations for insurance medicine around the world and regular lecturer on risk assessment, process & data management, and product development.