Our Team

Jean-Luc Eiselé has worked in the field of medical association management for almost 20 years. He was trained as a biochemist working at the Biozentrum in Basel and the Pasteur Institute in Paris. In 1999, he joined the European Respiratory Society as Scientific Affairs Manager in charge of the Annual Congress and was offered to develop the educational activities, in particular the online portfolio. In 2001 he was nominated Deputy Executive Director and in 2007 ERS Executive Director. In 2011, he was appointed by FDI World Dental Federation as Executive Director, developing in particular its advocacy work and launching successfully the World Oral Health Day. He joined the World Heart Federation (WHF) as Chief Executive Officer in May 2017, strengthening the business model, the focus on communication and advocacy and membership engagement.

 

Jeremiah has over 10 years’ experience working in global health policy, advocacy and leadership.  Jeremiah has previously served as the Executive Director of Reach, a global NGO, working to promote the health of vulnerable populations by supporting local, regional and global efforts to prevent and control rheumatic fever and rheumatic heart disease.

Jeremiah served as Director of Policy and Advocacy at the World Heart Federation (WHF) where he led WHF’s work policy work on cardiovascular and rheumatic heart diseases, including successfully spearheading a global campaign for a World Health Assembly Resolution on rheumatic fever and rheumatic heart disease.

Jeremiah has worked to support the involvement of patients and the patient voice in health policy making. During his time as Policy and External Affairs Director for the International Alliance of Patients’ Organizations (IAPO), Jeremiah helped strengthen IAPO’s external partnerships with the global health and development community and spearheaded several publications including IAPO’s Review of Patient-Centered Healthcare Indicators.

Jeremiah holds a Master’s degree in Public Policy, and a BSc in Economics.

Kelcey Clara Armstrong-Walenczak joined the World Heart Federation’s Policy and Advocacy team in 2019. She advocates for evidence-based cardiovascular health policies at the global level: leading the work on air pollution and CVD, managing the Global Coalition for Circulatory Health, and frequently representing WHF at high-level fora such as the World Health Assembly. Kelcey has gained her broad international experience at a diverse series of organizations, including UNHCR and Right Livelihood. Most recently, she supported advocacy and communications efforts at the Kofi Annan Foundation on issues ranging from the prevention of violent extremism to the recognition of snakebite as a Neglected Tropical Disease.

Kelcey is from sunny Florida, USA. She has BAs in International Relations and French, an MSc in International Strategic Marketing, and an MAS in Advocacy in International Affairs and Policymaking. She is passionate about promoting gender equality and in her spare time provides pro bono consulting to progressive women running for political office.

Yunshu Wang joined the World Heart Federation in 2020 and is the most recent addition to the Advocacy and Policy Team. He is an advocate of cardiovascular health for all and works on issues such as tobacco control and rheumatic heart disease. He has a background in pharmacy and worked as a community pharmacist prior to joining the World Heart Federation.

Yunshu holds a BSc in Pharmaceutical Sciences and a MSc in Pharmacy from the University of Geneva. He also completed a MSc in Public Health at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine. Yunshu was born in China, but was raised in Geneva, Switzerland.

Borjana Pervan is a journalist and communications leader who likes to ask questions, seek solutions, and communicate reasons for action. While working as a broadcast and print reporter in her country of origin, Bulgaria, she uncovered a major international human trafficking ring.  Before joining the World Heart Federation, she worked in advertising and more recently led the global communications teams of two international organisations, aiming to improve the lives and livelihoods of millions of people. At WHF Borjana leads the effort to empower the global cardiovascular community to speak with a strong voice and inspire change.

Céline has been working for more than 15 years in the Medical Association World. She has begun her journey within the association management department of Kenes Group in Geneva where she was involved in the coordination of projects for different associations and federations with various focus. 
From 2011 to 2014, she worked in the events industry, first for a Geneva catering company and then she actively participated in the launch of a special events venue. 
In 2015, she joined the European Association for the Study of the Liver, initially as an Event Coordinator then as Event Manager. She was leading an annual congress of 10’000 participants and about 10 additional conferences per year all around Europe.
She joined WHF in 2019 as the Director of Congress and Events. 
Holding a Bachelor of Science in International Management Hospitality from Ecole Hotelière de Lausanne, a Project Management Professional (PMP) from PMI, she is also a certified Digital Event Strategist (DES) from PCMA.

Mihela joined WHF in 2017 and has played a key role in strengthening the organization's communication capacities. Her professional experience in marketing combined with her academic background in global health and international development mean that she is able to translate complex issues into engaging content that is accessible to our diverse global audience. Prior to joining the World Heart Federation, she lived in London and worked for a range of publishing companies, including Zed Books, Bloomsbury Publishing and Rowman & Littlefield International. Her work experience includes stints at the United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) and Cambridge University Press.

Mihela has a Bachelor’s degree in International Relations and Development Studies from the University of Sussex (UK) and an MSc in Global Health from Maastricht University (Netherlands). Born and raised in Trieste, Italy, she is a member of the autochthonous Slovenian minority and is fluent in Italian, Slovenian and English.

Aline joined WHF's communications team as Campaign Manager in 2021. She is a strong believer of communications as a driver of change and has extensive experience with social media, media, events, partnerships, advocacy, creative & project management.

Prior to joining the team, Aline supported the public health and communications efforts of FDI World Dental Federation. She also worked as Communications Consultant for Leidar, an international advocacy, branding and communications consultancy. 

She holds a Bachelor’s degree in International Relations from the University of Geneva, Switzerland, and a dual Master’s degree in International Communication from Leeds Beckett University, United Kingdom, and the University of Communication and Language (UILM) in Milan, Italy. In addition, Aline completed Yale University’s Essentials of Global Health certificate. 

Emmanuel Chevron, a dual citizen of France and Switzerland, is the Director of Membership and Business Development at WHF, this involves managing the relations with the non-pharma industry, including Foundations and Governmental organizations, Emmanuel also supervises the Membership Department.

Prior to joining WHF, he spent the first part of his career in sales & marketing in the private sector, gaining valuable experience in business development. In 2012, he switched to the non-profit sector and joined the FDI World Dental Federation as Director of Corporate Relations and Business Development where he supported the franchising of the congress and development of the donor base. Emmanuel joined WHF in April 2020.

He holds an Executive MBA from the Business School of Lausanne. 

Andreea joined WHF in 2017 as a Membership Manager. She is responsible for developing and implementing the membership strategic engagement plan to convene and connect the cardiovascular disease (CVD) community to share science and best practice, building global commitment to address cardiovascular health at the policy level. Moreover, Andreea oversees the WHF Salim Yusuf Emerging Leaders Programme, one of the first international training programmes on CVD implementation research aiming to build up capacity, professional development, mentorship and networking of young leaders in 100 countries.

Prior to joining the team, Andreea worked as a Consular Officer at the Romanian Embassy in Switzerland. She holds a Master’s in international Affairs and Diplomacy from the University of Bucharest and a Diploma of Advanced Studies in Effective Management of International Organizations and NGOs from the University of Geneva.

Andrea is a seasoned business development professional with 25+ years experience leading teams in sales & marketing functions, including 16 years with the DuPont Company. Since 2017, she has led the Partnerships & Programmes for the World Heart Federation forge collaborations with industry partners to make a difference in reducing the escalating cardiovascular health burden. Andrea also serves as the Chair, of the Fight the Fakes, Swiss-based, not-for-profit organization to protect against fake and substandard medicines of which WHF is a founding member. Born and raised in New York, Andrea holds Swiss and Italian nationalities and speaks English, French, Italian, German and with a good knowledge of Spanish. She holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Applied Economics from Hofstra University, New York and a Master in Business Administration from Università Luigi Bocconi in Milan, Italy.

Sean joined World Heart Federation as Director of Science and Public Health in 2022. He has over 10 years’ experience in the health and not-for-profit sectors. Prior to joining WHF, Sean held the position of Education and Public Health Director at FDI World Dental Federation, leading a diverse portfolio of initiatives including professional education, research and public health programmes. He has also held roles related to project management, events organization and external relations at the International Diabetes Federation and International Osteoporosis Foundation.  Sean holds a master’s degree in Global Health from the University of Geneva and is particularly interested in issues of access to care, healthcare systems and digital health. At WHF, Sean is responsible for projects related to science and public health, including the World Heart Observatory and CVD Roadmaps.

Pablo Perel, from Argentina, is a cardiologist and epidemiologist, he is Professor of Clinical Epidemiology at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (United Kingdom) where he is the Director of the Centre for Global Chronic Conditions. He is also the Senior Science Advisor of the World Heart Federation (Switzerland), and editor of the Global Heart Journal. He has authored over 100 peer reviewed publications and several book chapters. His main interest is cardiovascular implementation research in limited resources and humanitarian settings.

Lana has worked extensively in global health developing tools and building capacity and raising awareness to enable healthier populations. She is currently the Programme Officer within the Science and Public Health team at the World Heart Federation where she is focused on translating science into policy to drive action and improve heart health for all. She was previously working at the World Health Organization on project coordination, global guidelines, technical assistance to countries and policy development for Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs).

She trained as a human movement specialist (exercise science and ergonomics) and public health nutritionist, holds a Master of Occupational Health and Master of Human Nutrition.