Our team

All team members have their personal reasons for working within Fertility Europe and attending our meetings. They are the delegates of the national patient associations and are thus active on a European level as well as on a national level. Their work for Fertility Europe is voluntary. Except for the Office Manager, who is an employee.

 

The Executive Committee

Satu Rautakallio-Hokkanen

Chairperson of Fertility Europe

Married 2000 with husband Pertti. We went through almost every possible fertility treatment during four years but with no result. Then we decided to concentrate on our relationship and have been very contented. Our aim as a couple is to tell people who can’t have children that life goes on and you can still have a happy and full life in your marriage.
Fertility Europe’s aim to gather all European associations together is a great idea. I am happy to give my input to make it work. We have a lot to do, but it will be a joy to do it with all these wonderful people I have met around Europe.
I work fulltime in the Finnish Infertility Association Simpukka, which was established in 1988.

Klaudija Kordic

Vice-chairperson of Fertility Europe

I was born 1974 and thanks to IVF am the mother of a beautiful daughter (born 2011) and twins (born 2014).
I have been a member of the RODA association in Croatia from 2009, my involvement is in the infertility project of the association where I am one of the project leaders. RODA joined Fertility Europe in 2010, in the middle of our struggle against the most rigorous and restrictive law on medically assisted reproduction in Europe. At that time Fertility Europe was a great support, a huge network of helpful infertility associations willing to help with experience and advice, and still is. We are lucky in Croatia in that we have had a new, more liberal and quite modern law on medically assisted reproduction since 07/2012. Now we can be of help to other countries within Fertility Europe and beyond it.
Why did I join the MORE working group? I like to work with Satu and Susan, but other than this, it is really nice to see this European Family of infertility associations growing and to help it a little bit in this process..

Irina Popova

Secretary of the Executive Committee

Lives in Sofia, Bulgaria. Volunteer and vice-chair of Bulgarian patient organization “Zachatie”.

Afroditi Alexopoulou

Treasurer of Fertility Europe

Born in 1978. Lives in Athens, Greece. I had to remove my fallopian tubes when I was 28 years old and since then, I had 8 unsuccessful IVF attempts and one miscarriage. In the meantime, I became member of the Greek fertility support association KIVELI and I worked as volunteer. I tried to support as many women as I could and urged them to talk about what was happening to them, because being hypofertile is deemed a big secret / taboo in the Greek society. My full time job is accountant. I became member of the ExCo because I always believed that by working together more could be achieved than by working alone. I believe in people and in willpower.

Karianne Bye, Executive Committee 5th member

 

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Deputy members of the Executive Committee

 

Iwona Krygier-Komenda

Deputy member of the Executive Committee

Mother to beautiful boys thanks to IVF procedures. Since 2006 active in Nasz Bocian of Poland. Since 2011 involved in many projects in Nasz Bocian.
Currently, member of POLI working group in FE.

Ofra Balaban Kasztelanski

Deputy member of the Executive Committee

Born in 1959 in Israel. Married to Itamar and mother of Yoav (born 1995) and Tal (born 1999). M.A. in Public Policy – Tel-Aviv University.
I am the founder and the chair of CHEN – Patient Fertility Association (since 1998), the organization supplying support to infertile couples and persons, distributes information and initiates change in laws regarding egg donation in Israel. I also represent Israel in the international umbrella organizations such as ICSI, AFAM and IAPO.
I am an active member in task force to encourage freedom of research in Stem cells, established in Rome 2006, by MEP Marco Cappato and Luca Coscioni Association from Italy and in Israel I am member of the women council in my city, Holon, and member in the board of volunteers council. In 2006 I was honored by the mayor of Holon as the Volunteer of the year.

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Fertility Europe’s Office Manager

Anita Fincham

I am Polish, living in UK with my English husband and two sons conceived thanks to IVF.
I am a qualified Psychodietician, and I work with people who are interested in improving their well-being through changing their eating habits.
Infertility has had major impact on my life: since 2008, I have been an active member and now a board member of Nasz Bocian, the leading Polish NGO serving the infertile community; I act as an expert advisor on EBM-optimised nutrition for fertility.

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Honorary Lifetime Member

Clare Lewis-Jones MBE

Fertility Europe Honorary Lifetime Member (Ex-Chair of Fertility Europe, 2009 – 2015)

Clare discovered she had fertility problems in 1978 and over the next 8 years had three attempts at tubal surgery and 4 IVF attempts which all failed. In 1985 she was successful in adopting her two children, James and Holly. Having been a member for three years, she joined the National Management Committee of CHILD, the national infertility support network, in 1984. Between then and 1989 she held the voluntary posts of Membership Secretary and Chair. In 1989 she became Executive Director working part-time from home. From that time to December 2003, when CHILD and iSSUE merged to form Infertility Network UK, this developed in to a full-time post, office-based with a staff of 12. On the merger of CHILD and ISSUE in December 2003, Clare became Chief Executive of the new organisation Infertility Network UK. She retired from the position in January 2015.
Clare was a Member of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) from December 2002 to May 2011. She was Chair of the National Infertility Awareness Campaign, Chair of Fertility Europe, the patient representative on the Management Committee of the British Fertility Society and was the consumer representative on the NICE Fertility Guideline Development Group in 2004 and the update of the guideline in 2013. Clare was the founder and Chair of the Association of Fertility Patient Organisations in the UK.
She was awarded the World Fertility Awareness Month Lifetime Achievement Award in July 2007 – an award which has historically been given to eminent clinicians working in the field of infertility.
Clare was awarded the MBE for her services to health in the Queen’s Birthday Honours List in June 2009.
She has written numerous papers and articles on infertility and its effect on sufferers, as well as taking part in equally numerous interviews for the media.

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Working Groups members

Monika Bulmanska-Wingett, member of the Working Groups POLI (Policy)

A well-travelled home-bird, a wife and a proud mother of three fantastic IVF conceived children. After 6 years of struggle, two IVF attempts and a spontaneous miscarriage, I was born a mum for the first time. Two years and another IVF attempt later, my twin daughters came into the world.
Since 2004, I have been involved in Nasz Bocian of Poland activities. I am a board member and an administrator of Nasz Bocian forum which has over 95 thousand registered users.
I love travelling. Visiting new places and being able to see them through my kids’ eyes is a beautiful experience and pure joy. I love reading. I love talking to people and learning their perspectives.

Ana Galhardo, member of the Working Group POLI (Policy)

Born 1974, married, mother of two boys. Being a Portuguese clinical psychologist and university teacher, I developed an interest for infertility during my PhD research. This led to contacting the Portuguese Fertility Association APFertilidade, which was the beginning of a remarkable relationship. Since 2008 I have been developing and applying a Mindfulness Based Program for Infertility (group intervention).
I have also coordinated a continuous project of creating a psychologists’ network with special knowledge and skills for psychological support of people facing infertility. It includes organization of regular workshops for these psychologists, promoting the state of the art psychological intervention as well as discussion and sharing of professionals’ points of view. It is a pleasure and an honor to represent APFertilidade with Fertility Europe and to learn and share with all the other Members. It really is a great team!

[Last update: October 2018]