Vasiliki-Rafaela Vakouftsi
President, Greek Patients’ Association
Vasiliki-Rafaela Vakouftsi is the President of the Hellenic Society of Crohn’s Disease and Ulcerative Colitis’ Patients – HELLESCC and the President of the Greek Patients’ Association. In addition, she is a Clinical Trial Ambassador, participates as a Patient Advisor at the Health Outcomes Observatory, while in 2021 she was a Fellow of the Crohn’s and Colitis Young Adults Network and is registered in the European Medicines Agency (EMA) expert database. She has completed the training programs EFCCA Academy – Training Certified Patient Experts: Training on ClinicalTrials, EFCCA YOUTH Academy: Leaders for Tomorrow and in October 2023 she graduated from the European Patients’ Academy EUPATI (European Patients’ Academy on Therapeutic Innovation). During her years of involvement with patient associations, she has participated in a number of conferences at national, European and international level, in several of them as a speaker, while at the same time as a patient representative she actively participates in a number of committees and working groups in national and European bodies concerning IBDs, health policy making, patients’ rights, drug shortages, clinical studies, etc. Finally, articles in which she participates as an author have been published in prestigious scientific journals and have been presented at numerous health related conferences.