READI: Meet EATG’s Community Advisory Group

EATG is excited to announce the recruitment of six new members to form part of the Community Advisory Group (CAG) under the READI project.

The CAG is expected to play a crucial role in advising on Task 6.1 which centres on developing and reinforcing the different connections and partnerships by mapping community stakeholder connectivity, needs, and expectations. Under the guidance of the advisory group, we aim to broaden our understanding of “community” through the diverse perspectives, insights and experiences that the expert members of this group bring to the table.

Through their invaluable support and guidance, we hope to ensure that our initiatives under the READI project remain inclusive, impactful, and aligned with the needs of underserved and underrepresented communities.

Meet the Community Advisory Group members

Marine (Maka) Gogia

Maka Gogia is Programs director at GHRN. Having a high medical education and a master’s degree in public health, she has extensive experience in program management and research. She has long advocacy experience in increasing accessibility to HIV/HCV/TB/STI treatment and prevention services for key affected population. Maka is a member of European AIDS Treatment Group (EATG), Board member of CAB at MPP, as well Steering committee member of European HIV testing week, focal point of Correlation Network and Global Fund EECA constituency member, Member of Regional Collaborating Committee on Accelerated Response to Tuberculosis, HIV and Viral Hepatitis (RCC-THV) at World Health Organization.

Laura Pinnavaia

Laura Pinnavaia was born in Milan (Italy) in 1966. In 1972 she went to live in Reading (UK) with her family where she grew up. She returned to Milan in 1986, where she has been living since. She studied languages at university and is now professor of English at the University of Milan. Her interest in patient advocacy arose when she was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2015. Since then, she has been actively involved in various organizations (Europa Donna Italia, LILT, CAOS, EUonQol) learning from and collaborating with them to help strengthen the bond between patients and healthcare workers.

Daniela Rojas Castro

Daniela Rojas Castro is a social psychologist specialized in global health and HIV. With over 24 years of experience, she has worked across Latin America, Europe, and Africa, leading participatory research and supporting community-led responses in the field of HIV, hepatitis, and sexual and reproductive health. She combines scientific rigor with a strong commitment to community empowerment and social justice. Daniela has collaborated with major international institutions and grassroots organizations, conducting evaluations, designing surveys, and producing evidence to inform policies and programs. She is particularly skilled in mixed methods and participatory approaches, ensuring that the voices of affected communities are central to health interventions and research. She has led and supported projects on PrEP and treatment access, stigma, gender inequalities, and community-based testing, always emphasizing collaboration between researchers, civil society, and policymakers. As a trilingual consultant (Spanish, French, English), Daniela brings a global yet deeply grounded perspective to her work. She is currently involved in the coordination of international studies and supports networks of people living with HIV and hepatitis to better use evidence for advocacy. Her approach blends scientific excellence, strategic thinking, and a passion for equity in health.

Nuala Ryan

Nuala is Chair of the Trustees for the NCBRS Worldwide Foundation and is a mother/carer of a child with NCBRS. Nuala is a former cancer patient and has participated in clinical trials herself so has a dual perspective. She serves on Steering Committees for multiple projects and initiatives such as: Genomics Data infrastructure Ireland, Future Neuro RCSI Governance Committee, Member of the Health Product Regulatory Authority (HPRA) Patient panel, Member of the Pharmacy Taskforce Ireland, Former Board member of Genomics Medicines Ireland among others. Nuala has 30 years drug development experience, in pre-clinical and clinical development of compounds across numerous indications and therapeutic areas globally. Nuala is also experienced in the management of numerous Public Private Partnerships in the EU, working together to solve key health related issues e.g. projects on decentralised clinical trials, return of individual clinical trial results/secondary use of clinical trial data, reducing time for rare disease diagnosis through genetic newborn screening and AI/Technology.

Vasiliki-Rafaela Vakouftsi

Vasiliki-Rafaela Vakouftsi is the President of the Hellenic Society of Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis patients and President of the Greek Patients’ Association. She is also a Board Member of International Alliance of Patients’ Organizations. She participates as a Patient Advisor in various projects, and in 2021 she became a Fellow of the Crohn’s and Colitis Young Adults Network and is registered in the European Medicines Agency (EMA) expert base. She has completed the 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 on Therapeutic Innovation (EUPATI). During her years of involvement with patients’ associations she has participated in numerous conferences at national, European and international level, in several of them as a speaker, while as a patient representative she actively participates in numerous committees and working groups in national and European bodies concerning PHI, health policy making, patients’ rights, drug shortages, clinical trials, etc. Finally, articles in which she has participated as an author have been published in reputable scientific journals and have been presented at conferences.

Brian West

Brian is a 67-year-old gay man who has been living with HIV for over 40 years. He lives in Edinburgh and has been involved with Scottish/UK HIV organisations, as well as the EATG. Specifically, Brian has been a member of the EATG since 2007. He was Chair of the Board of Directors of the EATG for 3 years, having served 6 years on the board. He is currently Chair of the Partners in Science Programme. In 2022, he was involved with the EATG in developing a position paper detailing ‘Why people living with HIV should be included in non-HIV clinical trials’. This project is now expanding to include diagnostics and prevention He has been involved in EATG work in PrOMs which aims to increase and formalise the use of Patients Reported Outcomes in clinical Trials. He also took part in 4 of the ‘Sitges’ meetings. That was the EATG successful multi-stakeholder approach to the inclusion of PLWHIV in Hepatitis C drug trials. He was part of the organisation committee for several of them. He also attended the opening session of READI in Madrid in January and is happy to serve on the CAG.