Annika Szabo Portela appointed new Managing Director EIT Health Scandinavia

EIT Health are pleased to announce that Annika Szabo Portela will be taking on the position as Managing Director for the Scandinavia Regional Innovation Hub. Annika has already worked as operational Interim MD since December 2021, and we are delighted that she has been successful in securing the permanent position.

Annika joined EIT Health in December 2018 as Education Lead for the Scandinavia Hub where she was responsible for fostering innovative education, where academy meets entrepreneurs, industry and society. Annika’s passion to improve the transformation skills of healthcare staff and educate healthcare professionals got her engaged in the EIT Health project Healthcare Transformation Academy driven by hospitals of the European University Hospital Alliance (EUHA) and run by Vall d'Hebron University Hospital, Karolinska University Hospital, Karolinska Institutet, and Tartu University Hospital among others.

Annika has a PhD in Medical Science and a clinical background in speech language pathology with over two decades of international experience in higher education, research and innovation management from world leading medical, technical, and business academic institutions in Sweden, the UK and France. It was her passion for medicine, technology, education and innovation that brought her to EIT Health.

- I am delighted that Annika has been successful in securing the role as Managing Director for the Scandinavia Regional Innovation Hub. As we continue to look forward and understand what tactics we need to deploy to continually drive innovation to address our ongoing healthcare challenges, having Annika in this permanent role means that she and the team will now be well positioned to deliver on the important agenda ahead, says Jean-Marc Bourez, Interim CEO EIT Health.

- I am honoured to be appointed Managing Director for the Scandinavia Hub. EIT Health is a partner driven organisation backed by EU funding and is at a very exciting stage where I look forward to continuing working closely with current and new partners, as well as developing new services and businesses to yield new revenue and funding streams to support the financial sustainability of the organisation.

- Across the Nordics we will continue to drive questions like the talent gap, support disruptive preventive care, collaborate with national funding organisations and engage and drive key questions like facilitating and sharing access to health data, providing high value care, which means the best care possible, efficiently using resources, and achieving optimal results for each patient. I am also especially keen to continue the work by EIT Health France during the EU presidency and work with the Swedish life science ecosystem and help driving the healthcare agenda during the Swedish EU Presidency, says Annika Szabo-Portela

We are also pleased to confirm that Annika will be taking on the role as Chairwoman of our Talent Marketplace linked to the strategic project Work in Health, where she will lead on looking to address the evident and growing skills and talent gaps within the healthcare industry across Europe. This talent shortage threatens the sustainability and growth potential of the healthcare industry so addressing it is of key strategic importance.

Annika will be taking up her substantive position as Managing Director for Scandinavia with immediate effect, and will be reporting to Jean-Marc Bourez, Interim CEO EIT Health.