Our Speakers
Core Lecture
Mariam Harutyunyan
Meet Mariam Harutyunyan, a strategic advisor, public speaker, founder of the KinArmat Initiative and President of the Belgian Women's Council.
She works at the intersection of inclusive leadership, strategic partnerships, and health equity, empowering individuals and organizations to grow with impact.
Armed with a master's degree in Biomedical Sciences and a passion for societal change, Mariam helps reshape systems, amplify underrepresented voices, and build bridges between communities and institutions.
Panel Discussions
Session I
Emma de Brabander
Emma de Brabander is a PhD candidate at Maastricht University, in the department of mental health and neuroscience (MHeNs). Her PhD research focuses on personalising antipsychotic treatment through pharmacogenetics. In her work, as well as in her free time, she is also very engaged with how to incorporate sex and gender in health research. From 2023 to mid 2025, she was in the board of the national association for gender in health (ECR division, StartNVG&G) and she regularly gives talks and presentations on the topic.
Abdelilah Hammamou
Abdelilah Hamamou is a PhD candidate at Radboud university medical center (Radboudumc), within the Department of Primary and Community Care. His research focuses on the impact of gender dimensions on health outcomes, with a particular emphasis on health-related quality of life in patients with rheumatic diseases. In his work, he combines quantitative and qualitative methods to better understand how gender influences patient experiences, disease impact and interactions with the healthcare system. He is also actively involved in initiatives that aim to promote more inclusive and gender-sensitive health research, including his involvement in START NVG&G.
Adriana Berlanga
is a former senior researcher who transitioned into a career focused on innovation, knowledge transfer, and start-up development. She currently works as a Senior Business Developer for Valorisation at Maastricht University & Brightlands Maastricht Health Campus, where she supports researchers in translating promising ideas into sustainable ventures and societal value.
Adriana’s professional journey began in the financial services, automotive, and manufacturing industries in her native Mexico before she transitioned into academia. After earning her PhD in Computer Science in Spain, she moved to the Netherlands to pursue a postdoctoral position and was later appointed as an assistant professor. She subsequently worked in a clinical setting, where she led innovation and implementation projects and conducted applied research.
In addition, Adriana is actively engaged in science communication and advocates for diversity and inclusion in innovation. She initiated Innovation Beyond Gender, an initiative aimed at raising awareness of the importance and need for inclusivity within our innovation ecosystems.
At the conference, Adriana will take part in a panel discussion, where she will talk about her PhD journey and her experience exploring career paths beyond the traditional academic route. She will also reflect on the challenges women face in research and share why inclusion in innovation matters, not only for women and underrepresented groups, but for society as a whole.
Session II
Manon van Daal
Manon van Daal works as a bioethicist at University Medical Center Utrecht (NL). Her research explores the ethical issues in new biomedical technologies, particularly within Regenerative Medicine (RM). Some of the topics she focuses on are inclusive design in RM, sex and gender differences in biofabrication, organoid research with underrepresented groups and the role of sex and gender aspects in biomedical research. She wants to ensure that such technologies become more inclusive, making them accessible and effective for everyone. Through education, she aims to raise awareness among future scientists and clinicians about ethics, diversity, inclusion in healthcare and research.
Sophie van Dijk
Sophie van Dijk is an entrepreneur, investor, and non-executive director supported by an INSEAD MBA. With over a decade of corporate leadership experience across multinational companies, she now focuses on applying her operational expertise at the intersection of healthcare and technology. Her mission is to close the gap in Women's Healthcare through initiatives like FemTechNL and the Women’s Health Innovation Council, which advises early-stage companies and serves on various boards to connect innovation with the structures that bring it into practice and unlock market potential.
Heidi Bertels
Dr. Heidi Bertels holds a BS and MS in Integral Product Development and a PhD in Innovation Management, bringing over 15 years of experience in strategy, entrepreneurship, and innovation management. A former tenured Full Professor at the City University of New York, she brings extensive research and public speaking experience. In 2025, she transitioned from academia into the startup world as co-founder and CEO of Sampl.id BV, a medical-device spin-off from the University of Antwerp. Sampl.id develops First Void Urine (FVU) collection devices for diagnostic screening — particularly HPV-based cervical cancer screening and prostate cancer screening. She is additionally co-founder of Plantsoon, a visitor engagement solution for public spaces.