Meet the team behind the European Standards of Care for Newborn Health (ESCNH).
Silke Mader is the Chairwoman of the Executive Board and co-founder of EFCNI. In 1997, her twins were born in the 25th week of pregnancy, and were not given the appropriate care. Unfortunately, one of them died a few days after birth. During her time in hospital and afterwards, Silke Mader was faced with the non-existence of support of any kind, the absence of public awareness and the lack of information and education for parents during pregnancy. Her motivation is to prevent parents from making similar experiences in such painful situations. As the conditions throughout Europe are distressingly similar and preterm children urgently need a voice within Europe and worldwide, she decided to take on the role of Chair on the Executive Board of EFCNI. Silke Mader is co-editor of the EFCNI Benchmarking Report “Too little, Too Late? Why Europe Should Do More for Preterm Infants”, “Caring for Tomorrow” – the EFCNI White Paper on Maternal and Newborn Health and Aftercare Services – and technical editor of the “Born too Soon” Global Action Report on Preterm Birth. Besides this, Silke Mader is author and editor of many other publications on topics related to maternal and newborn health. In 2012, Silke Mader was awarded the “Prix Courage” by ZDF television programme “ML mona lisa” in cooperation with the cosmetics company Clarins. In 2013, she received the Medal for Particular Services to Bavaria in a United Europe. Since 2014, she has been Honorary Lecturer at the School of Nursing and Midwifery, Queen’s University Belfast, Northern Ireland. In 2015, Silke Mader was awarded as social entrepreneur and Ashoka Fellow and, in 2016, she received the Bavarian State Medal for Services Concerning Health and Long-term Care.
Senior Medical Director
Professor Helmut D. Hummler, MD, MBA, joined EFCNI on 1 September 2024.
He graduated in 1986 from the medical school of the University of Tübingen, Germany. After his residency in Pediatrics in Germany he received his training in Neonatology from 1992 to 1995 by Eduardo Bancalari, M.D. at the Division of Neonatology, Department of Pediatrics, Jackson Memorial Medical Center, University of Miami, Florida, U.S.A.
After returning to Germany, he joined the staff of the Division of Neonatology und Pediatric Critical Care, Children’s Hospital, University of Ulm, Germany in 1996, where he became Division Chief in 2005. He received his M.B.A. and became Professor of Pediatrics in 2006 and Vice-Chairman of the Dept. of Pediatrics in 2008.
He joined the faculty at Sidra Medicine, Doha, Qatar to help to establish a brand-new Mother and Child Care Center and to become Chief of the Division of Neonatology in 2017. He was appointed as Professor of Pediatrics at Weill Cornell Medicine – Qatar in 2018. He introduced family-centered care as a new standard in Qatar.
Because of the Covid-19 pandemic, he returned to Germany and joined the Dept. of Neonatology, Tübingen University, Germany in 2021, and became Chief of the Division of Neonatology and Pediatric Critical Care, Marburg, Germany in 2023.
His research interests are related to neonatal lung injury, mechanical ventilation, neonatal resuscitation, and to the effects of hypoxemic episodes in VLBWI. In recent years, his activities were focused on research activities related to quality of care as well. He led a multidisciplinary team to reduce the local rate of IVH and to improve neurodevelopmental outcome substantially.
He has been/is a member of many national and international scientific committees and a frequent peer reviewer for many scientific journals. He is a fellow of the American Academy of Pediatrics and a member of the European Society of Pediatric Research.
He is a strong advocate of family-centred care, based on “core principles such as dignity and respect for parents/families, information exchange, family participation in care, and cooperation on all levels needed”. He is very pleased to support EFCNI projects, especially related to improvements in quality of care with the ultimate goal to provide uniform standards and the best care possible for sick neonatal infants wherever they are born.
Senior Medical Director
Luc J. I. Zimmermann is Professor of Paediatrics and Neonatology at the Faculty of Health, Medicine & Life Sciences at Maastricht University since 2003. He also is a staff neonatologist and since 2005 Chief of the Division of Neonatology at the Academic Hospital Maastricht. From an early stage in his professional career he developed a distinct reserach interest on the development of the preterm lung, on which he did his PhD and continued his further research. In 2006 he became Chairman of the Department of Paediatrics and Division Leader in the Research Institute GROW (Oncology and Developmental Biology). He is past president of the European Society of Paediatric Research (ESPR). Since 2017, he is a member of the Trustee Board of EFCNI.
Project Manager for Maternal and Newborn Health
Verena Krause joined EFCNI in January 2023.
She holds a bachelor’s degree in Health Studies (Midwifery) from the University of Applied Sciences Vienna and a master’s degree in Gender Studies from the University of Vienna.
As part of her master’s thesis, Verena conducted a policy analysis of international family planning organizations, identifying the links that are being made between climate change and population. During various internships abroad, she witnessed how the effects of climate change directly affect neonatal and maternal health, and therefore developed a strong interest for the intersections of environmental and reproductive justice.
As a certified midwife, Verena is familiar with the needs of expectant parents and families, which is why optimising maternal and newborn health is very close to her heart. She is proud to be a part of EFCNI and its work in advancing the European Standards of Care for Newborn Health.
Senior Project Manager for Maternal and Newborn Health
Dr Sarah Lehmann joined EFCNI in October 2022.
Sarah has a strong scientific background in nutrition and biomedicine (M.Sc.). During her PhD she investigated complex interactions of human immune cells in the context of allergy prevention and breastfeeding. As scientific project manager, she worked at a WHO Supranational Reference Laboratory of tuberculosis managing operational research projects, including biosafety level 3 laboratory work as well as human clinical trials, helping to implement medical development aid projects worldwide. Before joining EFCNI, Sarah supported the certification of safe in vitro diagnostic tests as lead auditor for quality management systems and product assessor at an acknowledged Notified Body for medical devices.
As mother of young children, along with her scientific background and international professional experience, she is excited to contribute to EFCNI’s mission of improving healthcare for newborn children and supporting families by providing the best possible start in life.
Senior Communications Manager
Annika Brunck joined EFCNI in November 2020.
Annika Brunck holds a PhD in American Studies and a Master’s degree in British and North American Cultural Studies. She taught at university for several years and was the project manager for an international and interdisciplinary research network. She speaks German, English, Spanish, and some French, and has lived abroad.
As part of the corporate communications team, she supports the foundation in its goals of international networking and outreach, and wants to facilitate meaningful communication between the foundation, its partners and stakeholders as well as the broader general public.