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EUROPEAN PARKINSON'S DISEASE ASSOCIATION
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Administration board members

Knut-Johan Onarheim
Knut-Johan Onarheim
Susanna Lindvall
Susanna Lindvall
Mariella Graziano
Mariella Graziano
Ann Keilthy
Ann Keilthy
Amichai Arieli
Amichai Arieli
Branko Šmid
Branko Šmid
Stephen Pickard
Stephen Pickard
Andy Shaw
Andy Shaw
 

Elected October 2011

The Association is administered by a Board composed of a minimum of five and maximum of 10 members.

Board members are elected by the General Assembly for a term of three years and may be re-elected by the General Assembly at the end of their term (see Board Nominations and Election Criteria).

Knut-Johan Onarheim

Knut-Johan Onarheim

President

Elected President at the EPDA 2009 General Assembly, Knut-Johan has served as a Board member since 2005.

Knut-Johan's father had Parkinson's disease and as a result Knut-Johan became involved in the Norwegian Parkinson's Disease Association, joining as a board member in 1995. He was elected President of the association in 2001 and re-elected for a further 2-year term in 2011.

Born in Bergen, Norway, Knut-Johan graduated with a Law degree from the University of Oslo, Norway in 1976 and is now senior partner in the law firm Onarheim, Hartwig & Rindal Onarheim DA. Knut-Johan is married and is a father to three children.

Knut-Johan has over many years spent a great deal of his time as a Board Member of different associations for the disabled, both nationally and internationally.


Susanna Lindvall

Susanna Lindvall

Vice president

Susanna Lindvall (Sweden) was elected as Vice President of the European Parkinson's Disease Association (EPDA) at the General Assembly on October 10, 2005 in Dublin, Ireland.

She was born in Romania and has lived in Sweden since 1962 where she graduated as a B.Sc in organic chemistry at the University of Stockholm. She worked for many years as an information specialist at a dairy company, Arla Foods until her retirement in 2010.

From 1996 - 2002 she was President of the Swedish Parkinson's Disease Association (SPA) and since 2002 she has been a member of the SPA’s board and President of the Swedish Parkinson Foundation.

During 2001-2008 she was a Board member of the Arvid Carlson Foundation and since 2007, she has been a member of the Swedish Parkinson’s Academy steering group.

Mariella Graziano

Mariella Graziano

Treasurer

Elected as treasurer at the EPDA 2009 General Assembly, Mariella has also served three terms of office as Secretary.

She was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina and moved to Great Britain in the 80s, where she graduated as a physiotherapist. From the early 90s she worked as neuro-physiotherapist at the National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery, Queen Square, London, developing a special interest in movement disorders and Parkinson's disease. From the beginning she became aware of the importance of actively involving people with Parkinson's and their families in the understanding and management of their mobility difficulties in the context of a multidisciplinary team.

In 1997 she moved to Luxembourg where she married. She is currently the President of the APPDE (Association of Physiotherapists in Parkinson's Disease Europe).  Mariella has produced teaching material for people with Parkinson's and their families for both the APPDE and the EPDA. She also runs workshops throughout Europe and other parts of the world to address the specific mobility difficulties that affect people with Parkinson's and those who care for them.

Mariella has her own physiotherapy practice in the community, and since 2000 has worked closely with the Parkinson's Disease Association in Luxembourg, being elected vice president in 2008.


Ann Keilthy

Ann Keilthy

Member

Elected at the EPDA 2009 General Assembly, Ann loves the enthusiasm, the energy and the passion of the EPDA.

Born in 1952, Ann was diagnosed with Parkinson's in 1996. Since that time Ann has been actively and passionately involved in work of the Parkinsons Association of Ireland (PAI). She is a PAI Board member; a member of the PAI Management Team and the National Executive Committee, as well as holding the position of Chair of the (PALS) support group.

Married to Liam they have two daughters, and Ann’s interests include music, photography, painting/drawing and computers. The latter interest has helped tremendously with her work for the PAI including their newsletters, magazines and web design.

Amichai Arieli
Amichai Arieli

Amichai Arieli

Member

Elected as board member at the EPDA 2009 General Assembly, Ami was diagnosed with Parkinson's in 2000.

He joined the Israel Parkinson’s Association (IPA) in 2004 and elected to the IPA Board. Since that time he has been very active and a tower of strength to the organisation and its membership, and was elected in 2011 as IPA’s chairman of the control and ethics committee.

Born in 1944, Tel Aviv, Israel, Ami is married with 3 children and 7 grandchildren.

Branko Šmid

Branko Šmid

Specific projects relating to QoL [advisor]

EPDA Treasurer from 2003 - 2009, Branko has always been a strong advocate for recognizing and listening to the needs of people with Parkinson's and their families.

Branko served as President of the Slovenian PD Society 1996 - 2007 and under his leadership and guidance, the organisation changed in many ways: membership increased, offices for the organisation were secured and government funding obtained to support the organisations activities.

Born in Kranj, Slovenia in 1956 Branko studied electrotechnics, graduating in 1983. In 1986 he married Tatjana and celebrated the birth of daughter Anja. At the same time, he became aware of a tremor in his right hand. His diagnosis of Parkinson's was confirmed in 1989.


Tom Isaacs

Tom Isaacs

PD Community Liaison and Networking [Co-opted board member]

Tom was co-opted to the EPDA Board in October 2005 as Young Onset representative. He was diagnosed with Parkinson's at the young age of 27 and since then, has done everything he can to fight the condition, raise funds and heighten awareness.

Having completed a 1,250 mile walk from John O'Groats to Lands End and raised £40,000, in 2002 Tom left his job as director of a London property company to undertake his Coastin' challenge beginning in April of that year. By April 2003, Tom had walked 4,500 miles around the British coastline, climbed the highest mountains in England, Scotland and Wales and ran in the Flora London Marathon, raising over £350,000. In 2004 he was runner up in the GMTV/Daily Mirror Fundraiser of the Year Award and in 2005 he was elected Charity Personality of the Year. He is Co-Founder and Managing Director of The Cure Parkinson's Trust, formed in 2005. Since its inception, the Trust has allocated significant funds to research and believes it is making huge strides towards its goal.

Tom has written a book "Shake Well Before Use" about his walk and his experiences with Parkinson's and presents regularly about his condition both in the Parkinson's community and more widely, always emphasising his own perspective as a patient.

In June 2009, the Board agreed that Tom's experience would be better invaluable in forging new relationships across the Parkinson's Community in all sectors - research, media and political and his title was changed to PD Community Liaison and Networking

Stephen Pickard

Stephen Pickard

Legal Advisor

Stephen has supported the EPDA since 1993, and was the organisation's legal advisor from 2001 - 2006, at which time he became Interim President for twelve months and President from 2007 - 2009.

Stephen's father Sir Cyril Pickard had Parkinson’s and was treasurer of the UK Parkinson's Disease Society in the 1980s.

An English lawyer working in Brussels, Stephen has specialised in all the main areas of European law for over 25 years, practicing in London, New York, and for the past 24 years in Brussels. He has also published various articles on EU law. He is fluent in English, French and Spanish and is married with 3 children. He is a member of both L'Association Parkinson Belge and the Vlaamse Parkinson Liga vzw, Belgium.


Andy Shaw

Andy Shaw

Marketing Advisor

Andy has been working with the EPDA since October 2010 sharing his marketing expertise. Andy’s mother had Parkinson’s for over 20 years and following her death he contacted the EPDA to see if he could make a contribution to the EPDA and its work programme.

Originally from Ireland, Andy currently lives in Madrid, Spain with his family, where he is managing director of Red Bull Spain and Area Manager for Iberia. He has spent the majority of his career in all aspects of management, with a focus on brand marketing and commercial understanding.