Wednesday, June 25: General Assembly (15:00 CEST) & Evening Welcome Reception (18:30 CEST)
Location: Charité Campus Mitte (CCM)
09:30 - 12:30 ASPHER Executive Board (closed meeting)
15:00 - 15:30 General Assembly Delegate Registration
15:30 - 18:30 ASPHER General Assembly
Location: Charité Campus Mitte (CCM), Virchowweg 6 (CCO) Auditorium
The annual members only* Association business meeting will include the Presidential election, Executive Board elections and ASPHER 2030 strategy outline.
* Each full member institution in good standing is entitled to 1 vote; a maximum of 2 delegates will be admitted per member institution, full or associate.
18:30 - 20:30 Welcome Reception
The reception will be held outside the General Assembly room. All Retreat attendees welcome!
Thursday June 26: Conference Proceedings (09:00-17:30 CEST) & Gala Dinner (19:00 CEST)
Location: Charité Campus Mitte (CCM), Virchowweg 14, Lecture Hall 23
08:15 - 09:00 Conference Registration
09:00 - 09:10 Welcome & Introduction
09:10 - 10:30 SESSION ONE - PUBLIC HEALTH: BERLIN & GERMANY
Organised by Berlin SPH (BSPH) this session sets the scene with focus on the public health in Berlin and Germany. There will be insights from the political setting, public health education, and the through-line to the current day from Germany’s historical context.
Session Lead: Tobias Kurth, BSPH Board of Directors
Opening remarks
Ina Czyborra, Berlin Senator for Science, Health and Care (tbc)
Joachim Spranger, Charité Dean
Milestones for Public Health in Berlin
Reinhard Busse, BSPH Board of Directors
Germany's Schools of Public Health - Past, Present, and Future
Oliver Razum, Bielefeld University & Hajo Zeeb, German Public Health Association - DGPH
Keynote 1: The Lancet Commission on Medicine, Nazism, and the Holocaust: implications for an understanding of the history of public health in 20th century Germany and beyond
Volker Roelcke, Giessen University
10:30 - 11:00 Break
11:00 - 12:30 SESSION TWO - PUBLIC HEALTH: EUROPE
Organised in partnership with the European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies (OBS) the session builds and reflects on the country-focused session, presenting trending reforms on the European level, and involving ASPHER members that are part of the HSPM network.
Session Lead: Dimitra Panteli, OBS/TU Berlin
The work of the European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies and its relevance for Schools of Public Health
Ewout van Ginneken, OBS Director
The Health Systems and Policy Monitor (HSPM) network and its Health Reform Tracker
Katherine Polin, OBS/TU Berlin & Wilm Quentin, University of Bayreuth
Roundtable: Health systems and health reforms - how do we convey them to students?
Ewout van Ginneken, Wilm Quentin, Reinhard Busse, involving ASPHER members being part of HSPM network (tbc)
12:30 - 13:30 Lunch
13:30 - 15:00 SESSION THREE - PH WORKFORCE PROFESSIONALISATION
Organised in partnership with the World Health Organization Regional Office for Europe (WHO/Europe) and the European Public Health Association (EUPHA), the session offers an overview on implementation progress of the PHW Professionalisation Roadmap. The Public Health Professional Credentialing agenda under the ASPHER presidency 2025-2026 will be featured in the keynote address as a key professionalisation action underway.
Session Leads: Robert Otok, ASPHER Director
Roadmap to professionalizing the public health workforce in the European Region
Kasia Czabanowska, ASPHER Past President & Maastricht University
Emilia Aragón de León, WHO/Europe
Keynote 2: Public Health Certification Programme for Europe
Allison Foster, National Board of Public Health Examiners (NBPHE) President
Henrique Barros, ASPHER President & University of Porto
Expert panel reflections:
Tit Albreht, EUPHA President
Mary Codd, ASPHER Core Curriculum Programme (CCP) Lead & University College Dublin
Danko Relic, Agency for Public Health Education Accreditation (APHEA) Director
John Middleton, ASPHER Past President & University of Derby
Polychronis Kostoulas, University of Thessaly
Farhang Tahzib, Public Health Ethics and Law Network Convenor & UK Faculty of Public Health
ASPHER-EUPHA Memorandum of Understanding - signing ceremony
15:00 - 15:30 Break
15:30 - 17:30 SESSION FOUR - PH WORKFORCE PROFESSIONALISATION:
INTERFACE OF ACADEMIA, POLICY & PRACTICE I
Organised in partnership with the European Health Forum Gastein (EHFG), the session highlights real-world scenarios to illustrate the interface of academia with policy & practice. It will include partners' interventions, how ASPHER contributes, and members active on the topics of Emergencies & Health Security, Climate & Health, Vaccination, and Migration & Health; with an intriguing opening keynote address on Solidarity and Public Health.
Session Lead: Josep Figueras, EHFG/ASPHER Stampar Medalist 2006 & Robert Otok, ASPHER Director
Keynote 3: Solidarity in Public Health Practice and Teaching
Hagai Boas & Nadav Davidovitch, ASPHER PH Emergencies Task Force
Speakers in this session will include (20’ per topic):
Disasters and Hazard Emergencies & Health Security Resilience
Paul Barach, ASPHER Senior Lead on Emergencies & APHEA Board of Accreditation Chair
Virginia Murray, Head of Global Disaster Risk Reduction - UK Health Security Agency
Judit Simon, Medical University of Vienna & EU Advisory Committee on PH Emergencies
Climate & Health
Laurent Chambaud, ASPHER Senior Lead on Climate and Health
Eric Twomey, ASPHER Fellow on Climate and Health
Chiara Caddedu, Erasmus University Rotterdam & PHAM 2025
Vaccination
Alison McCallum, ASPHER Group Lead on Vaccination
Carlo Signorelli & Carlo Lunetti, VAX-Action Project - team Italy
Sibel Sakarya, Koç University Istanbul
Migration & Health
Chiaki Ito, Senior Regional Migration Health Specialist for Europe and Central Asia - International Organization for Migration (IOM)
Teresa Leão,University of Porto
Sónia Dias, NOVA University Lisbon & GSMERH 2025
17:30 Closing
18:15 meet on campus in front of Virchowweg 6 (CCO) for those who want to walk (40 minutes) to dinner location at Weilands Potsdamer Platz
19:00 - 22:30 Gala Dinner hosting ASPHER Awards 2025 Ceremony
Location: Weilands, Potsdamer Platz, Theaterufer
Celebrate the Gala Dinner with all members as we confer ASPHER’s annual awards: the Andrija Štampar Medal, ASPHER Research Excellence Award, ASPHER Teaching & Practice Excellence Award, and ASPHER Early Career Excellence Awards.
Friday June 27: Conference Proceedings (09:00-15:00 CEST) & Parallel Satellite Sessions (15:30 CEST)
Location: Charité Campus Virchow Klinikum (CVK), Forum 3, Hörsaal 3
09:00 - 09:10 Welcome & Introduction
09:10 - 10:30 SESSION FIVE - COLLABORATION BETWEEN SCHOOLS OF PUBLIC HEALTH (SPHs) AND NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF PUBLIC HEALTH (NIPHs): INTERFACE OF ACADEMIA, POLICY & PRACTICE II
Organised in partnership with the International Association of National Public Health Institutes (IANPHI) the session is focused on the collaborative interface between SPHs and NIPHs. The ongoing IANPHI-ASPHER collaboration on workforce development will be explored through the lens of health data needs to support policy & practice.
Session Leads: Johanna Hanefeld, Robert Koch Institute (RKI) & Vesna Bjegovic-Mikanovic, APHEA Board of Accreditation, ASPHER Past President and University of Belgrade
Introductory presentations on data related work from ASPHER, RKI & WHO Hub for Pandemic and Epidemic Intelligence by Avi Magid, ASPHER Group Lead on Health Data, Johanna Hanefeld, RKI & Catherine Smallwood, WHO Hub for Pandemic and Epidemic Intelligence
Roundtable of case studies to stimulate collaboration between SPHs & NIPHs
Geneviève Chêne, ISPED University of Bordeaux & Santé Publique France former Director General
Rok Hržič, Maastricht University & ASPHER Digital Transformations in PH Task Force Lead
Roman Topór-Mądry, Jagiellonian University Kraków & Polish HTA Agency Former President
Iñaki Imaz, ISCIII National School of Public Health - Spain
Nora Veselá, National Institute of Public Health - Czechia & Palacký University Olomouc
10:30 - 11:00 Break and Poster Walk
Exhibitors:
APHEA - Agency for Public Health Education Accreditation
PHR - Public Health Reviews
WCPH 2026 - 18th World Congress on Public Health, Cape Town - September 6-9 2026
Selected poster presentations (not covered otherwise in the programme) include:
EARLY Project - Providing Data and Knowledge on Mental Health and Opportunities for Mental Health in Youth
Resilience without Borders: Cultivating Mental Well-being and Suicide Prevention in Public Health students
WHO's Role in a Changing World: Why It Still Matters
WHO-supported implementation of the ASPHER CCP in Czechia
Alignment of the ASPHER Core Curriculum for Public Health with the WHO Global Competency & Outcomes Framework: A Case Study using Emergency Preparedness & Disaster Management
Curriculum Mapping of the Public Health Clerkship at the UAE University
The Interface of Academia with Policy & Practice through Internships
ASSETS Mentoring Summer School
This is Public Health (TIPH) Global Campaign
11:00 - 12:30 SESSION SIX - PUBLIC HEALTH: GLOBAL
Organised in partnership with the Global Network for Academic Public Health (GNAPH), the keynote address presents Public Health Diplomacy Labs as a powerful solution to prepare a cadre of public health professionals with capacity to comprehensively connect socio-political life through health and advocate for engagement across disciplines. A Deans’ & Directors' Panel will reflect on how the Public Health Diplomacy Lab model can be adapted for Europe and implemented at their institutions. ASPHER Next Generation Platform representatives will consider how Labs could meet the needs of Early Career Public Health Professionals.
The session will celebrate the handover of the GNAPH presidency.
Session Leads: Laura Magaña, Global Network for Academic Public Health & Josep Figueras, EHFG/OBS Director Emeritus
Keynote 4: Public Health Diplomacy & Schools of Public Health
Ashish Joshi, University of Memphis SPH Dean & ASPPH Board of Directors
Deans’ & Directors’ Panel:
Ramune Kalediene, Lithuanian University of Health Sciences
Antonio Sarría-Santamera, Nazarbayev University Astana
Vesna Bjegovic-Mikanovic, University of Belgrade
Martin McKee, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine
Ariane Bauernfeind, Andalusian School of Public Health
Next Generation Platform Panel:
Pedro Sebastião, Portugal
Lisa Wandschneider, Germany
Karl Conyard, Ireland
Ines Siepmann, United States
Brian Wong, United Kingdom
Stakeholders’ reflections:
Rodrigo Reis, ASSPH Global Committee Lead & Washington University in St. Louis
Marta Lomazzi, World Federation of Public Health Associations
Public Health Reviews Launch of Special Issue on Public Health Diplomacy
Christopher Woodrow, Swiss School of Public Health+ (SSPH+) Journals
WHO-GNAPH Memorandum of Understanding - signing ceremony
with Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus & James Campbell (videolink) for WHO
followed by GNAPH Presidency handover ceremony
Presentation by Laura Magaña, ASPPH President and CEO & Outgoing GNAPH President
Wrap up by John Middleton, ASPHER Past President & Incoming GNAPH President
12:30 - 14:00 Active lunch with campus walk including Robert Koch Institute (RKI) buildings and museum
14:00 - 14:30 SESSION SEVEN:
TOWARDS ASPHER 60TH ANNIVERSARY AND 2030 STRATEGY
This session is a walkthrough of the ASPHER strategy via a Next Generation Panel presenting key agenda priorities, demonstrating how ASPHER members may engage as we move toward ASPHER's 60th anniversary in 2026 and onward to 2030.
The session will be crowned by the ASPHER new interactive website launch to be followed by the afternoon website functionality hackathon.
Session Leads: Henrique Barros, ASPHER President & Robert Otok, ASPHER Director
Rok Hržič, Maastricht University & ASPHER Fellowship Programme Lead
Ines Siepmann, ASPHER Executive Board - Next Generation Representative
Website Launch & Invitation to Hackathon session
Emer Keane, ASPHER/University College Cork
14:30 - 15:00 CLOSING KEYNOTE
Keynote 5: Can we prevent the collapse of scientific publishing?
Nino Künzli, Swiss School of Public Health+ (SSPH+) Former Dean & SSPH+ Directorate representative of the independent not-for-profit SSPH+ Journals
15:00 Invitation to DD Milan 2026 & Closing by Chair
Fabrizio Pregliasco, University of Milan & Flavia Pennisi, Vita-Salute San Raffaele University Milan and APHEA Board of Accreditation - Next Generation Representative
Parallel Satellite Sessions (3 options)
15:45 - 17:45 Public Health and Equity: Strengthening Collaborative Networks
Location: Charité Campus Virchow Klinikum (CVK), Forum 3, Seminarraum 520
Equitable access to healthcare and improved health outcomes remain out of reach for many populations. This session brings together empirical and methodological research to examine health inequalities and develop strategies to protect vulnerable groups. Taken together, the contributions underscore the added value of cross-disciplinary and cross-border collaboration in advancing health equity.
Organiser: Prof Dr Oliver Razum
Moderators: Prof Dr Hajo Zeeb, Prof. Oliver Razum
In Search of the Grail: Achieving Equity in Sexual and Reproductive Health
Prof Dr Céline Miani
Psychosocial Well-being of Unwanted Migrants and Refugees in Europe: Insights from Nigerian Returnees
Prof Dr Chukwuedozie Ajaero
Rethinking Public Health Across the Digital Divide
Prof Dr Yudit Namer
The Other Others: Intersectional Aspects in Health Care Access for Patients with Trauma-Related Psychiatric Diagnosis
Alex Stern
Complex System Assessment: A Methodological Research Agenda to Unveil the Pathways from Social Determinants to Health Inequalities
Prof Dr Odile Sauzet
Navigating a Multi-Crisis Reality: Protecting Vulnerable Populations in Times of Conflict and War
Dr Stav Shapira
War and Peace in Public Health Education and Training
Dr Lisa Wandschneider
15:45 - 17:45+ HACKATHON
Location: Charité Campus Virchow Klinikum (CVK), Forum 3, Seminarraum 523
Building on concepts and ideas raised over the course of the Retreat, the purpose of the Hackathon will be to brainstorm on desired advanced functionalities for the new ASPHER website to enhance its interactivity, serve the needs of the academic public health community, tighten collaboration with partners in policy & practice, and engage with students, graduates and early career professionals.
16:30 - 18:00 Visit to the WHO Hub for Pandemic and Epidemic Intelligence
Location: Prinzessinnenstrasse 17-18, 10969 Berlin, Germany
You are warmly invited to join a tour of the WHO Hub for Pandemic and Epidemic Intelligence. We will provide a tour of WHO's premises here in Berlin, an overview of the global pandemic and epidemic intelligence landscape, and a description of the WHO Hub's role within that. We will also present our flagship initiatives, including our new vision of public health surveillance, our role in prioritizing and connecting research to practice, and our innovative applications of data science and AI to public health intelligence. The visit will include a Q&A with key WHO Hub staff and partners to encourage interaction and open discussion.
More info: https://pandemichub.who.int/
Saturday June 28: Morning Social Programme
10:00 Charité Campus Mitte (CCM), Medizinhistorisches Museum, Virchowweg 17
11:00 Meet in front of Medizinhistorisches Museum for city walk