20 Years of Expertise

Biljana Kakaraskoska Boceska

Dr. Biljana Kakaraskoska Boceska started in LAB-Net as deputy coordinator for North Macedonia. When the opportunity appeared, she joined the core COMBACTE LAB-Net team as medical microbiologist and researcher. Now, she is responsible for assessing local laboratories performance all over Europe, conducting tailored trainings when needed, and providing technical and operational support for these laboratories.

From Law to European Project Management

Almudena de la Serna Bazán

Almudena de la Serna Bazán has been a Project Manager in COMBACTE since 2015. She has been coordinating an array of studies; mainly COMBACTE-CARE’s EURECA, but also COMBACTE-NET’s currently active studies ARTHR-IS, EXPECT 1, and earlier ASPIRE-ICU, ASPIRE-SSI, and ANTICIPATE. Almudena is part of Dr. Jesús Rodríguez Baño’s team at the Infectious diseases Unit at Hospital Universitario Virgen Macarena (HUVM) in Seville.

From Start To Finish

Frank Leus - Data Management

“Frank Leus is Data Management Coordinator at the University Medical Center Utrecht. He coordinates data management tasks within large European projects. This includes everything related to data collection, facilitating the start-up of new studies, the development of data management plans and reports, and offering advice on data management-related questions.”

Crossing Borders and Generating an International Network

Reinaldo Espindola - Hospital Universitario de Valme in Seville

Reinaldo Espindola joined COMBACTE-NET three years ago as a medical coordinator and lead in the WP9 ARTHR-IS study. ARTHR-IS (Arthroplasties’ infections due to Staphylococcus aureus) aims to characterize the frequency of prosthetic joint infections due to Staphylococcus aureus, and using a case-control methodology, to identify the risk factors for these infections and the predictors of treatment failure.

Fits Like a Glove

Sebastiaan Hullegie - UMC Utrecht

Sebastiaan Hullegie is Associate Program Manager in the European Project Group (EUPG) at UMC Utrecht, which involves the COMBACTE project. He has managed COMBACTE-NET’s ASPIRE-ICU and currently manages HONEST-PREPS. He was also project manager for studies within the PREPARE and RECOVER consortia and various stand-alone projects for the UMC Utrecht.

One Team, One Goal

Drieke Vandamme: Project Management Office Lead

Drieke Vandamme (University Medical Center Limoges, France) has been the Project Management Office Lead of COMBACTE-MAGNET, Clinical project manager for the SAATELLITE and EVADE studies and a part of the COMBACTE-NET Project Management Office (PMO) since 2013.