Emily E. Anderson is Professor of Bioethics at the Neiswanger Institute for Bioethics and Healthcare Leadership, Stritch School of Medicine, Loyola University Chicago; and Director of the Loyola University Chicago–Ukrainian Catholic University International Bioethics Research Training Programme. Her research, scholarship and teaching focus on topics related to research ethics, with an emphasis on the meaningful inclusion of underserved populations and community-engaged approaches in research.

Since 2020, she has been directing the Loyola University Chicago–Ukrainian Catholic University International Bioethics Research Training Programme, funded by the US National Institutes of Health Fogarty International Centre. This programme supports Ukrainian doctors and scientists in completing their doctoral degrees at Loyola. Whilst living and working in Ukraine, they undertake online courses focusing on the ethics of responsible research. Emily is currently a member of the board of directors of Public Responsibility in Medicine & Research (PRIM&R) and Associate Editor of *Narrative Inquiry in Bioethics*. 

Eveline van de Putte is a writer, photographer, trainer, and storyteller specializing in diversity and inclusion. She has written several books about queer seniors, and is the founder of Tour d’Amour, a theatre program based on the life stories of queer seniors. Founded in 2014, this unique, interactive musical program for queer seniors travels throughout the Netherlands and celebrated its 350^th performance in October 2025. 

Eveline has created several podcasts and video portraits of transgender seniors. She regularly gives lectures about sexual and gender diversity in high schools and universities and trains professionals working in, for example, senior care, education, and welfare. Eveline uses art to turn taboo topics into opportunities for open discussion as a manifestation of her commitment to giving voice to invisible groups. 

Kimberly R. Myers is Professor of Humanities, Medicine and Ophthalmology, and a Distinguished Educator at Penn State College of Medicine. As a teacher-scholar trained in the liberal arts tradition, Kimberly’s core passions are teaching, one-to-one mentoring and curriculum design. In 2009, she launched the ongoing Penn State Physician Writers Group, whose 60 participants (as of 2026) have published 94 articles in leading medical journals, including the *New England Journal of Medicine* and *JAMA*.

Kimberly’s research focuses on the sociocultural dimensions of illness, Graphic Medicine, Medical Ethics and Medical Education. She is the author or author-editor of seven books and co-editor of the ‘Medical Humanities: Criticism & Creativity’ book series published by Peter Lang Oxford. She lectures internationally, and her work has been supported by the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Arnold P. Gold Foundation for humanism in healthcare. Kimberly is a member of the National Screening Committee for Fulbright Research Awards. 

Marie-Louise Kok is a learning specialist at the Leyden Academy on Vitality & Ageing in Leiden, the Netherlands. Her work focuses on the design and implementation of innovative learning programmes and content, addressing themes related to ageing, health, and lifelong learning. With a professional background in publishing, online marketing, and educational innovation, Marie-Louise has over two decades of experience developing digital learning initiatives and educational platforms. She has been closely involved in creating (large-scale online) courses, aimed at promoting health literacy. Her approach combines instructional design, digital technology, and learner-centred methodologies, often drawing on experimentation and iterative development strategies. Through her work at Leyden Academy, Marie-Louise contributes to disseminating scientific knowledge on ageing to professionals, policymakers, and (older) citizens.

Olesya Vynnyk is a Ukrainian physician and healthcare manager. Olesya is dedicated to strengthening the national healthcare system and expanding educational opportunities for Ukrainian healthcare professionals. She is presently enrolled in the doctoral program in bioethics at Loyola University Chicago. Her current work focuses on fostering effective collaboration with combat medics and supporting civilian hospitals operating near the frontline.

Olesya’s key areas of expertise include ethical governance in wartime healthcare, medical diplomacy, and the advancement of quality and patient safety standards in Ukraine. She is Chair of the Board of the SHCH-Ukraine and a fellow of the International Society for Quality in Healthcare. She previously served as Coordinator of Medical Initiatives for the Ukrainian World Congress.

Tineke A. Abma is Professor ‘Arts in Health’ in the School for Health Policy and Management at the Erasmus University in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. She is also Professor ‘Participation of Older People’ in the Department of Public Health & Primary Care at Leiden University Medical Centre, and Executive Director of Leyden Academy of Vitality and Ageing in Leiden. 

Tineke’s main publications center around Public Health, Bioethics, User Involvement, Patient Participation, Responsive Evaluation and Qualitative Methodologies. Since 2019 she is active in the field of Arts & Health and has published on the meaning of the arts for people’s health and well-being. Her international books include Evaluation for a Caring Society (IAP Press, 2018) and Participatory Research for Health and Social Well-Being (Springer Nature, 2019).  

Nova de Hoo is a comic artist who wants to preserve the traditional elements of fun and irony in her comics, whilst also addressing social issues with care and sensitivity. She knows this is quite a difficult cocktail, and she doesn’t think she’ll ever fully get there!

She loves comics with her whole heart. Just like animation they are so incredibly concrete, and there’s no need to discuss a good comic because you don’t have to guess what it’s trying to convey, it’s just right there on the page.

As someone who is incredibly bad with abstraction and subjectivity, she loves the down-to-earth vibe that comics have. Currently she is writing a fictional story based on experiences she’s had in South Africa, hanging out with sex workers in Johannesburg and in doing so learning a bit about their struggles and dreams. In general she is drawn to feminist themes, and loves to write a little about her own experiences as a gay woman.

Judith Vanistendael (1974, Leuven) is a Dutch-speaking Belgian comics author, illustrator, and teacher in comics art. She also worked for a time as a children’s book illustrator.

Her breakthrough came in 2007 with the publication of La Jeune fille et le nègre, an autobiographical story in two volumes about the love between a young Togolese and a young Belgian. In 2012, Vanistendael published Toen David zijn stem verloor (David, women and death), whose hero is suffering from cancer and undertakes to change his life. In 2019, inspired by the character of Penelope in the Odyssey, Vanistendael delivered Les Deux Vies de Pénélope, where a doctor mother engages in humanitarian work and distances herself from her family, especially her daughter. (Wikipedia)

Octavia Roodt is a South African artist and researcher based in Belgium. A love of comics lured her away from the sunshine of her homeland to a residency in Angoulême, where she discovered an incredible range of visual storytelling and a healthy dose of culture shock. Somewhere along the way, Flanders stole her heart.

These days, she has laid her pen at the feet of a PhD at KU Leuven and LUCA School of Arts, where she works with a brilliant multidisciplinary team at the intersection of communication sciences, health humanities, care and ecological thinking. Together, they explore how comics can help people living with dementia share stories, memories and experiences. Her work is guided by the belief that drawing can open conversations that words alone cannot.

Dragana Radanović is a Serbian comics artist, researcher, and lecturer based in Belgium. Born in Yugoslavia shortly before its dissolution, she grew up in a place whose borders changed several times without her ever leaving home. From birth to adulthood, she lived in four different countries while remaining in the same hometown. It is a peculiar kind of migration: belonging to a generation that travelled without moving, born in one country and raised in several. Nearly a decade ago, she moved to Belgium, adding another layer to a life shaped by shifting histories and ideas of belonging.

Perhaps this is why she is drawn to stories that ask difficult questions. Through comics and visual storytelling, she explores themes such as childhood, memory, war, migration, and the ways individual lives become entangled with larger social and political histories. She enjoys drawing as a way of illustrating ideas, but even more as a way of thinking through them. It is also an activity that regularly results in strange facial expressions and a complete loss of awareness of time.

Dragana completed a PhD in the Arts exploring how childhood during times of war can be approached through drawing and visual narrative. The resulting graphic novel, What Should We Tell Them?, will be published by Ça et Là later this year. During the early stages of the project, a residency at the Maison des Auteurs in Angoulême provided the time and space for the story to take shape.

Today, she is a researcher at KU Leuven, a lecturer at LUCA School of Arts, and a co-founder of Comic-Aunties (Stripotetke), an initiative supporting less visible comic artists in Serbia. When she draws, the world disappears for a while. She thinks that’s nice.