BRUSSELS – Monday 11 May 2020
At today’s COCIR General Assembly, coordinated from Brussels, Bernt Bieber was elected as the new COCIR President, with a mandate of four years. Dr Bieber succeeds Dr Jan Kimpen, who held the post since 2018. Bernt is currently Senior Vice-President, Direct Sales with Siemens Healthineers, where he has held a series of management roles during the last 30 years.
Outgoing COCIR President and Chief Medical Officer at Philips, Dr Jan Kimpen who will continue to be represented on the Board said: “It has been an honour to hold this position for the past two years. It has been time of considerable progress for our industry and our sectors. I believe Bernt Bieber is the right person at the right time to fill this role going forward and wish him success”.
Accepting his appointment, Bernt Bieber said; “I am inheriting the position of President at a time when COCIR’s work has put the industry in a crucial, and more influential position, than ever before. This has allowed us to show the best of our industry as we do all that we can to assist in tackling the COVID-19 crisis. This will remain our primary focus for the immediate future.”
He continued; “Once the crisis has abated, we will turn our attention to the lessons learned from this unprecedented pandemic, as well as our mid- and longer-term priorities. We will continue to champion the value of our sectors in the early identification of disease, increasing the sustainability of healthcare systems. We will also ensure that we persist in our efforts to correctly position COCIR at the centre of the digital health revolution. This will allow us to play a leading role in driving the effective use of health data, the deployment of AI in healthcare settings and in making interoperability and cybersecurity a priority. Of primary importance in current circumstances of COVID-19, we must rethink on how our healthcare systems can remain sustainable – ensuring value in healthcare will be more important than ever”.
COCIR Secretary General Nicole Denjoy thanked Jan Kimpen for his high-level competencies and leadership over the last two years. She said “Jan has provided us with a solid foundation for COCIR at a time when healthcare has been undergoing rapid and dramatic change. He demonstrated his leadership in coordinating our early response to COVID-19 crisis, and we thank him for that. I agree with him that Bernt is definitely the right person to build on this work and guide us through the post-pandemic health landscape. He will confront the mid- and long-term challenges facing our industry and ensure our members’ innovations continue to help save lives”.
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About COCIR
COCIR is the European Trade Association representing the medical imaging, radiotherapy, health ICT and electromedical industries. Founded in 1959, COCIR is a non-profit association headquartered in Brussels (Belgium) with a China Desk based in Beijing since 2007. COCIR is unique as it brings together the healthcare, IT and telecommunications industries.
For more information, contact:
Nicole Denjoy
COCIR Secretary General
Tel: +32 (0)2 706 8961
Colin Mackay
COCIR Communications Senior Advisor
Tel: +32 (0) 473 43 07 52