Louise Bouman elected new chair of ELF United Patient Advisory Committee

The new UPAG chair will be Louise Bouman from the Pulmonary Hypertension PAG. Louise will take over in September from current chair Helen Parks, whose three-year mandate is coming to an end. 

A decade of patient advocacy work 

As well as being part of the ELF Pulmonary Hypertension PAG, Louise is president of the Dutch Pulmonary Hypertension Foundation and board member of the Alliance for Pulmonary Hypertension. She has many years of experience as a patient advocate and previously worked as a dental hygienist and healthcare product manager. 

In her candidate statement for the election, Louise said, “The combination of knowing what it means to live with a serious lung condition, and refusing to let that define what I can contribute has shaped my approach to patient advocacy over the past decade…I know how to make the patient voice heard in settings that were not originally designed with patients in mind…One of the things I care most about is preventing silos — between conditions, between communities, between disciplines. Challenges like breathlessness do not belong to one disease; they belong to all of us.” 

A pleasant surprise 

The election had a high level of participation from PAG members, who had four candidates to choose from. Louise said, “Learning the outcome came as a genuine and very pleasant surprise. I feel deeply honoured that the PAG members have placed their trust in me, and I will do my very best to live up to that confidence.” Louise also paid tribute to the outgoing chair, Helen, saying, “Her dedication, leadership, and commitment to UPAG has been truly remarkable, and I know her shoes will be very hard to fill. I look forward to working closely with her in the period ahead!” 

Learn more 

You can find out more about the work of the ELF PAGs, including how to get involved, at: Patient Advisory Groups – European Lung Foundation. 

You can find details of the UPAG at: Meet the ELF team – European Lung Foundation.