Tatsiana Pikirenia is a public health specialist and harm reduction advocate with over a decade of fulfilling experience. She currently serves as Scoping, Engagement and Resource Development Lead at Knowledge-Action-Change, supporting the Global Tobacco Harm Reduction Initiative. Tatsiana previously led the Belarusian NGO “Positive Movement,” where she managed national programmes focused on HIV prevention, drug harm reduction, and social support for stigmatised communities, including people who use drugs and formerly incarcerated women. Her work has involved strategic planning, partnership building, and advocacy at both national and international levels. She has contributed to research on peer support, treatment adherence, and innovative approaches to sexual and reproductive health education. Tatsiana is committed to science-based, humane interventions that promote health equity and empower communities. Her ongoing efforts aim to close the gap between public health evidence and real-world implementation across the EECA region.

Gennady Roshchupkin has been working in the field of HIV and community systems strengthening for more than 30 years. He started in 1991 in Russia, in a local gay group called “We and You”, cooperated with national and international organizations as AIDS Infoshare, AFEW, UNICEF, and UNODC. Since 2007, his activities have been focussed on the regional level. He first served as Programme Coordinator for the Eurasian Harm Reduction Network, and since 2014 has been working in the Eurasian Coalition on Male Health (ECOM), of which he was one of the founders. Providing technical support to key population networks, to ensure their access to knowledge, skills, technologies, and financial resources, he has served almost all PLHIV and key populations’ national and regional networks in the region.

Uladzimir Pikirenia, MD, PhD, is a psychiatrist and researcher specialising in social psychiatry and substance use disorders. He practises at the Psychiatric Hospital in Frombork, Poland. Started his work from the Minsk City Clinical Centre of SUD, he went to Department of Psychiatry and Medical Psychology in University and in nine years rising to associate professor after defending his dissertation on methadone maintenance treatment. He later headed the Neuromodulation Department of a mental-health clinic and worked in Bukhara State Medical Institute (Uzbekistan). Dr. Pikirenia has led policy and training projects on opioid-agonist treatment with NGOs and served as an expert for UNAIDS, WHO, UNDP and UNODC. Author of more than 35 publications, his work addresses adherence to opioid agonist maintenance treatment, psychosocial interventions and smoking cessation in vulnerable groups. He is also an active science communicator, promoting psychiatric knowledge through mainstream and social media.

Giorgi Mzhavanadze is an Economist specializing in macroeconomics, health economics, and behavioural economics. He currently works as an independent consultant, collaborating with a range of international research institutions. His professional background includes serving as Senior Research Associate at TBC Capital and Deputy Head of the International School of Economics in Georgia. Since 2017, Giorgi has been actively involved in tobacco research, with a focus on policy-relevant economic and public health issues related to tobacco control and harm reduction across Eastern Europe and Central Asia.

Guzalkhon Zakhidova is a psychotherapist and Ph.D. candidate at Bukhara State Medical Institute, currently practicing at the City Psychoneurological Dispensary in Tashkent. Her research and clinical work focus on mental health, drug use, and the health of vulnerable populations. Ms. Zakhidova’s Ph.D. project examines the medical and social dimensions of new psychoactive substance use among youth in Uzbekistan through qualitative methods. She has also participated in the international SOLID project (Frankfurt University of Applied Sciences), and contributes to a regional study on methamphetamine use in Central Asia coordinated by CADAP. In addition to her academic work, she actively provides psychological rehabilitation for people living with HIV and individuals with mental disorders. She is a published author on HIV and NGO work in Uzbekistan and is currently involved in a project addressing tobacco harm among people who use drugs.

Sergey Bessonov is a project coordinator at the “Attika” Public Foundation in Kyrgyzstan. The organization's mission is to provide social assistance and reintegration of stigmatized population groups into society, promote harm reduction programs for people who use drugs. Sergei participates in the development of public policy and strategy for prevention and treatment of drug use, HIV, TB, HCV and other socially significant diseases among vulnerable groups. An economist and sociologist by education, Sergey coordinates the work of country-wide projects of great importance. The latest example of advocacy success is implementation of Naloxone programme to tackle opiate overdoses in Kyrgyzstan.

Dr McGovern qualified in Medicine in 1995 from Trinity College Dublin and has worked as a GP specialising in the treatment of substance misuse since the implementation of the methadone treatment protocol in 1998. He is Medical Director of the Priority Medical Clinic, a private addiction treatment programme located in South County Dublin. In January 2022 he was appointed Clinical Lead for the HSE Addiction Services in Louth Meath & The Midlands. Dr McGovern holds a Master’s degree in Clinical and Public Health Aspects of Addiction from The National Addiction Centre, King’s College London, is a Diplomate of the International Society of Addiction Medicine (ISAM) and holds a Professional Diploma in Clinical Leadership from the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland. He is also one of the first members of the International Doctors for Healthy Drug Policies (IDHDP),an international group of medical addiction experts aiming to promote sensible drug policies. Dr McGovern is also a member of the Irish Chapter of the New Nicotine Alliance.