Biography:
Mariano Votta is responsible for EU Affairs at the Italian NGO Cittadinanzattiva and is Director of its EU branch, “Active Citizenship Network." Passionate about health & consumer issues, Mariano has 25 years of experience in advocacy, stakeholder engagement, communication, European public affairs & EU-funded projects. Mariano holds a degree in political science and two postgraduate master's degrees in European public relations and corporate social responsibility. He is also a journalist with more than 50 publications in international peer-reviewed journals. He led the political initiative to launch in 2015 at the EU Parliament the interest group "EU Patients' Rights & Cross-Border Healthcare"—now at its third mandate—endorsed by more than 100 organizations across Europe and dozens of members of the European Parliament. In 2016, Mariano won the EFHRE International University Excellence Award for patients’ rights.
