We’re proud to announce that Denis Costello has recently been appointed as the first Executive Director of the CML Advocates Network, the global umbrella organisation dedicated to empowering patient leaders in Chronic Myeloid Leukemia (CML).
Denis comes to our CML family from EURORDIS, Rare Diseases Europe, where he worked since 2008 as the organisation’s Online Communications Manager.
During that time he has led the launch and operation of RareConnect, a global, multilingual social network for patients and families living with rare diseases (see www.rareconnect.org) which saw him work with over 1000 patient organisations of all sizes and from all over the world who now use the platform to host their online patient communities.
Denis was also part of the initial team which oversaw the online awareness campaign around Rare Disease Day (held on the last day of February, see www.rarediseaseday.org). Rare Disease Day now enjoys an active participation from over 90 countries. He also launched the EURORDIS Digital School, a capacity-building program for patient representatives, to build their skills in the use of digital technologies in their daily advocacy work. His international advocacy experience also saw Denis work with the Spanish Federation for Rare Diseases (FEDER) in several meetings involved in the founding of ALiBER an intercontinental advocacy alliance between Spain, Portugal and Central and South American rare disease federations to further the cause of people living with a rare disease in these countries.
As Executive Director of CML Advocates Network Denis looks forward to bringing his experience in these areas to our work and also to support and grow existing and new projects which can serve the network’s members. Please take a moment to watch the “Denis Costello, Introducing the Executive Director” video here:
Denis is a regular speaker at international conferences, for example at the WECAN Academy, the European Hematology Association Congress, the ECCO Summit, the EULAR congress, the ESMO congress and the Skeletal Care Academy.
Denis represents EURORDIS and the CML Advocates Network on the Steering Committee of the European Patient Innovation Summit, an international event which in 2018 brought together over 250 patient groups from 13 countries to learn about the impact of digitalization on the patient experience.
Besides being an 11-year veteran in patient advocacy, Denis holds a Masters in Multimedia Technology from Trinity College, Dublin, and has specialized in high-level fundraising for non-profit organisations.
Prior career experiences include running his own technology firm while also presenting his favorite classical music on Irish national radio.
