Baiba Ziemele

Baiba Ziemele is a passionate patient advocate from Latvia. She has trasformed her training in business administration and research to help neglected communities, such as rare diseases and patients in general, to be heard. Living with inherited bleeding disorder, von Willebrand disease, she has been heavily involved in advocacy, becoming president of Latvia Hemophilia Society in 2009, representing European community with bleeding disorders as ePAG in EuroBloodNet, European Reference Network for rare hematological diseases, engaging in various committees at World Federation of Hemophilia and European Haemophilia Consortium. With her effort as chairwoman of Latvian Alliance of Rare Diseases, the organization grew tremendously and new opportunities became reality under Rare Disease policy planning in Latvia and in Europe. Since 2018, Baiba is also building Latvian Network of Patient Organizations to bring united patient voice and represent patient interests at various tables. In 2022, Baiba was among nominees for Women's award "Liesmas balva" by Women’s NGOs Cooperation Network in Latvia and received Human Development award for outstanding contribution to health from Civic Alliance Latvia and US Embassy in Latvia.