The Board of Directors is responsible for managing GFCNI’s day-to-day operations and implementing the strategic vision set by the Executive and Trustee Boards. Comprising four members – including the two Executive Board members, the Senior Medical Director, and the Director of Administration and Operations – the Board ensures that all activities align with the foundation’s mission.
This team develops and implements management policies, oversees daily operations, and ensures the proper allocation of resources. By handling the practical aspects of nonprofit management, the Board of Directors keeps GFCNI running smoothly and efficiently. The Board plays a crucial role in translating the foundation’s vision into action, ensuring its goals are met each day.
Chairwoman of the Executive Board and Member of the Trustee Board
Silke Mader is the Co-Founder and Chairwoman of the Global Foundation for the Care of Newborn Infants (GFCNI),Chairwoman of the Executive Board (“vertretungsberechtigter Vorstand” in German), and a member of the Trustee Board. A dedicated advocate for maternal and newborn health, she has spent over two decades working to improve care for preterm and sick infants and their families worldwide.
Her commitment to neonatal care stems from personal experience. In 1997, her twins were born at just 25 weeks, and due to inadequate care, one of them tragically passed away. Facing a lack of support, public awareness, and accessible information, she became determined to change the system.
She began her advocacy in 1999, first leading a local parent group in Munich, then becoming Chairwoman of the German umbrella organization “The Preterm Born Child e.V.” in 2003. She later left her teaching career – where she specialized in linguistic support for migrant children and remedial education – to co-found EFCNI (European Foundation for the Care of Newborn Infants), the first pan-European organization dedicated to neonatal health. Under her leadership, EFCNI has now evolved into GFCNI, reflecting a global approach to improving newborn care.
Silke has been instrumental in developing international standards for newborn care and collaborating with organizations such as the World Health Organization. She has worked alongside healthcare professionals and policymakers to drive awareness, influence policy, and create resources for families.
Her work has earned her numerous honors, including:
She has also served as an Honorary Lecturer at the School of Nursing and Midwifery, Queen’s University Belfast, Northern Ireland, since 2014.
As Chairwoman of GFCNI, she continues to advocate for every baby to receive the right care at the right time in the right place.
Nicole Thiele is the Vice Chair of the Executive Board at GFCNI (“vertretungsberechtigter Vorstand” in German). The Executive Board serves as the external legal representative for the foundation.
Nicole joined EFCNI in early 2010. She holds a diploma as European Secretary/ESA and speaks German, English, French, and Spanish. Nicole earned her university degree in Economics, Management, and Business Administration and graduated as a certified Specialist in Public Affairs from Quadriga University. She further enhanced her expertise by completing the European Patient’s Academy on Therapeutic Innovation (EUPATI) Patient Training Course on Medicines Research and Development, becoming a EUPATI Fellow in 2018. Her years in Paris provided her with extensive experience in various roles within multinational companies.
On a personal level, Nicole is deeply committed to preventing preterm birth and advancing individualized, developmentally supportive care along with parental empowerment. Having experienced the challenges of an extremely preterm birth in her own family over 40 years ago, she is passionate about giving every baby the best possible start in life.
Nicole is also an accomplished writer, serving as author, co-author, and co-editor of various informational materials, brochures, fact sheets, articles, and reports on topics related to maternal and newborn health.
Director, Administration and Operations
Aurelia Abenstein joined EFCNI in April 2016.
Aurelia has a diploma as a Foreign Language and Event Assistant and holds a university degree in Geography. She has substantial international experience, having lived, studied, and worked abroad for several years, and speaks English and Spanish. Before joining GFCNI, Aurelia worked as the Head of Administration in an international environmental consultancy.
Aurelia aims to live in a socially and environmentally sustainable way and is therefore committed to supporting GFCNI in its mission to improve the well-being of mothers and newborns, not only in Europe but across the globe.
Senior Medical Director
Professor Helmut D. Hummler, MD, MBA, joined GFCNI on September 1, 2024.
He graduated in 1986 from the medical school of the University of Tübingen, Germany. After completing his residency in Pediatrics in Germany, he received training in Neonatology from 1992 to 1995 under Eduardo Bancalari, M.D., at the Division of Neonatology, Department of Pediatrics, Jackson Memorial Medical Center, University of Miami, Florida, USA.
After returning to Germany, he joined the staff of the Division of Neonatology and Pediatric Critical Care at the Children’s Hospital, University of Ulm, Germany, in 1996, where he became Division Chief in 2005. He earned his MBA and became a Professor of Pediatrics in 2006 and Vice-Chair of the Department of Pediatrics in 2008.
He joined the faculty at Sidra Medicine in Doha, Qatar, to help establish a brand-new Mother and Child Care Center and to serve as Chief of the Division of Neonatology in 2017. He was appointed Professor of Pediatrics at Weill Cornell Medicine – Qatar in 2018, and introduced family-centered care as a new standard in Qatar.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, he returned to Germany and joined the Department of Neonatology at the University of Tübingen in 2021, and became Chief of the Division of Neonatology and Pediatric Critical Care in Marburg, Germany in 2023.
His research interests include neonatal lung injury, mechanical ventilation, neonatal resuscitation, and the effects of hypoxemic episodes in very low birth weight infants (VLBWI). In recent years, his work has focused on research related to quality of care as well. He led a multidisciplinary team to reduce the local rate of intraventricular hemorrhage (IVH) and to substantially improve neurodevelopmental outcomes.
He is a member of numerous national and international scientific committees and a frequent peer reviewer for many scientific journals. He is a fellow of the American Academy of Pediatrics and a member of the European Society of Pediatric Research.
He is a strong advocate of family-centered care, based on core principles such as dignity and respect for parents and families, open information exchange, family participation in care, and cross-level cooperation. He is very pleased to support GFCNI projects, particularly those related to improvements in quality of care, with the ultimate goal of providing uniform standards and the best possible care for sick neonatal infants wherever they are born.
GFCNI is the first global organization and network to unite patients, families, healthcare professionals,
medical staff, and scientists from different disciplines, fields,
and countries – all with the joint goal of advancing the health and quality of care for newborns and their families across the globe.
GFCNI is a non-profit organization established under German public law. Tax Reference Number: 143/235/22619
GFCNI
Hofmannstr 7a
Munich
Germany
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