Pregnancy Complications
Infant- and Family-Centered Developmental Care
Neonatal Eye Health
Hygiene
Rare Diseases
The Executive Board is the guiding body of GFCNI, responsible for representing the foundation to the outside world in both legal and practical matters. Comprising two members, it provides strategic leadership and oversees the foundation’s overall direction. The Executive Board is tasked with developing management policies, guiding the organization’s long-term planning, and ensuring that resources are used responsibly to achieve the foundation’s mission. It also oversees the allocation of funds, approves major projects, and reports annually to the Trustee Board on the foundation’s activities and financial stewardship.
Serving in an honorary capacity, the members of the Executive Board do not receive any salary or compensation for their role. Their primary focus is large-scale planning and setting the vision and strategies that drive GFCNI forward.
Director, Administration and Operations and Special Representative of GFCNI pursuant to § 12 sec. 3 of the Foundation Statutes and § 30 BGB (“Besondere Vertretung von GFCNI” in German)
Aurelia Abenstein joined GFCNI (then 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 what is now 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.
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.
Vice Chair of the Executive Board and Member of the Trustee Board
PD Dr. Dietmar Schlembach serves as the volunteer Vice Chair of GFCNI’s Executive Board (“vertretungsberechtigter Vorstand im Ehrenamt” in German). The Executive Board acts as the foundation’s legal representative.
Dr. Schlembach is an expert in Maternal-Fetal Medicine and Obstetrics. Since May 2014, he has served as Head of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Vivantes Clinic Berlin-Neukölln.
His expertise lies in the management and treatment of pregnancy complications, including hypertensive disorders and intrauterine growth restriction, as well as prenatal diagnosis and therapy. His clinical and research focus includes screening, diagnosis, and treatment of hypertensive disorders in pregnancy, intrauterine growth restriction, preterm birth, and fetal abnormalities.
Dr. Schlembach is an active leader in the field and currently serves as a board member of the German Society of Gynecology and Obstetrics, as well as secretary of both the Working Group on Obstetrics and Prenatal Medicine of the German Society of Obstetrics and Gynecology and the German Society for Prenatal and Obstetric Medicine.
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
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