Ovidiu Popa-Velea is Professor in Medical Psychology, at the “Carol Davila” University of Medicine and Pharmacy in Bucharest. He is a graduate of the Faculty of Medicine and of the Faculty of Psychology in Bucharest and earned an MA degree at the New School University in New York (2003), as a Fulbright Alumnus. His academic formation includes the licensure in Cognitive-Behavioural Therapy (2010) and the Ph.D. in Medicine (2008). He has been an expert or member of the research team in four other research projects and has been the director of the recently finished Erasmus+ project BENDiT-EU dedicated to academic burnout. He has published research papers on topics such as burnout, academic stress, coping, and adherence, and was the editor of the Behavioral Sciences in Medicine textbook, published in English (2013). Since 2003, he has been a member of the committee of selection at the Fulbright Commission Romania. Since 2011, he has been the Head of the Department of Medical Psychology at the Faculty of Medicine, “Carol Davila” University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Bucharest.
Iuliana-Raluca Gheorghe is Senior Lecturer in Health Care Marketing and Medical Technology at the Faculty of Medicine, “Carol Davila” University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Bucharest, Romania and an Erasmus+ Ambassador for Romania. She was a project manager in a POSDRU project (2009-2012) and she was responsible with the implementation of the Erasmus+ BENDiT-EU project (2020-2023). She holds a BA degree in Cybernetics, MA in Marketing and Business Communications, a second MA in Organizational Psychology and the Management of Human Resources and a Ph.D. in Marketing. Her research interests include health care consumers, organizational culture, sustainability, organizational psychology, and Social Marketing reflected in more than 15 scientific articles and book chapters.
Alexandra Ioana Mihăilescu is a Lecturer in Medical Psychology at the Carol Davila University of Medicine and Pharmacy (CDUMP) in Bucharest. She is a senior psychiatrist at the Clinical Hospital of Psychiatry “Prof. dr. Alexandru Obregia” in Bucharest and holds a Ph.D. in Medicine. Dr. Mihailescu was involved in the treatment of psychiatric patients with a variety of psychiatric disorders, which necessitated empathetic communication in a variety of challenging clinical settings. Dr. Mihailescu undergoes annual training in the clinical interviewing of patients with schizophrenia, major depression, and significant neurocognitive disorders. This participation in clinical studies entails the active recruitment and interviewing of patients. Dr. Mihailescu has obtained numerous certifications in the application of clinical psychiatric scales that necessitate communication skills, in a variety of settings.
Her research interests are medical communication in both clinical contexts and mental health promotion and prevention of mental health problems in young adults. Dr. Mihăilescu has applied these interests in workshops with students, within Erasmus European project “Burnout education, normatives and digital tools for European Universities”, where Dr Mihăilescu was responsible for providing knowledge in relation with communication in stressful situations.
Liliana Veronica Diaconescu is Lecturer in Medical Psychology, Faculty of Medicine, CDUMP, Bucharest. She holds a BA in Medicine and Psychology, an MA in Cognitive-behavioural therapy and a Ph.D. in Medicine. She has been a member in national research projects (“Detection and monitoring of somatic and psycho-behavioural deficiencies in children and adolescents”, “Techniques of comparative evaluation of the university qualification in Romania”) and in international research projects (“HORIZON 2020 vCare”, “Burnout education, normatives and digital tools for European Universities, BENDiT-EU”) and has also coordinated several health programs (AIDS 2007- 2008 and TB 2013-2017) at the Public Health Authority Bucharest. Her research interests are Health Psychology, Behavioural Sciences, medical communication, empathy and burnout syndrome in healthcare and in medical academia.
Ioana-Ruxandra Stoian-Bălășoiu is a resident psychiatrist at “Prof. Dr. Al. Obregia” Hospital, a CBT psychotherapist in training and an Assistant Teacher at “Carol Davila” University of Medicine and Pharmacy. She believes in training her students that the therapeutic relationship is one of the most valuable clinical tools doctors have and that empathy can both beneficially impact the doctor and the patient.