Raquel Castro rejoined EURORDIS in October 2022 as Social Policy and Initiatives Director.
A member of the European and International Advocacy team, Raquel leads EURORDIS’ advocacy, projects, and initiatives in the fields of integrated health and social care and of social policy, including disability, employment and non-discrimination rights.
Raquel has previously worked with EURORDIS, from 2012 to 2021, coordinating its activities to advance holistic care for rare diseases and to support the integration of rare diseases into social policies. As part of this work, she was involved in the EU-funded project INNOVCare and in the European Joint Actions for Rare Diseases, supporting the elaboration and the implementation of the “Commission Expert Group on Rare Diseases Recommendations to Support the Incorporation of Rare Diseases into Social Services and Policies”. From 2018 onwards, she was also the Open Academy Director, overseeing the delivery of EURORDIS’ training programmes.
Raquel has extensive experience in the non-profit sector and specifically within the rare disease community. Besides her missions with EURORDIS, Raquel has worked as Senior Operations Manager at the European Federation for Spinal Muscular Atrophy – SMA Europe and has coordinated the Portuguese national help line for rare diseases. Prior to that, she was involved in development projects in Europe and in India.
Raquel holds a Bachelor of Arts in Communication as well as a post-graduate degree in Project Management from the Lisbon School of Economics and Management.
She is based in Barcelona and speaks Portuguese, English, French, Spanish and basic Catalan.
e-mail: raquel.castro@eurordis.org