The GISAID Initiative receives administrative support from Freunde von GISAID e.V. a registered non-profit association, organized and operated exclusively for charitable, scientific and educational purposes. The GISAID Initiative's activities are governed by several organizational bodies that operate independently of each other.
One element critical to the Initiative’s success is its independent, horizontal operational structure. This fair, transparent, and verifiable structure enables GISAID to fulfill its mission through a collaborative global network of partner institutions while taking measures that prevent conflicts of interest, guard against biased decision-making, and preserves scientific independence.
The Scientific Advisory Council (SAC) advises and supports the Initiative in pursuit of its public health and scientific objectives. Its members are leading scientists with expertise in virology, microbiology, computational and molecular biology, epidemiology, evolutionary genomics and bioinformatics, and public health or animal-health. The SAC promotes GISAID’s scientific mission by fostering interaction among members of the veterinary and human health communities and capacity building in developing countries. Members of the SAC are appointed by GISAID's SAC Nomination Committee, which is composed of three individuals of esteem in the scientific community.
Dr. Marie-Paule Kieny, France
Prof. Francine Ntoumi, Republic of the Congo
Dr. Soumya Swaminathan, India
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The Database Technical Group (DTG) comprises experts in human and veterinary microbiology, and evolutionary genomics with expertise in genetic sequencing and pathogen data analysis. In addition to providing feedback to the GISAID user community, the DTG provides scientific and technical advice to GISAID′s database developers to support ongoing improvements to GISAID’s platforms. Members of the DTG also regularly lead GISAID Training Workshops as distinguished faculty.
The Legal Compliance and Audit Board is tasked to advise and support the Initiative in pursuit of its public health and scientific objectives. It is further designed to advise individual partners of the GISAID Initiative on compliance matters, upon request, and where appropriate, review compliance-related decisions.
Prof. Dr. Ron A.M. Fouchier (Vice-Chair) | Prof. Dr. Priya Abraham Department of Clinical Virology Christian Medical College Vellore, India |
Prof. Dr. med Hideki Hasegawa | Dr. Irma López Martínez |
Dr. Bette Korber | Prof. Dr. Nicola Lewis |
Prof. Dr. Raymond Lin Tzer Pin | Prof. Dr. Tulio de Oliveira Director, Centre for Epidemic Response and Innovation Stellenbosch University Stellenbosch, South Africa |
Prof. Dr. Amadou Alpha Sall | Dr. Etienne Simon-Loriere |
Dr. Marilda Mendonça Siqueira | Dr. med Dayan Wang Director, WHO Collaborating Centre for Reference and Research on Influenza Chinese Center for Disease Control Beijing, Peoples Republic of China |
| Dr. med Wenqing Zhang (OBSERVER) Head of the Global Influenza Programme World Health Organization Geneva, Switzerland | Dr. Cédric Mahé |
| Dr. Joachim Büch Max-Planck-Institut for Informatics Computational Biology and Applied Algorithmics Saarbrücken, Germany | Dr. Seiichiro Fujisaki WHO Collaborating Center for Influenza National Institute of Infectious Diseases Tokyo, Japan |
Dr. Naomi Komadina | Dr. Andrey B. Komissarov WHO National Influenza Centre Research Institute of Influenza Saint-Petersburg, Russian Federation |
Dr. Krista Queen | Catherine B. Smith, VSDB OBC |
Dr. Gabriel Luz Wallau | Dr. Lan Yu WHO Collaborating Center for Influenza Chinese National Influenza Center Beijing, Peoples Republic of China |
