In pursuit of the Initiative’s missions, the GISAID Initiative receives administrative support from two registered non-profit organizations, one based in Germany and the other in the United States. Both operated exclusively for charitable, scientific and educational purposes.
The Initiative’s non-profit status are regulated by the German Tax Authority FA Munich, and the U.S. Internal Revenue Service. Its finances, accounting and multijurisdictional regulatory compliance are overseen by StB. H. Bösling, Moss Adams LLC and Caplin & Drysdale Chartered.
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. To that end, GISAID also receives scientific, technical, and legal support from the individuals serving on its various oversight bodies:
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 GISAID Compliance 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. Raymond Lin Tzer Pin Director, National Public Health Laboratory National Centre for Infectious Diseases Singapore |
Prof. Dr. Tulio de Oliveira | Prof. Dr. Amadou Alpha Sall Director General Institut de Pasteur in Dakar Dakar, Senegal |
| Dr. Etienne Simon-Loriere Director, Evolutionary Genomics of RNA viruses Virology Department Institut Pasteur Paris, France | Dr. Marilda Mendonça Siqueira |
Dr. med Dayan Wang | Dr. med Wenqing Zhang (OBSERVER) Head of the Global Influenza Programme World Health Organization Geneva, Switzerland |
Dr. Cédric Mahé |
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| 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 | Dr. Gabriel Luz Wallau Departamento de Entomologia e Núcleo de Bioinformática Fundação Oswaldo Cruz, FIOCRUZ Recife, Brazil |
| Dr. Lan Yu WHO Collaborating Center for Influenza Chinese National Influenza Center Beijing, Peoples Republic of China |
The GISAID Compliance 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. The Compliance Board is comprised of professionals with successful careers as leaders in their respective practice areas, including intellectual property, ethics, privacy, regulatory, international trade compliance and corporate law.
| Dr. jur. Francis Gurry Director General, Ret. World Intellectual Property Organization Geneva, Switzerland | Dr. jur. Jörg Paura Partner, Ret. DLA Piper Hamburg, Germany | Dr. jur. Agus Purwadianto Director General, Ret. NIHRD, Ministry of Health Jakarta, Indonesia |
Taking shape during the G20 proceedings in 2022 to ensure robust data governance and promote transparency efforts among our partners, the GISAID Compliance Board was formed to help the Initiative achieve its goals and maintain its independent status.
The Compliance Board adds an additional pillar of trust onto GISAID’s
unwavering mission to protect the inherent rights of data generators,
by providing incentives for equity through transparency,
and ensuring a level playing field for the sake of global health security
- Dr. jur. Francis Gurry, Speaker
The GISAID Compliance Board reviews major agreements regarding GISAID's funding and operations. It also oversees data governance matters such as compliance with GISAID’s sharing mechanism to uphold the rights of data submitters via the Database Access Agreement and other obligations regarding data shared via GISAID. This includes reviewing matters involving potential misuse of data, as well as other discrete issues on a case-by-case basis at its discretion.
