Public notice and comment on new Global Validation Advisory Committee (GVAC) members
The global secretariat of the Global Validation Advisory Committee (GVAC) on the validation of elimination of mother-to-child transmission (EMTCT) of HIV, syphilis and hepatitis B virus (HBV) has considered the appointment of four new members to the committee. The new members represent the GVAC’s expanded expertise in epidemiology and response for elimination of mother-to-child transmission of HBV, in line with the incorporation of HBV for ‘triple elimination’ in the global processes and structures for EMTCT validation.
Professor Benjamin C Cowie, infectious disease physician and medical epidemiologist with clinical appointments at the Royal Melbourne Hospital and the Victorian Infectious Diseases Service, Professor, Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences, University of Melbourne, and Director, WHO Collaborating Centre for Viral Hepatitis, Victorian Infectious Diseases Reference Laboratory, Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity, Australia, to the Global Validation Advisory Committee (GVAC). Professor Cowie will bring viral hepatitis expertise to the GVAC.
Dr Sandra Dudareva, Researcher, senior epidemiologist, and head of WHO Collaborating Center for viral hepatitis and HIV, Robert Koch Institute, Germany, to the Global Validation Advisory Committee (GVAC). Dr Dudareva will bring viral hepatitis expertise to the GVAC.
Dr Rania A Tohme, Team Lead, Hepatitis B and Tetanus Team, Global Immunization Division, U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), USA, to the Global Validation Advisory Committee (GVAC). Dr Tohme will bring viral hepatitis expertise to the GVAC.
Dr Su Wang, Medical Director, Center for Asian Health and President, World Hepatitis Alliance and Associate Member, Rutgers Institute for Health, Health Care Policy & Aging Research, Saint Barnabas Medical Center, USA, to the Global Validation Advisory Committee (GVAC). Dr Wang will bring viral hepatitis expertise to the GVAC.
In order to enhance WHO’s management of conflicts of interest, as well as strengthen public trust and transparency in connection with WHO advisory groups involving the provision of technical advice, the names and brief biographies of individuals being considered for assignment to WHO advisory groups are disclosed for public notice and comment.
The comments received by WHO through the public notice and comment process are treated confidentially and their receipt will be acknowledged through a generic email notification to the sender. Comments and perceptions brought to the attention of WHO through this process are an integral component of WHO’s conflict of interest assessment policy and are carefully reviewed. WHO reserves the right to discuss information received through this process with the relevant expert with no attribution to the provider of such information. Upon review and assessment of the information received through this process, WHO, in its sole discretion, may take appropriate management action in accordance with its policies.
The list of participating experts, a summary of relevant interests disclosed by such experts, and any appropriate mitigation measures taken by WHO relating to the management of conflicts of interests, will be reported publically in accordance with WHO practice.
The deadline for public comments is 18 August 2021. Please send your comment to gvacsecretariat@who.int with subject, “Public comments on new GVAC members.”
