I-DAIR’s Board meets for inaugural session
The UK has invited the Global Pandemic Data Alliance to drive the implementation of the S7 Recommendations to improve safe data access and use for health emergencies.
Under the leadership of Dr. Christoph Benn, I-DAIR's inaugural Board Chair, the two-day event gathered the first members of the I-DAIR Board to discuss I-DAIR’s strategy, governance, and finances. Most importantly, it approved the bylaws for I-DAIR’s upcoming registration as a new legal entity under Swiss law. It also launched the search for I-DAIR’s next CEO (Board documents can be found here).
In line with I-DAIR’s policies, the Board’s composition reflects its standards of transdisciplinarity and diversity, with particular attention to gender, geographic and sectoral representations.
Currently, the inaugural Board comprises 9 members, with plans to expand memberships alongside I-DAIR’s growth. Inclusive of Dr. Mehdi Snène, I-DAIR’s CEO ad interim, the Board counts independent members and representatives of Low- and Middle-Income-, as well as High-Income Countries, civil society, and international organizations.
The inaugural members of the Board are as follows:
Dr. Christoph Benn
Dr. Benn is the Director of Global Health Diplomacy at the Joep Lange Institute. Medical doctor with 30+ years of experience in global public health, he was formerly with the Global Fund as Director of External Relations. Prior to his appointment as Board Chair, he acted as one of I-DAIR's senior advisors.
Dr. Jeanette Vega Morales
Dr. Morales is a Medical Doctor and Chile’s former Social Development and Family Minister. Among numerous positions, she has worked for the Red de Salud UC-Christus, the main private health provider in Chile, as Chief Medical & Innovation and Digital Health Transformation Manager and took part in The Lancet & Financial Times Commission on Governing Health Futures 2030, as commissioner.
Amb. Cleopa Mailu
His Excellency, Ambassador Mailu is the Permanent Representative of the Permanent Mission of Kenya to the UN Office and former Minister of Health in Kenya, leading several national vaccination campaigns. Prior positions include CEO of The Nairobi Hospital and experiences working for UNICEF and WHO.
Amb. Muhammadou Kah
His Excellency, Ambassador Kah is the Permanent Representative of The Gambia to the UN in Geneva. Formerly, he served as Vice President for Academic Affairs, Provost, and Professor of IT and Computing at the American University of Nigeria. Founding Chairman of the Zenith Bank in the Gambia, he is also a member of the Malabo Montpellier Panel.
Amb. Päivi Sillanaukee
Her Excellency, Ambassador Sillanaukee currently acts as the Ambassador for Health & Wellbeing at the Ministry for Foreign Affairs in Finland. She is the co-chair of the Alliance for Health Security Cooperation (AHSC); a member of the Global Health Security Agenda (GHSA); and a member of the Health Advisory Board of the UN Technology Innovation Lab (UNTIL) in Finland.
Ms. Nnenna Nwakanma
Ms. Nwaknma works as the Chief Web Advocate of the World Wide Web Foundation. She is an ICT4D strategist and an expert in eParticipation and Citizen Engagement with 15 years of experience working for the UN. A strong advocate for policy and systemic changes, she focuses on the need for meaningful internet access, open data, and open web across Africa.
Dr. Soumya Swaminathan
Dr. Swaminathan is WHO’s first Chief Scientist and former WHO Deputy Director-General. Trained in India as a pediatrician, she is a globally recognized researcher on tuberculosis and HIV with 30+ years of experience in clinical care and research and is one of the commissioners for The Lancet & Financial Times Commission on Governing Health Futures 2030.
Mr. Steve Davis
Mr. Davis is the Strategy Advisor and former Interim Director of the China Country Office at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Lecturer at the Stanford Graduate School of Business, he currently serves as co-chair of WHO’s Digital Health Technical Advisory Group. Formerly, he acted as President and CEO of PATH, Director of Social Innovation at McKinsey & Company, and CEO of Corbis.
Dr. Mehdi Snène
Dr. Snène is I-DAIR interim CEO. Swiss-Tunisian digital health expert and scientist, his research focuses on neuroscience, cognition, aging and machine learning. He has been working on frontier technology in digital health, with a strong emphasis on Quality of Life and Quality of End of Life of patients diagnosed with neurodegenerative diseases.
I-DAIR has been designed to better support the digital transformation of health systems and provide a framework for an end-to-end approach to the global research ecosystem for digital health and AI for health. This work ranges from creating a global research map of digital health and AI and developing a governance model for AI and data, to benchmarking digital health solutions (e.g. electronic Patient Reported Outcome Monitoring). For more information about I-DAIR, kindly visit our website and consider following our progress on Twitter and LinkedIn.
