International experts in AMR are elected to the Scientific Advisory Board (SAB), which provides advice for the partnership on scientific, research, innovation, and policy-related matters across the One Health spectrum. The experts in the SAB provide feedback from the scientific community and are also a resource for partnership activities like workshops and networking events.
The first EUP OHAMR Scientific Advisory Board was appointed in December 2025 for a three-year term. You can find an overview of the 16 members below, along with their biographies.
- Jaap Wagenaar (Chair), Utrecht University, the Netherlands
- Nina Langeland (Vice-Chair), University of Bergen, Norway
- Ana Alastruey-Izquierdo, Spanish National Centre for Microbiology, Spain
- Olga Burduniuc, State University of Medicine and Pharmacy/ National Agency for Public Health, Moldova
- Robert Böhm, University of Vienna, Austria
- Tom Chiller, GAFFI, USA
- Mohamed Elhadidy, Zewail City of Science and Technology, Egypt
- Jayne Ellis, JEMMDX, United Kingdom
- Sabiha Essack, University of KwaZulu Natal, South Africa
- Rolf Müller, Helmholtz Institute for Pharmaceutical Research Saarland, Germany
- José Artur Paiva, ULS São João, Porto, Portugal
- Etienne Ruppé, APHP/ INSERM/ Paris Cité University, France
- Jonathan Rushton, University of Edinburgh, United Kingdom
- Katharina Schaufler, Helmholtz-Institute for One Health, Germany
- Thomas Tängdén, Uppsala University, Sweden
- Fiona Walsh, Maynooth University, Ireland
Biographies
Jaap Wagenaar
Chair
Utrecht University, the Netherlands
Jaap Wagenaar was trained as a veterinarian and completed his PhD study at Utrecht University and the USDA-National Animal Diseases Center, Ames, IA, US. He worked at the reference institute of the Dutch Ministry of Agriculture in Lelystad, with WHO (Geneva, Switzerland), CDC (Atlanta, US) and USDA (Albany, Ca, US). In 2006 he was appointed as chair of Clinical Infectious Diseases at the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Utrecht University, the Netherlands. The main topics of his research are antimicrobial resistance and on Campylobacter. He was a member of the scientific panel of the Netherlands Veterinary Medicines Institute and was involved in the major reduction of antimicrobial use in livestock.
He is a member of the Technical Advisory Group of the Fleming Fund, a UK initiative to build global capacity on AMR surveillance. He is the director of the WHO Collaborating Center for Campylobacter and Antimicrobial Resistance from a One Health perspective, and the WOAH-reference laboratory for Campylobacteriosis, and is acting frequently as an expert for WHO, FAO and WOAH. Jaap was Co-Chair of the Quadripartite Technical Group on Integrated Surveillance for Antimicrobial Resistance and Use (QTG-AIS). He is a member of the European Commission Expert Group ‘Antimicrobial Resistance One Health Network’, and he is a member of the Technical Advisory Forum of ICARS (International Centre for Antimicrobial Resistance Solutions).
Jaap is a Diplomate and Founding Member of the European College of Veterinary Microbiology. In March 2023 Jaap received an Honorary Doctorate from Ghent University (Belgium).
Nina Langeland
Vice-Chair
University of Bergen, Norway
Nina Langeland has more than 25 years of experience in clinical studies on severe infections and the role of antimicrobial resistance (AMR). Her research includes studies of hospital outbreaks in Norway, and and in Tanzania on the impact of AMR on child mortality. She has performed placebo-controlled RCTs on antibiotic treatment choices and preventive effects of probiotics to newborns.
She is a partner in a JPIAMR-funded project together with partners in the UK, the Netherlands, and Malawi, focusing on antibiotic use and wastewater surveillance. Nina also serves as the coordinator of the interdisciplinary Centre for Antimicrobial Resistance (CAMRIA), involving social sciences, mathematics, microbiology, and clinical medicine. The centre is part of the Nordic AMR Alliance.
Nina Langeland is a member of the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters.
Ana Alastruey-Izquierdo
Spanish National Centre for Microbiology, Spain
Ana Alastruey-Izquierdo is a Senior Scientist at the Mycology Reference Laboratory of Spain. She is the President of the Spanish Society for Mycology, representing Spain on the European Confederation of Medical Mycology Council. She chaired the technical expert group responsible for developing the first WHO Fungal Priority Pathogens List.
Ana was the chair of the Fungal Infection Study Group (EFISG) of ESCMID from 2020 to 2024 and directed the Latin American programs for GAFFI until 2023. She is a fellow of both ESCMID and ECMM. She served in the scientific advisory board of the Joint Program Initiative on Antimicrobial Resistance (JPIAMR) from 2022 to 2025.
Her primary research interests include public health mycology, epidemiology, antifungal susceptibility testing and resistance and fungal diagnostics. She has authored over 200 peer-reviewed articles in scientific journals, including several guidelines for diagnosing and treating fungal infections. She serves as an editor for Clinical Microbiology and Infection and the Journal of Fungi.
Olga Burduniuc
State University of Medicine and Pharmacy/ National Agency for Public Health, Moldova
Olga Burduniuc is a public health professional and Associate Professor in Medical Sciences with extensive experience in national public health coordination, laboratory network management, and health security. As Deputy Director of the National Agency for Public Health (ANSP), Republic of Moldova, she leads laboratory capacity strengthening, improves communicable disease surveillance, and supports alignment with EU and international public health standards. Her expertise includes quality management systems, accreditation, regulatory compliance, and scientific peer review at the European level, with a strong focus on evidence-based decision-making and sustainable system development through the One Health approach.
She serves as Coordinator of PulseNet Eastern Europe and Central Asia (EECA), advancing laboratory-based outbreak detection, data standardization, and crossborder collaboration for timely public health response. She is the national Focal Point for the implementation of the Biological Weapons Convention and the National Focal Point for CAESAR and GLASS antimicrobial resistance surveillance, supporting comprehensive monitoring and reporting to strengthen national and international AMR efforts.
In strategic governance, she is an expert at the National Agency for Quality Assurance in Education and Research and holds key secretariat roles, including Secretary of the Intersectoral Working Group for the National AMR Surveillance and Control Program (2023– 2027) and Secretary of the Working Group on EU directive transposition. She was leading team the national Antimicrobial Stewardship Program committee, contributing to coordinated action across surveillance, prevention, and rational antibiotic use.
With a strong record of leading national and international scientific projects, she contributes to policy development and works closely with WHO, EU and international partners. She is Editor-in-Chief of the Scopusindexed journal One Health & Risk Management
Robert Böhm
University of Vienna, Austria
Robert Böhm is Professor of Social Psychology in the Context of Work, Society and Economy and Head of the Social and Economic Psychology Group at the University of Vienna. He serves as Co-Director of the University of Vienna’s Health in Society Research Network, Director of the WHO Collaborating Centre for Social and Behavioral Research in Antimicrobial Resistance, and is a member of the Steering Committee of the Antimicrobials: Behaviour and Cognition Network.
He has advised numerous governmental and international bodies, including WHO/Europe, where he previously served as Vice-Chair of the Technical Advisory Group on Behavioural and Cultural Insights. Drawing on interdisciplinary perspectives, his research examines how people perceive policies, make decisions, and act in the face of major societal challenges, with a particular focus on public health issues such as infectious diseases and antimicrobial resistance. His work has been published in leading academic journals, including Nature, Nature Human Behaviour, Nature Communications, and PNAS.
Tom Chiller
GAFFI (previously CDC), USA
Dr. Tom Chiller is the recently appointed Chief Medical Officer (CMO) and Vice President of Strategic Innovation at IMMY (Immuno-Mycologics, Inc.), US-based IVD manufacturer dedicated to saving lives through the development and distribution of innovative diagnostic solutions for fungal diseases. Dr Chiller is a board member at the Global Action For Fungal Infections (GAFFI) NGO, the only global non-profit organization dedicated to the eradication of death and suffering from fungal disease.
Until recently Dr. Chiller served as Chief of the Mycotic Diseases Branch at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) for over 20 years, where he led national and international efforts to detect, prevent, and respond to fungal infections. His work at CDC included spearheading the development of surveillance systems, laboratory capacity, and policy frameworks that have shaped fungal disease response worldwide. He also played a pivotal role in identifying and responding to emerging AR threats like Candida auris and azole resistant Aspergillus and advancing global strategies to reduce deaths from fungal infections like cryptococcal meningitis in HIV.
Dr. Chiller’s leadership helped secure the inclusion of fungal pathogens in major global health platforms, including the WHO’s Global Antimicrobial Surveillance System and the first-ever WHO fungal priority pathogens list.
Mohamed Elhadidy
Zewail City of Science and Technology, Egypt
Dr. Mohamed Elhadidy is a Professor of Biomedical Sciences, Director of the Center for Genomics (CG) at Zewail City of Science, Technology, and Innovation, Egypt. He holds a DVM and MSc in Microbiology from Mansoura University, Egypt, and earned his PhD in Microbiology from Virginia Tech, USA, in 2010. From 2011 to 2017, he conducted postdoctoral and research work at the University of Saskatchewan (Canada), University of Bristol (UK), Ghent University (Belgium), and the Scientific Institute of Public Health in Belgium. In 2018, he was a visiting professor at the University of Bath, UK.
Dr. Elhadidy’s research focuses on understanding the pathogenesis, evolution, and transmission of zoonotic bacterial pathogens using population genetics and comparative genomics. His recent work utilizes high-throughput sequencing and genome-wide association studies to study antimicrobial resistance (AMR), virulence determinants, and their genomic signatures in humans and animals. He emphasizes resistome profiling and genomic surveillance to unravel resistance dynamics and predict the emergence of high-risk clones and host adaptive elements. His laboratory also develops innovative strategies to combat AMR by screening antivirulence compounds and quorum-sensing inhibitors to enhance delivery, improve bioavailability, and restore antibiotic efficacy.
His research is highly interdisciplinary, integrating microbiology, genomics, evolution, molecular biology, bioinformatics, and nanodrug delivery systems to generate evidence-based solutions aligned with One Health, global AMR control, and public health policy.
Jayne Ellis
JEMMDX, United Kingdom
Dr Jayne Ellis is Co-Founder and Managing Partner JEMMDx, a consultancy focussed on Diagnostics and FemTech, and Scientific Advisor to BIVDA, UNICEF, PACEDx, European OneHealth AMR.
She has 25+ years’ experience in the diagnostics industry having held key strategic roles including VP Medical and Clinical Affairs (LumiraDx), Medical Director Western Europe (Alere), Director New Business Development (SPD/Unilever). Jayne has led programmes resulting in the global launch of over 20 new to market products for infectious diseases/AMR, women’s health/cardiometablic disease.
She is passionate about diagnostics improving patient outcomes, has led parliamentary initiatives on infectious diseases and AMR, presented at international meetings and has over 50 publications.
Sabiha Essack
University of KwaZulu Natal, South Africa
Sabiha Essack is the South African Research Chair in Antibiotic Resistance and One Health and Professor in Pharmaceutical Sciences at the University of KwaZulu-Natal. She is the lead of the Multi-Stakeholder Partnership Platform Action Group on “Stewardship across the Lifecycle of Antimicrobials: a One Health Approach” and member of the WHO Strategic and Technical Advisory Group for AMR (STAG-AMR).
Sabiha serves as the Senior Implementation Research Advisor to the International Centre for AMR Solutions (ICARS) based in Denmark and chairs the Global Respiratory Infection Partnership (GRIP). She is a member of the World Economic Forum Global Futures Council for AMR, member of the International Pharmacy Federation (FIP) AMR Commission, member of the Wellcome Surveillance and Epidemiology of Drug Resistant Infections Consortium (SEDRIC) and she serves on the Advisory Board of the Combating Antibiotic Resistant Bacteria Biopharmaceutical Accelerator (CARB-X) and the Fleming Fund Expert Advisory Group.
Her research focuses on the molecular epidemiology of AMR using next generation sequencing and bioinformatics as well as One Health systems strengthening in the context of AMR.
Rolf Müller
Helmholtz Institute for Pharmaceutical Research Saarland, Germany
Rolf Müller studied pharmacy in Bonn, where he also obtained his PhD in 1994. He held research positions at University of Washington and Braunschweig University of Technology, prior to his appointment as professor to Saarland University in 2003. He became founding director of the new Helmholtz Institute for Pharmaceutical Research Saarland (HIPS) in 2009, where he also leads the department for Microbial Natural Products.
His laboratory has dedicated itself to the exploration of bacterial natural product biosynthetic pathways for more than 20 years and has extensive experience in working with myxobacteria and other microbial producer strains. Starting from the isolation and characterization of new microorganisms, the scope of work includes microbiology-, biotechnology-, bioinformatics-, and chemistry-based approaches to exploit these isolates as sources of new drugs with a special focus on novel anti-infectives and their translation.
Müller and his team apply a variety of state-of-the-art analytical methods and biological assays to perform biological and chemical characterization of the identified compounds. The overall aim of his team is the translation of advanced anti-infective projects into clinical application. To this end, Müller and his team closely collaborate with clinical, academic and industry partners, especially within the TB Drug Alliance (TBDA) and the German Center for Infection Research (DZIF).
Prof. Müller has received several awards, including the prestigious Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Prize, the PHOENIX Pharmacy Research Award, the DECHEMA Prize, the Tu Youyou Award, and the Inhoffen Medal and is elected member of acatech, Leopoldina, and the German Academy of Sciences and Literature.
José Artur Paiva
ULS São João, Porto, Portugal
Medical Degree, Faculty of Medicine of University of Porto, 1984. Specialist in Intensive Care Medicine and in Internal Medicine. Competency in Management of Healthcare Services, in Emergency Medicine and in Infection Control and Rational Use of Antimicrobials. PhD at University of Porto, 2005, Doctoral Thesis on Sepsis and Inflammatory Response.
In University Hospital São João: Director of Intensive Care Medicine Service (2008 – 2016 and 2019-present) and Hospital Medical Director (2016-2019) Invited Associate Professor at the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Porto (2006-present).
In the Directorate-General for Health: Coordinator of the National Antimicrobial Resistance Prevention Program (2010-2013) and Director of the Infection and Antimicrobial Resistance Prevention Program, a priority health program (2013- 2016 and 2020-2024).
Founder and promoter of the National Antimicrobial Stewardship Program, in 2013. Member of the Executive Committee of the STOP Hospital Infection Program (2015-2018 and 2021-2025) Co-Coordinator of the Committee for the National Intensive Care Response to COVID-19 (2020-2022). Co-author of the Portuguese National Plan for Patient Safety 2021-2026 Member of the European Research and Preparedness Network for Pandemics and Emerging Infectious Diseases (EU-RESPONSE) Investigators Team, funded by the EU Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Program (2020-present).
Member of the Steering Group and Portuguese National Coordinator of the Drive-AMS Project, funded by EU4H, with the aim of promoting and maximizing antimicrobial stewardship in Europe (2022-present). Expert of the Specialized Program for Infectious Disease Care Everywhere (SPICE) (2023-present) Head of Installation Committee for the Competence of Infection Control and Rational Use of Antimicrobials in the Portuguese General Medical Council (2023- present
Etienne Ruppé
APHP/ INSERM/ Paris Cité University, France
Etienne Ruppé (PharmD, PhD) is a clinical bacteriologist. After studying Pharmacy and Medical Biology at the Universities of Tours and Paris Descartes, he was appointed Assistant Professor in the University Paris Diderot and in the bacteriology laboratory of the Bichat-Claude Bernard hospital (Prof. Antoine Andremont) in Paris.
He did his PhD on the epidemiology of commensal, multidrug-resistant Enterobacterales. He then did a post-doctoral internship in the MetaGenoPolis unit created by Prof. Dusko Ehrlich and Prof. Joël Doré of INRA in Jouy-en-Josas, and worked at identifying antibiotic resistance genes in the intestinal microbiota and assessing their dynamics during various antibiotic exposures. He then did a second post-doctoral fellowship in the genomic research laboratory of the University Hospital of Geneva (Prof. Jacques Schrenzel) where he worked on the development of clinical metagenomics. With Prof. Schrenzel, he notably founded the first International Conference on Clinical Metagenomics (ICCMg) in Geneva, of which ten editions have been held to date.
In 2017, he was appointed Associate Professor at the University of Paris Diderot and the Bichat-Claude Bernard Hospital, then Full Professor at the University of Paris Cité in 2021. Since 2021, he is also co-leading the EVRest team (IAME unit, and is deputy director of the IAME Research Unit.
Jonathan Rushton
University of Edinburgh, United Kingdom
Jonathan Rushton is an agricultural economist who specialises in the economics of animal health and food systems. He has lived and worked in Europe, Asia, Africa and the Americas over the last 35 years. His principal research interests are the: Global Burden of Animal Diseases (GBADs) where he directs a global programme co-led in phase II with WOAH (founded as OIE); economics of antimicrobial use and resistance in livestock; and assessment of the multidimensionality of food quality and public health. He is involved in the EU funded projects: ROADMAP on the economics and social sciences of antimicrobial use in livestock; DECIDE on data-driven approached for the prioritisation; AVANT to reduce antibiotics in livestock production and control of non-regulated diseases and VIVACE a project that will train a new generation of scientists to assess the biological, social and economic impacts of HPAI vaccination. Jonathan embraces One Health approaches in the search for solutions to society’s health problems.
Jonathan currently leads the WOAH Collaborating Centre for Europe on the Economics of Animal Health. In 2020 he became a Senior IIAD Fellow in Epidemiology at Texas A&M. In May 2025 Jonathan joined the Roslin Institute, University of Edinburgh as professor of economics of animal health strengthening his links with world leading animal health research at the University’s Easter Bush campus.
Katharina Schaufler
Helmholtz-Institute for One Health, Germany
Katharina Schaufler is a Professor of One Health at University Medicine Greifswald and leads the Department of Epidemiology and Ecology of Antimicrobial Resistance (GEAR) at the Helmholtz Institute for One Health (HIOH) in Greifswald, Germany.
Her research examines how AMR arises, spreads and persists across human, animal and environmental settings. She combines AMR surveillance, functional multi-omics and the development of alternative mitigation strategies within an integrated One Health framework.
Her group studies the ecology and transmission dynamics of key bacterial pathogens such as Escherichia coli, Klebsiella pneumoniae and Vibrio spp. Working with partners in Europe and sub-Saharan Africa, they collect and analyse samples from water, wildlife, livestock and human reservoirs. These studies help identify environmental and epidemiological drivers of resistance and improve our understanding of how AMR moves between sectors. The team applies genomics, transcriptomics, proteomics and experimental evolution to explore how bacteria adapt under antibiotic pressure, pollution or other stressors. By linking genetic and phenotypic changes, they uncover mechanisms that shape fitness, virulence and persistence, providing a detailed view of AMR evolution in both clinical and natural environments. A third pillar focuses on exploring alternative approaches to reduce the impact of AMR. This includes leveraging novel bacterial targets and testing ecological interventions that may contribute to more sustainable AMR management.
Across all activities, Katharina collaborates closely with interdisciplinary networks and international partners, aiming to generate evidence that can inform practical One Health interventions and future AMR policy.
Thomas Tängdén
Uppsala University, Sweden
Thomas Tängdén (MD, PhD) is an infectious diseases physician and professor of infectious diseases at the Department of Medical Sciences, Uppsala University, Sweden. He is chair of STRAMA – the Swedish strategic programme against antibiotic resistance, project leader of the collaboration platform PLATINEA, medical advisor of the global resistance network ReAct, scientific advisory board member of ENABLE2, science officer of the ESCMID AMR Action Subcommittee, and editor of CMI Communications – ESCMID’s open-access journal.
Thomas has authored national and European treatment guidelines for multidrug-resistant Gram-negative bacteria, urinary tract infections and optimized dosing of antibiotics in patients with obesity and renal impairment or hemodialysis, and has consulted for the WHO as scientific lead in the development of target product profiles (TPPs) for new antibacterial agents.
Thomas’s research includes randomized and observational clinical studies, antimicrobial stewardship interventions, pharmacokinetic studies, metagenomic analyses of antibiotic-induced damage to the microbiome, and in vitro studies to find new treatment strategies to overcome multidrug resistance particularly in Gram-negative bacteria.
The overall aim of his research program is to generate knowledge that can support optimized and individualized use of antibiotics to enhance their efficacy while reducing the risks of side effects and resistance development.
Fiona Walsh
Maynooth University, Ireland
Fiona Walsh is the founder and director of the Antimicrobial Resistance Research Centre, based at Maynooth University. She has coordinated the generation of a gap analysis report on research in AMR for the Irish National Action Plan on AMR committee. Fiona is one of only a few people worldwide that has investigated antimicrobial resistance (AMR) across the three areas of One Health: human, animal, and environment. She has created the collaborative networks and experiments to enable herself and subsequently others within bacteriology to investigate AMR from many angles.
Plasmid mediated AMR has been a constant thread running through her research from PhD to current projects as understanding the mobile AMR mechanisms across biomes is a major area of her research. The papers that she has published reflect this spectrum of research adaptability and interests. She has investigated AMR in human pathogens, soil, plant, animal, and environmental biomes. This unusual career path has enabled her to identify the gaps in our knowledge and research, understanding the constant flow of AMR genes across biomes.
Her research has influenced EU policy under the water framework directive in the inclusion of specific antimicrobials in the watch list and her position as a unique researcher and leader in the niche area of AMR mobility across biomes has been recognised by invitations to speak at international leading conferences and membership of policy influencing committees.
