Patrick Dehaumont appointed Chair of ANSES's Board of Administrators

Patrick Dehaumont has been appointed Chair of ANSES's Board of Administrators, the body that sets the Agency's main strategic orientations. In this role he will be responsible for coordinating and leading the Board's work. Besides Government representatives and Agency staff, the Board of Administrators is made up of representatives of the five colleges of the Grenelle environmental round table: State, associations, professional bodies, trade unions & inter-branch employers' organisations, elected officials.

A veterinary doctor, Patrick Dehaumont has devoted most of his career to risk management in the areas of food safety, veterinary medicinal products and animal health. This professional background has given him a comprehensive view of public health issues. He now becomes Chair of ANSES's Board of Administrators, succeeding Benoît Vallet, who was appointed to this position in September 2020.

During his hearing in Parliament, Patrick Dehaumont outlined the ambitions for the Board of Administrators in helping the Agency carry out its missions: "strengthen its ability to fund research to enable it to become more constructively involved in European projects, help improve procedures and dialogue with stakeholders to increase the credibility and independence of its expert appraisals, particularly on topics characterised by high uncertainty, facilitate synergies with the various counterpart bodies and supervisory ministries, especially with regard to sharing of data, and develop initiatives and tools for public debate while maintaining the guiding principle based on the One Health approach."

Background

Patrick Dehaumont is a veterinary doctor who has devoted his career to serving public health, particularly in the areas of animal health and food safety. He graduated in 1983 and began his career as Director of the Val d'Oise Veterinary Services. In 1989, he became Head of the Office for Control and Monitoring of Physico-chemical Residues and Contaminants in the Food Chain at the Directorate General for Food. From 1993 to 1999, Patrick Dehaumont was Director of the Maine et Loire Veterinary Services before becoming a pre-accession advisor in charge of institutional twinning with the Polish government. In 2001, he was appointed Deputy Director for European Affairs at INRAE, then from 2002 to 2010, he was Director of the French Agency for Veterinary Medicinal Products within AFSSA and also Director of the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) Collaborating Centre. In 2010, he set up the France-Haras Public Interest Group and became its Director General. From 2012 to 2019, he was Director General for Food. Since 2019, Patrick Dehaumont has been Inspector General for Support to People and Organisations for the Secretary General of the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Sovereignty.