María Dolores Fernández García, a scientist at the National Center for Microbiology of the Carlos III Health Institute (ISCIII), has joined the Scientific Advisory Group on the Origins of Novel Pathogens (SAGO) of the World Health Organization (WHO). She joins this international initiative following the WHO’s renewal of the group for a second term, after the completion of its first mandate, which ran from 2021 to 2025.
Established by the WHO in 2021, SAGO is a multidisciplinary advisory group comprising 25 independent experts from different countries and from a range of scientific and health-related fields. Dr Fernández García is the first Spanish expert to join SAGO since its creation.
The primary objective of SAGO is to advise the WHO on scientific and technical matters relating to the origins of emerging and re-emerging pathogens with epidemic or pandemic potential.
The group also contributes to the development and implementation of a global framework designed to systematically guide research into the origins of these pathogens. This work seeks to determine how such pathogens emerge, how they spill over into human populations, and what circumstances may facilitate their spread—knowledge that is essential for anticipating and responding more effectively to future public health threats.
SAGO’s new term will build on the work carried out during its first mandate, which included the development of the global research framework and its application to investigations into the origins of SARS-CoV-2.
However, the group’s mandate extends beyond the virus that causes COVID-19 and also covers other novel, emerging, and re-emerging pathogens that could pose an epidemic or pandemic threat.
The appointment of the ISCIII researcher strengthens Spain’s participation in an area of particular importance for preparedness and response to future public health threats.
As a member of SAGO’s new composition, she will contribute her scientific expertise to the assessment of available evidence and to the development of recommendations to guide research into the origins of these types of pathogens.
