10/05/2019 1 min

Caroline Semaille appointed Managing Director General of the Regulated Products Division

Caroline Semaille was appointed Managing Director General of the ANSES Regulated Products Division on 29 April 2019. She succeeds Françoise Weber, who decided to retire. Ms Semaille, a Public Health Hospital Practitioner, will now coordinate the Agency’s various departments responsible for the assessment and marketing authorisations of plant protection products, fertilisers, growing media, adjuvants, active substances, biocidal products and veterinary medicinal products.

Caroline Semaille, a hospital practitioner working in the areas of public health and infectious diseases, holds an authorisation to supervise life science and health research, and has written several publications.

Throughout her professional career, she has devoted herself to infectious disease issues, and in particular, fighting HIV/AIDS through prevention, research, surveillance and clinical projects in conjunction with a range of public and private organisations, as well as through humanitarian missions with Médecins du Monde in Southeast Asia.

This new position at ANSES aligns fully with my values of public service and my commitment to addressing environmental and public health challenges. 

My aim will be to ensure that all information and contextual knowledge is fully taken into account to protect the public’s safety at a time of rapid social change.

Caroline Semaille

While conducting her clinical practice for more than 15 years, Ms Semaille also led the first European infectious disease surveillance programme, EuroHIV, as an epidemiologist at the French Institute for Public Health Surveillance (InVS), now known as the French Public Health Agency (SPF). She later served as head of the HIV/AIDS, Hepatitis and Sexually-Transmitted Infection Surveillance Unit until 2013. Her responsibilities included coordinating the implementation of innovative surveillance tools and studies of vulnerable populations.

In 2013, Ms Semaille became the Product Director at the French Health Products Safety Agency (ANSM). She oversaw the assessment, authorisation and pharmacovigilance of medicinal products, especially vaccines, anti-infective drugs and the products used to treat rare metabolic diseases and in gene therapy. She was also a member of the High Council for Public Health (HCSP) and participated in the French National Commission for Ethics and Alerts in Public Health and the Environment.

Working with the relevant health agencies, Ms Semaille helped manage several international health crises, such as those associated with H1N1 influenza, SARS, coronavirus and Ebola.

With 30 years’ experience in the field of public health, Ms Semaille will now take over the position of Managing Director General of ANSES’s Regulated Products Division. Accordingly, she will coordinate all the departments responsible for assessing and issuing marketing authorisations for plant protection products, fertilisers, growing media, adjuvants, active substances, biocidal products and veterinary medicinal products through the French Agency for Veterinary Medicinal Products (ANMV).

Ms Semaille’s expertise in scientific research, epidemiological surveillance and product assessment will be an asset as she carries out her duty of managing regulated products at the Agency with a view to ensuring public and environmental safety. Her experience at health agencies and in the field give her an in-depth understanding of the challenges facing a range of institutions, health authorities and stakeholders, which must all work together.

ANSES is responsible for assessing plant protection products, fertilisers, growing media and their adjuvants, as well as active substances and biocidal products before they are placed on the market. It assesses the effectiveness of these products and the risks associated with their use. Marketing authorisations are issued on the basis of the conclusions of the scientific risk assessment. For more information, refer to the thematic dossier.

The French Agency for Veterinary Medicinal Products (ANMV), part of ANSES, is the competent French authority for the assessment and management of risks associated with veterinary medicinal products in France. For more information, consult the ANMV page.