PANEL OF EUROPEAN SCIENTISTS AUTHORS OF THE CONSENSUS STATEMENT ON HYGIENIC HAND DRYING
The Consensus statement on hygienic hand drying was authored by Professor Marc Van Ranst (Belgium), Professor Mark Wilcox (the United Kingdom), Professor Frédéric Barbut (France), Professor Angel Asensio (Spain), Professor Silvio Brusaferro (Italy), Emeritus Fellow Keith Redway (the United Kingdom), Professor Bertil Kaijser (Sweden), Dr. Ralf Käemmerer (Germany).
Professor Marc Van Ranst (2013 – present), teaches virology, epidemiology, and bioinformatics at the University of Leuven in Belgium. He is Chairman of the Department of Microbiology & Immunology, Director of the Clinical and Epidemiological Virology Unit at the Rega Institute for Medical Research. At the University Hospitals Leuven, he is currently associate chief of the department of laboratory medicine, and heads the clinical virology laboratory. He is also the Director of the AIDS reference laboratory and of several national reference laboratories. Professor Van Ranst was appointed in 1999 to the Belgian high council for public health, where he heads the vaccination department.
Professor Mark Wilcox (2013 – present), Professor Mark Wilcox is a consultant microbiologist and the Head of Research and Development in Microbiology at the Leeds Teaching Hospitals (LTHT), Professor of Medical Microbiology at the University of Leeds, and lead on Clostridium difficile for Public Health England (PHE).
He serves in numerous advisory roles including as a medical advisor to National Infection Prevention & Control Lead (NHS Improvement), England, the Medical Research Council’s Infection and Immunity Panel, and he is Chair of PHE’s Rapid Review Panel (reviews the utility of infection prevention & control products for the NHS) and former Deputy Chair of the Department of Health’s Antimicrobial Prescribing and Resistance and Healthcare Associated Infection committee (APRHAI). He was formerly the Director of Infection Prevention (4 years), Infection Control Doctor (8 years), and Clinical Director of Pathology (6 years) at LTHT and Head of Microbiology (15 years). Prof Wilcox leads a Healthcare Associated Infection Research Group at the University of Leeds, comprising ~30 doctors, scientists and nurses.
Professor Frédéric Barbut (2015 – present) teaches Microbiology at the University of Paris. At the saint Antoine University Hospital (AP-HP Sorbonne Université) in Paris, he is currently chief of the infection control Unit, and heads the laboratory of microbiology of the environment. He is also the Director of the national reference laboratory for Clostridioides difficile. Professor Barbut is deputy director of the INSERM 1139 unit (Physiopathology & Pharmacotoxicology of Human Placenta, pre & post natal Microbiota” 3PHM). He published more than 150 articles on C. difficile and healthcare associated infections.
Dr. Angel Asensio (2015 – present) is Head of the Department of Preventive Medicine at the University Hospital Puerta de Hierro-Majadahonda. He teaches Infection Prevention Control and Epidemiology at the resident hospital program. He has published more than 150 papers in these areas of research in international journals. He has 30 years of experience in the field.
Professor Silvio Brusaferro (2013 – end 2018), MD, is Professor of Public Health and Director of the post graduate school of Public Health at the University of Udine. Currently he is head of the risk management, accreditation and performance evaluation unit of Udine University hospital. He is engaged in infection control and patient safety activities at national and European level and works with public institutions and scientific and professional societies.
Keith Redway (2013 – present) is a Emeritus Fellow, in the Department of Biomedical Sciences at the University of Westminster, London. For over 15 years he and colleagues have carried out various different studies on hand drying methods and other aspects of domestic and industrial hygiene, microbial survival, and transfer of contamination.
Professor Bertil Kaijser (2013 – 2015), MD, Ph.D., is a Professor and Senior Consultant of Clinical Bacteriology at the Sahlgrens University Hospital. His main areas of research are Campylobacter causing foodborne infections, EHEC/VTEC/Enterohaemorrhagic E. coli causing foodborne infection, and microbiological diagnosis of Borrelia infections. He has published more than 200 papers in these areas of research in international journals. He has 35 years of experience of teaching in clinical microbiology, clinical immunology, and hospital infections.
Dr. Ralf Kämmerer (2013 – 2015), senior expert since 2000 at TÜV Rheinland based in Cologne, Germany. Key-qualifications in the field of hygienics such as drinking-water quality, hospital and occupational hygiene and ventilation and air conditioning systems. Additional activities with the VDI (Verband Deutscher Ingenieure) since 2000 with respect to prevent disease outbreaks in drinking water installations and ventilation and air conditioning systems. He was formerly associated with academic institutions like the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Balboa in Panama and the University of Arizona, USA, working mainly on the evolution of plants and algae.
Prof. Dr. med. Prof. h. c. (MNG) Walter Popp, (2020 – present). Since 2009 member of the coordinating group of the “European network to promote infection prevention for patient safety” (EUNETIPS). Then in 2010 became project coordinator of MeshHp (Mongolian Emergency Service Hospital Hygiene Project). Since 2015 he became Head of HyKoMed GmbH, Dortmund, Germany (Consultancy in Hospital Hygiene) and currently vice president of DGKH.
