WIA Structure
About WIA
The World Iodine Association is led by the board of directors, in which every effective member has one vote. The WIA Board of Directors decides on the activities that are initiated within WIA, and defines priorities and tasks towards fulfillment of WIA’s missions. The Directors appoint experts from the members to coordinate the realisation of these tasks. These experts work together in three WIA Committees. When the task at hand requires independent expertise, the WIA Committees and the Board of Directors are advised by academic experts, brought together in the WIA Scientific Advisory Board.
WIA Communication Committee (COM)
The communication committee consist of representatives from the WIA members and one member of the Board of Directors. COM coordinates communications within WIA, and external communications. Priority tasks of the Communication Committee are WIA website updates, press releases, and provision of information on WIA and Iodine in all it’s uses to interested parties.
WIA Technical Committee (TEC)
The composition of the Technical Committee will vary with each project, and consist of representatives from the WIA members and one member of the Board of Directors. The main task is to coordinate with and get input from technical experts within each of the Effective Members. Experts Input is asked on a case-by-case basis, according to the tasks/priorities. Priorities are decided by a shortlist of pending issues brought forward by Board of Directors and the Scientific Advisory Board.
WIA Regulatory Affairs Committee (REG)
The regulatory affairs committee consists of experts working at the regulatory departments of the members. They coordinate with and get input from technical experts within each of the Effective Members, according to their tasks/priorities which are related to WIA’s first mission: To support and represent iodine producers, processors, formulators, distributors and end users in relevant industry bodies, and in relevant official government bodies around the world with respect to guidelines and regulations on iodine and its derivatives.
WIA Scientific Advisory Board (SAB)
The Scientific Advisory Board for Iodine (SAB) is facilitated by the Technical Committee in function of the mission of WIA to help to prevent Iodine Deficiency Disorders globally by support of initiatives to ensure optimal iodine intake. The SAB is composed of independent academic experts studying iodine in different disciplines. They provide objective and scientific guidance to the communication committee and technical committee and help to identify emerging issues to be dealt with by WIA. Their expert opinion is also sought to judge ethical implications of activities developed by WIA. The members of the SAB are not remunerated for their advice. They review the overall scientific programme of WIA, including new projects and activities with respect to their scientific validity, coherence within WIA’s mission and vision, and feasibility and urgency of the issues.
Chair of the Scientific Advisory Board
Sarah Bath – Chair of the Scientific Advisory Board of WIA
Dr Sarah Bath is a Lecturer in Public Health Nutrition at the University of Surrey. Sarah has been researching iodine nutrition in the UK since 2009 when she started her PhD on the iodine status of UK pregnant women. Through collaboration with the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC), she showed that even mild-to-moderate (as opposed to severe) iodine deficiency in UK pregnant women is associated with adverse cognitive outcomes in the child. She recently held an MRC Population Health Scientist Fellowship (2013-2016) to continue iodine research in the UK.
Sarah is a registered dietitian with the Health and Care Professions Council and has worked as a clinical dietitian in the NHS. She therefore aims to translate research findings into practical advice and is author of a fact sheet on iodine that is published through the British Dietetic Association.
Scientific Advisory Board members
Liz Bailey – Environmental Geochemist at University of Nottingham – UK
Liz Bailey PhD, CChem. MRSC is an Environmental Geochemist at the University of Nottingham, UK. Her research focuses on the speciation and fractionation of trace elements and radioisotopes in the environment and the geochemistry of trace element deficiency/toxicity. Specific research projects include (i) investigation of the kinetics of radioisotope fixation in soils (129I, 99Tc, 235U, 84Se), (ii) iodine and selenium dynamics in soils, including projects in the UK, Pakistan, Somalia, Iraqi Kurdistan and Malawi, (iv) trace element and micro-nutrient behaviour in calcareous soils in Iraqi Kurdistan. She also co-runs an inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) facility.
Robin P. Peeters – Endocrinologist at Erasmus Medical Center, Rotterdam NL
Robin P. Peeters, MD PhD, is internist-endocrinologist and member of the medical staff at Erasmus Medical Center, Rotterdam, The Netherlands. He obtained his medical degree at Erasmus University Medical School in 2000 (Cum Laude). Subsequently, he combined his clinical training as an internist with a PhD project, which was completed in 2005 (Cum Laude).
Currently, professor Peeters is the Head of the Erasmus MC Academic Center for Thyroid Disease and has published more than 190 peer-reviewed scientific publications. He has been a member of several ETA and ATA Guideline Committees, and was awarded the ETA Harrington-de Visscher Prize in 2013 and the ATA Van Meter Award in 2016. Finally, he is a member of the steering committee of EUthyroid, the first pan-European initiative to take on the challenge of investigating the iodine intake of the European population.
Ismail Cakmak – Sabanci University in Istanbul, TK
Ismail Cakmak (PhD) is working at the Sabanci University in Istanbul. He is an internationally renowned expert on the metabolism of micronutrients in plants. His research is focused on enrichment of cereals with zinc, iron and iodine, and understanding the role of mineral nutrients in stress tolerance of crop plants. In the past 7 years he has been coordinating the HarvestZinc project (www.harvestzinc.org) in 12 countries under HarvestPlus program. find out more
Pierdomenico Perata – Professor of Plant Physiology at Sant` Anna School of Advances Studies, Pisa – IT
Pierdomenico Perata is Professor of plant physiology at the Sant’Anna School of Advanced Studies, Pisa (Italy). He previously worked at the universities of Pisa (1991-1999), Bari (1999-2000) and Modena (2000-2004) and in Japan, at Nagoya University (1996-1997). In 1994 he received the „FESPB Award“, which is awarded by the Federation of European Societies of Plant Physiology (FESPB) Congress for excellence in scientific achievements. His publication record includes papers in the most important plant science journals, including Nature, Nature Communications, Plos Biology, Nature Plants, The Plant Cell, The Plant Journal, Plant Physiology, Trends in Plant Science and many others, which received over 6000 citations. His research interests include plant stress physiology, plant hormone physiology, and sugar sensing and signalling. Please see the lab webpages for more details: find out more
Viktor V. Zhdankin – Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at University of Minnesota – U.S.
Viktor V. Zhdankin is a Professor of Chemistry in the University of Minnesota system. His research program deals with applications of hypervalent iodine compounds in organic synthesis. He has published over 300 research papers, authored a book on Hypervalent Iodine Chemistry (Wiley, 2013), and participated in organization of numerous international conferences on iodine chemistry. In 2011 he received a National Award of the American Chemical Society for Creative Research & Applications of Iodine Chemistry. Please see the website for more details: find out more
Tatsuo Kaiho – Professor of Science, Chiba University – JP
Tatsuo Kaiho (PhD) is a Technical Advisor of Godo Shigen Co., Ltd. (Chiba, Japan), one of the most well-known iodine manufacturing companies in the world. He is currently a visiting professor of Chiba University and a Director of the Society of Iodine Science in Japan. He developed novel iodine-containing materials and processes and presented independent research at many conferences, including the International Conference of Hypervalent Iodine Chemistry and the Symposium of Iodine Science. In 2014 he organized the 4th International Conference of Hypervalent Iodine Chemistry in Narita, Japan. He received several awards, such as the Distinguished Chemist Award from Chiba Prefectural Government (2001), the Organic Synthesis Award from Society of Synthetic Organic Chemistry Japan (2002) and the Society of Iodine Science Award (2012). He is the editor of „Iodine Chemistry and Applications“ (Wiley, 2014) and the author of „Iodine Made Simple“ (CRC Press, 2017).
John H Lazarus – Emeritus Professor of Clinical Endocrinology at Cardiff University
John Lazarus is Emeritus Professor of Clinical Endocrinology at Cardiff University, Cardiff, UK. His early work involved examination of iodine concentration by salivary glands in humans and animals. Later he became country representative for the International Council for Iodine Deficiency Disorders – now Iodine Global Network (IGN). He has also researched the iodine status of old subjects in the UK and more recently the iodine status of schoolgirls and pregnant women in UK. In 2012 he chaired a meeting on iodine in London and subsequently founded and chaired the Iodine Group UK. He also was the European representative for IGN from 2012 to 2020.