Governance

HFA is a collaborative association of institutions. It is federated by design: the arrangements below exist to make hub sovereignty structural rather than a matter of goodwill.

Who decides

A Steering Committee holds strategic and financial authority — the work plan, the budget, allocation of resources to hubs, and the appointment of the Executive Director. Each regional hub holds a seat. Academic and technical partners hold seats as a class, capped at one third of the total, and decide among themselves who occupies them. Funders take part through a forum and do not vote. No institution is represented twice.

A Scientific and Technical Advisory Group advises on method and screens proposed use cases against ethical criteria published in advance. Technical judgement is not subject to direction by any funder, member or governing body, and dissenting scientific views are recorded rather than settled by weight of numbers.

A Global Coordinating Body, led by the Executive Director, carries out the work.

• Steering Committee Decides the work plan, the budget, the allocation of resources to hubs, and the appointment of the Executive Director. Each hub holds a seat.
• Scientific and Technical Advisory Group Advises the Steering Committee on method and screens use cases against published ethical criteria. Advises — does not decide
• Funder Forum Where funders are consulted on direction and report on their support. No vote
• Global Coordinating Body Carries out the decisions of the Steering Committee, led by the Executive Director. Executes

Who holds what

• University of California San Diego, Herbert Wertheim School of Public Health — Host Institution. Executes the Steering Committee's decisions and holds the legal and fiduciary obligations that cannot be delegated.
• Vital Wave — Coordinating Partner. Provides coordination and technical capacity on an interim basis, until the Global Coordinating Body is sufficiently established.
• Johns Hopkins University, Transform Health, Universidad San Sebastián — academic and technical partners.

Conflicts of interest

Interests are declared before a matter is considered and entered in a register open to the public. On decisions about resources, a member with a direct institutional interest may take part in the discussion but withdraws from the decision.

Review

Every instrument carries a review date. The first cycle is twenty-four months, and thereafter no longer than thirty-six. An independent evaluation of HFA's work is commissioned at intervals of no more than three years.