The ESCMID-appointed Steering Committee consists of the Chair, Scientific Secretary, Clinical Data Co-ordinator, Technical Data Co-ordinator, Head of the EUCAST Development Laboratory, Educational Officer, Webmaster, Pharmacokinetic/Pharmacodynamic experts, a representative from each of the European national breakpoint committees and two representatives from the EUCAST general committee.
EUCAST General Committee Representative 1: Denmark, (2023-2025); Switzerland, (2025 - 2027).
EUCAST General Committee Representative 2: The Netherlands, (2023-2025); China, (2025 - 2027).
Gunnar Kahlmeter and John Turnidge contribute MIC distribution/ECOFF setting knowledge plus rational document writing to the EUCAST Steering Committee.
All current and previous Steering Committee members and positions are listed here.
In 2001 Professor Gunnar Kahlmeter was tasked to restructure EUCAST, and became the chair of the organization between 2002-2012, followed by a period first as clinical data co-ordinator and then as technical data co-ordinator until the end of 2025. He was also the founder of the EUCAST Development Lab and served as its director until 2024. Professor Kahlmeter also developed the EUCAST website into an internationally esteemed library on everything related to antimicrobial susceptibility testing. He served as its webmaster until 2025.
Professor Kahlmeter has played a pivotal role in international antimicrobial susceptibility testing and clinical breakpoint setting over a period of a quarter of a century, and he served in similar roles both for the Swedish Reference Group for Antibiotics and the British Society of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy. He is known internationally for introducing concepts such as epidemiological cut-off values, devising the EUCAST public consultation process, revising the EUCAST definition of the I-category, introducing the concept of the area of technical uncertainty (ATU), and for developing rapid 4 – 6 hour phenotypic susceptibility testing directly from positive blood culture bottles. Starting from 2026, he has stepped down from his duties as technical data co-ordinator in the EUCAST Steering Committee but will continue to contribute to the subcommittee for determining wild type MIC distributions and the setting of epidemiological cut-off values and to be part of the antimycobacterial subcommittee. We thank him wholeheartedly for his efforts for EUCAST for over a quarter of a century.
2–4 members from the EUCAST General Committee are appointed by ESCMID, based on recommendations from the Steering Committee. Members from the General Committee serve two-year terms, renewable only if no other candidates are available. Applications should be made in writing to the chair of the EUCAST Steering Committee.
ECDC and EMA observers may attend Steering Committee meetings. External experts may be co-opted to contribute to specific topics, as agreed by the Steering Committee.
Arrangements for “visiting” General Committee members were agreed in 2012 (to be implemented in 2013) to allow any national representative with an interest in a particular agenda item to attend, even if they are not currently members of the Steering Committee. This also allows national representatives from non-European countries to attend meetings intermittently, as EUCAST funding does not cover members from outside Europe.
Any General Committee member may apply to attend a specific Steering Committee meeting. The arrangements are as follows:
To obtain professional help with travel arrangements for Steering Committee meetings, contact the ESCMID secretariat.
Travel reimbursement for Steering Committee members - download and complete this form. Send the form directly to ESCMID (email in form). It no longer needs a signature from EUCAST.
ESCMID travel insurance of EUCAST SC members.
Looking for more information? Get in touch with an EUCAST representative today!