Governance and Management

A coalition of the American Heart Association (AHA) and Bioversity International-CIAT serves as the Secretariat for the PTFI. The Secretariat will primarily provide strategic and operational project management function, facilitating a multi-stakeholder partnership. The Secretariat will support the Funders Consortium Board in developing and implementing strategic plans and priorities. It will lead strategic engagements and communication strategies positioning PTFI as a truly global, diverse, multi-sectoral, and culturally/geographically representative group of collaborators, partners, and stakeholders.

The Funders Consortium Board is responsible for establishing the vision and strategic direction of the PTFI. It is responsible for appointing a Scientific Advisory Committee and a Multi-stakeholder Advisory Committee, ensuring their inputs for strategic decision-making.  The Funders Consortium Board is responsible for approving the annual work plan, budget, and performance management of the Secretariat. The Funders Consortium Board consists of a leadership group comprised of permanent and rotating representatives.  The Rockefeller Foundation (RF), the main contributor to the vision and funding of PTFI will Chair the FCB for a period of three (3) years. The Foundation for Food and Agriculture Research (FFAR) will hold permanent membership and the Seereve Foundation a rotating seat.

Verso Biosciences serve as the technology lead to establish the vision and strategy for the development of PTFI methods, standards and kits.  The primary objective is to establish a set of sustainable methods for standardized food composition assays, allowing researchers around the world to both contribute to, and compare their data against, the PTFI database.  Verso Biosciences will develop a standardized technology, and coordinate R&D activities between analytical labs and key technology companies in the analytical chemistry industry. It will coordinate the operationalization of PTFI methods, low-cost assays and discovery aligned with a distributed knowledge management and utilization model.

Centers of Excellence are fundamental in achieving the vision of the PTFI. Primarily they deliver the following functions; (1) drive innovation and translational opportunities for the PTFI through demonstration projects; (2) identify opportunities and collaborations in the standardization of technologies and tools; (3) in coordination with a network of labs  (in collaboration with Verso Biosciences), support capacity building for the use of PTFI technology in the Global South and around the world.  PTFI will establish CoE in all targeted regions of the world, aligning partnership framework to the overall strategy, priorities, governance, work plan, coherence with yearly planning and budgeting process.

Nine CoE are currently established – The University of Adelaide in Australia, The University of California, Davis (UC Davis), Ethiopia Public Health Institute (EPHI), Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) in Ghana, Pontificia Universidad Javeriana in Colombia, National Institute of Nutrition and Medical Sciences Mexico, Mahidol University (MU) Thailand, University of the South Pacific, and the Wageningen University and Research. The selection of CoE is managed through an open Request for Proposals (RFP).

The Scientific Advisory Committee serves an important function providing strategic guidance and input on PTFI’s overall direction, quality of science, and its applications. As an independent expert body, the SAC will report to the FCB. The SAC will be composed of 6-8 prominent internationally recognized individuals with expertise in one or more of the following areas – analytical chemistry, nutrition, public health, agriculture, plant and animal diversity, data science, and genomics. PTFI will strive for balanced membership in terms of disciplinary mix, gender and geographic diversity. The Technology lead of PTFI will also join the committee as an observer. The FCB, informed by the Secretariat, will appoint the SAC members including a Chairperson. Members are appointed for three years with possible reappointment for an additional period of up to two years to ensure a staggered rotation of members and continuity of institutional knowledge. Members of SAC will sign a confidential conflict of interest statement. The SAC will meet as needed, with a minimum of twice a year.

The purpose of Multi-stakeholder Advisory Committee is to facilitate input to the PTFI from a broad range of actors from a range of disciplines, actors, and continents. Comprised of a maximum number of 10-15 key stakeholders, MAC will represent a broad range of sectors, geographies and expertise, with a focus on: healthcare professionals and clinicians, investors, governments and policy makers, private sector representatives, social entrepreneurs, environmental and agricultural stakeholders, and civil society organizations. The Chair of the Scientific Advisory Committee will also participate in the Multi-stakeholder advisory committee.