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WADA publishes membership of its Standing and Permanent Special Committees for 2024

Today, the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) publishes the 2024 membership of its three Standing Committees, namely, the Education Committee; the Finance and Administration Committee; and the Health, Medical and Research Committee. The new or renewed member terms of these bodies were approved by the Agency’s Executive Committee (ExCo) at its 16 November 2023 meeting. To provide a full picture of WADA’s Committees in 2024, the membership of the five Permanent Special Committees is also included in this publication. 

In accordance with WADA’s Governance Regulations concerning Standing Committee composition and rotation, on an annual basis, the Agency is required to announce its call for nominations six months prior to when the decision will be taken by the ExCo. Accordingly, in May 2023, WADA invited candidates to apply for nine vacant seats. After the close of the application period, the candidates were reviewed by the respective Chairs of the Standing Committees, in consultation with WADA’s President and Director General, and then presented to the ExCo for approval. The selection of Standing Committee members is undertaken with consideration across all the Agency’s Committees to ensure fair distribution of membership between Public Authority and Sport Movement representatives and regional diversity, while also considering gender and cultural balance where possible. Each Standing Committee includes at least one representative from the athlete community and another from National Anti-Doping Organizations. 

In line with WADA’s governance reforms: 

  • one of the vacant seats of WADA’s Education Committee in 2024 was reserved for a member selected from and by WADA’s Athlete Council; 

  • one of the vacant seats of WADA’s Health, Medical and Research Committee was reserved for a WADA-accredited Laboratory representative;  

  • WADA’s Finance and Administration Committee sees the replacement of a member who was appointed to the newly formed Risk and Audit Committee in September 2023; and  

  • the Athlete Council nominated the new athlete member of WADA’s Compliance Review Committee (now a Permanent Special Committee); Dr. Renae Domaschenz (Rowing) was confirmed by the ExCo on 16 November 2023.  

WADA President Witold Bańka said: “WADA is grateful to its Standing and Permanent Special Committees members, who graciously volunteer their time and expertise to bolster the Agency’s capacity to pursue its collaborative worldwide mission for doping-free sport. Committee members play an instrumental role in the Agency’s policy development and priority setting, and are therefore nominated, considered, and ultimately selected through a rigorous process. Additionally, as part of WADA’s goals with regards to diversity, equity, and inclusion, we are very pleased that half of all our Committee members are women; and that, 38 countries from all five continents are represented within the 2024 Committees.” 

More information on WADA’s Committees can be found under the Standing Committee section and the Permanent Special Committee section of WADA’s website. The information will be updated with the new compositions in early January 2024.