Executive Director of Santé publique France

A hospital-based public health physician and infectious disease specialist with accreditation to supervise research, Caroline Semaille has over 20 years of professional experience within French health safety agencies (SPF, ANSM, ANSES) and has devoted most of her career to issues related to infectious diseases and protecting the public from risks. She assumed her duties as Director General of Santé publique France on February 23, 2023.

Throughout her career, Caroline Semaille has contributed for over 10 years to the fight against HIV/AIDS and to the management of several international health crises, such as H1N1 influenza, SARS, MERS-CoV, Ebola, and COVID-19.

From April 2021 to February 2023, she served at the ANSM as Deputy Director General in charge of operations, where she led and coordinated the work of all medical and functional departments responsible for access to and safety of health products, with the aim of serving patients alongside healthcare professionals and in consultation with their respective representatives.

From 2019 to 2021, as Deputy Director General of the Regulated Products Division at ANSES, she coordinated all departments responsible for the evaluation and issuance of marketing authorizations for veterinary drugs, plant protection products, and biocidal products, and strengthened phytopharmacovigilance.

From 2013 to 2019, she served as Product Director at the ANSM, overseeing vaccines, anti-infective drugs, and products used in rare metabolic diseases, dermatology, hepatogastroenterology, and gene therapy.
In 2000, alongside her clinical work, she joined the Institut de Veille Sanitaire (now Santé publique France) as an epidemiologist. Two years later, she took over as head of the unit responsible for monitoring HIV/AIDS, sexually transmitted infections (STIs), and hepatitis, a position she held until 2013.

She has also been a member of the ANRS’s coordinated initiatives, the High Council for Public Health, and national health plans, and has served on the National Commission on Ethics and Alerts in Public Health and the Environment. She has carried out numerous humanitarian missions, notably for Médecins du Monde, and has practiced clinical medicine in hospitals for over 10 years.