Dr Rinat Maksyutov

Dr Rinat Maksyutov is Director General, Federal Budgetary Research Institution - State Research Center of Virology and Biotechnology “VECTOR”, Federal Service for Surveillance on Consumer Rights Protection and Human Wellbeing, Koltsovo, where he has been working, in different capacities, since 2003.

Dr Maksyutov is the head of the WHO Collaborating Centre for Orthopoxvirus Diagnosis and Repository for Variola Virus Strains and DNA. He’s serving, and has served, as Member or Adviser of several WHO Advisory bodies, including WHO Review Committee on the Functioning of the International Health Regulations (2005) during the COVID-19 Response (September 2020-May 2021); WHO International Health Regulations (IHR) Emergency Committee for Ebola Viral Disease in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (2018); WHO Advisory Committee on Variola Virus Research, since 2016.

 Dr Maksyutov was awarded a Master in Science in molecular biology by Novosibirsk State University, Russian Federation; and, subsequently, a Master in Science in Virology, and a PhD in Biology by VECTOR, and has published numerous articles in peer-reviewed journals.