AAAS Annual Meeting, Phoenix Convention Center, Arizona: A high-level scientific panel moderated by the Financial Times titled: “ How the human exposome will unlock better health and medicine ”, gathers three leaders of the Global Exposome Forum from the United States and Europe, to brief delegates from the global scientific community on progress made since its launch in Washington D.C. in May, 2025.
The panel provides an opportunity to engage and inform AAAS delegates on perhaps the greatest public health opportunity of our time: the human exposome. Speakers will tackle three specific topics: the unprecedented opportunities afforded by exposomics science, the roadmap of actions to build a truly global community and the strategies being put in place to mitigate the challenges ahead.
As stated by panel organizer, Prof. Thomas Hartung of Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health, Department of Environmental Health and Engineering : “ We are here to make waves, not ripples. Our Committee Members have been putting in the hard yards over these past nine-months and the surge in interest leading to concrete set-up events and firm commitments is tremendous to see. We have much positive news in the pipeline and during our panel discussion we’ll announce three examples representing buy-in with national governments, global scientific institutions and large membership-led organizations.”
The panel discussion will be held in room West 105 of the Phoenix Convention Center from 10:00 AM – 11:00 AM MST Saturday, February 14 th , 2026 , and is open to any members of the press currently attending the AAAS Annual Meeting. Those interested in transformative public health efforts and international, grassroots initiatives are urged to join and hear from three front-line leaders in this rapidly developing area of science and medicine.
On the road to the Global Exposome Summit, Sitges – Barcelona, Spain, April 27 – 29, 2026.
The Human Exposome Project aims to surpass the Human Genome Project in scope and ambition as one of our greatest scientific achievements. Although the HGP revolutionized genetics, it only tells part of the story. Genes account for a mere 10-20% of disease, while our biological, chemical and environmental exposures account for at least 80%. That said, the world of science has been slow to take on this challenge. Until now. Newly established regional chapters and working groups are maximizing exposomic science at scale via the convergence of A.I., advanced sensors, metabolomics and big data analytics. They are actively recruiting partners and embracing the challenge of implementing science and policy at scale for the benefit of all, not just the few.
This global initiative has been perfectly timed to integrate and compliment ongoing research worldwide, to develop while running and to maximize interim windfall profits. Fully cognizant that the craft of feeding-in complex scientific advice into policy-making on hotly contested new technologies is key to overall success, a bottom-up approach to engage both citizens and elected officials alike, is the bedrock of this project. The common cause is to argue that from fighting childhood autism or asthma, to treating cognitive decline in our elderly and regulating microplastics, pesticides or food colorants, understanding the complex interplay between these exposures and human health is where today’s research efforts must lie.
Announcing three Exposome endorsers & new scientific into policy-making partnerships.
On December 1st, 2025, in Pretoria, the government of South Africa astutely maximized the impact of its own Science Forum South Africa and the hosting of the World Conference of Science Journalists by the Science Diplomacy Capital for Africa (SDCfA). A first meeting of national and pan-African experts was held with the specific purpose of gauging capacities to create a continent-wide exposome network. Parallel briefings were held with senior government and cabinet level officials from the Department of Science, Technology and Innovation (DSTI). The South African government also participated at Deputy Director-General level in the May 2025, Washington D.C. launch of the Human Exposome Project .
An immediate outcome is the agreement that pan-African experts will directly engage with and participate in Global Exposome Forum working groups, attending various thematic meetings worldwide. Efforts to better synchronize health data reporting systems has been identified as an immediate priority. A second workshop will be held in early December, 2026, one year on from the initial groundbreaking meeting. In the interim, the SDCfA has put its hand up and informed that it is ready and willing to act as the founding host of a pan-African exposome network.
Prof. Rémi Quirion, President of the International Network for Governmental Science Advice (INGSA), is a keen advocate of exposomics research and supporter of the ever-growing global consortium behind it. For example, INGSA took the lead in organizing a policy-focused panel as part of the May 2025 meeting in Washington, D.C. Its speakers included, amongst others, the chief scientists and presidents of UNESCO, WHO and the African Academy of Sciences .
Since then, INGSA has taken the lead in facilitating informal discussions with, and advising the Global Exposome Forum on, how ‘exposomethics’ might best feed into policy-making. A second high-level panel will be held on April 29 th , 2026, during the Global Exposome Summit meeting in Sitges, Spain. INGSA has also agreed to partner more formally with GEF across its 10,000-member network and continental chapters, to help advise where and when the GEF leadership can best engage the global science advisory system.
Similarly, on December 8th, 2025, the Global Exposome Forum initiated a working partnership with the Human Cell Atlas (HCA) and UNESCO, launching a series of targeted virtual town halls spanning single-cell analysis, genomics, exposomics, and science policy. UNESCO, recognized as a unifying force across cultural, educational, and scientific initiatives, also participated at senior level in the May 2025 meeting in Washington D.C. Sensing a large array of win-win synergies, a follow-up meeting with the Global Exposome Forum and UNESCO at Assistant Director-General level, will take place in Paris on March 3rd, 2026. This will lay the foundations for the planned signing of a Memorandum of Understanding between UNESCO and the Global Exposome Forum .
Additional commitments are coming in. Regional chapters are being organized and launched across key regions of the world, notably in Latin America and the Caribbean and in Southeast Asia. In Europe, GEF’s regional chapter, the European Exposome Forum , is organizing the Global Exposome Summit in Sitges, Spain from April 27-29, 2026. Registrations are already exceeding expectations and the program is shaping-up as a who’s who of global, health-led science and innovation drivers, including A.I., super-computing and foresight-led, policy-maker groups.
Perhaps most important are the Forum’s organizing efforts around the formation and integration of exposome and sub-domain-focused working groups. These self-organized, Forum -facilitated charters have been tasked with defining and addressing some of exposomics' most pressing challenges. Spanning industry, government, academia and civil society, working group members connect through a user experience-optimized, Forum -organized and operated digital platform with integrations for messaging, document sharing, and more. This streamlined digital service will allow for international exchange and coordinated effort around the specific charges of each group. These working groups are a fundamental and powerful component of the internationally coordinated coalition that is the Global Exposome Forum and further exemplify the bottom-up, grassroots and member-led form this effort is taking.
Taken together, these developments mark a decisive shift from promise to practice. Through coordinated public–private partnerships, global collaboration and shared infrastructure, the Global Exposome Forum is helping exposomics transform from a revolutionary idea into a paradigm shift in public health and modern medicine.
Relevant Links:
Global Exposome Forum : https://globalexposomeforum.org
Network for Exposomics in the US : https://www.nexus-exposomics.org
EIRENE : https://eirene.eu
International Human Exposome Network : https://humanexposome.net/