Blood, Organ, and Tissue Senior Executive Council (BOTSEC)

The Blood, Organ, and Tissue Senior Executive Council (BOTSEC) is an advisory forum for senior leadership from HHS organizational components, as well as liaison representatives from  Department of Defense and Veterans’ Health Administration, that are involved in blood, organ, and tissue safety and availability. The HHS Assistant Secretary for Health serves as the Council Chair, and the OASH Senior Advisor for Blood and Tissue Policy serves as the BOTSEC Executive Director.

Learn about BOSTEC's duties and charge by reading the charter. Some of the responsibilities of the Council include:

1. Informing and recommending to the Council Chair and its members, current and future HHS organizational component priorities, decisions, and actions on public health issues relevant to blood, organ and tissue safety and availability.
2. Identifying common issues and approaches, and pursuing opportunities for coordinated action related to emerging infectious diseases, risk communication, etc.
3. Examining, for coordination purposes, appropriate policy or program actions that require or may require an HHS position on an issue.
4. Developing strategies to alert scientists, industry, and academia about the needs and opportunities for research to maximize the safety and availability of blood, organs, and tissues.
5. Proposing and discussing topics or questions to be addressed by relevant federal advisory committees for which HHS provides management support, such as the Advisory Committee on Blood and Tissue Safety and Availability, Advisory Committee on Organ Transplantation, and Advisory Committee on Blood Stem Cell Transplant

Membership on the BOTSEC includes senior leadership or a designee from the following HHS organizational components:

• Office of the Assistant Secretary for Health (OASH)
• Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation
• Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response
• Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ)
• Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
• Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS)
• Food and Drug Administration (FDA)
• Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA)
• National Institutes of Health (NIH)

The BOTSEC also includes liaison representatives from:

• Department of Defense (DoD)
• Veterans’ Health Administration (VA)

Subcommittees

The PHS Blood, Organ, and Tissue Safety working group (PHS BOTS), with members from OASH, AHRQ, CDC, CMS, FDA, HRSA, NIH, DoD, and VA, exists to provide assistance to the BOTSEC to accomplish its mission. The PHS BOTS considers issues in accordance with the charge given to BOTSEC and makes periodic reports of their work to the Council. Other subcommittees are formed on an as-needed basis with the relevant members.