GeoSentinel

What GeoSentinel does

GeoSentinel is a non-profit global surveillance and research network founded in 1995 in Atlanta, USA, as a collaboration between the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the International Society of Travel Medicine (ISTM). It operates a clinician-based sentinel surveillance system that collects systematic, patient-level data on travel-related infectious diseases through a network of 71+ specialized travel and tropical medicine sites across 29 countries on six continents. The network serves public health authorities (CDC, WHO, ECDC, PHAC), travel medicine clinicians, and academic researchers, with a database of over 333,000 records covering 516 diagnoses across 237 countries and territories and a publication track record of 134+ peer-reviewed papers.

The core technology is an electronic surveillance database that evolved from a single-page faxable form (launched September 1997) to real-time, web-based data entry (by 2005). Platform features include GeoSentinel HealthMap (launched February 2009), which automatically geo-locates diagnoses on Google Maps and links to news intelligence from HealthMap, ProMED, CDC, WHO, and ECDC; smartphone and email push alerting (launched May 2010); and real-time historical time series visualizations. Regional sub-networks operate as integrated sub-brands: EuroTravNet (Europe, founded November 2008) and CanTravNet (Canada, founded 2012). Additional capabilities include an Alerts System, an Enhanced Surveillance Projects portfolio (antimicrobial resistance, COVID-19/CITrSS, dengue, Chikungunya), and a member portal for real-time data entry and reporting.

GeoSentinel's business model is non-commercial: it has no product pricing or customer revenue. Funding is sourced through a cooperative agreement between ISTM and the CDC Division of Global Migration and Quarantine, direct ISTM contributions, modest Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) funding for CanTravNet, charitable donations via the GeoSentinel Foundation, and historical grants from the ECDC (2008) and IHU Méditerranée Infection Foundation (post-2012). Distribution is via a membership model where participating clinics join as GeoSentinel Sites or Affiliate Members, contributing surveillance data in exchange for bi-monthly e-bulletins, real-time data access, incentive programs, and access to the annual meeting.

Name

GeoSentinel

Legal name

GeoSentinel

Website

https://geosentinel.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

1995

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

101–250 employees

Short description

GeoSentinel is a non-profit global surveillance network, founded in 1995, that collects travel-related infectious disease data through 71+ member clinics across 29 countries. It serves public health authorities, clinicians, and researchers via real-time alerts, a 333,000+ record database, and peer-reviewed publications.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Global Disease Surveillance

akta.pro primary industry

Sentinel Site & Community-Based Surveillance (HLAJANAN)

akta.pro secondary industries

Travel, Border Health & Quarantine Surveillance (HLAJABAL), Travel & Tropical Medicine (HLAKAGAD), Public Health GIS, Geospatial & Environmental Exposure Analytics (HLAJAJAJ), Traveler Tracking & Location Intelligence (THACANAB)

Keywords

• Travel medicine surveillance
• Infectious disease monitoring
• Global health surveillance
• Epidemiology research network
• Tropical disease tracking

Headquarters

HQ city

Atlanta

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices5 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Others

Revenue model

1. Cooperative Agreement with CDC: GeoSentinel receives core infrastructure support through a cooperative agreement (CoAg) between ISTM and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Division of Global Migration and Quarantine. This provides major grantor funding.
2. ISTM Direct Contributions: Direct contributions from the International Society of Travel Medicine (ISTM), including seed money and ongoing support. ISTM is the parent organization of GeoSentinel.
3. Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC): Partnership with Public Health Agency of Canada. CanTravNet receives modest independent funding from PHAC used for GeoSentinel operations.
4. GeoSentinel Foundation Donations: The GeoSentinel Foundation supports research, surveillance, and educational activities of the network through charitable donations. Accepts donations through the ISTM donation portal.
5. ECDC Funding for EuroTravNet: EuroTravNet was initially funded through a competitive tender awarded by the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC). After the ECDC tender period ended, EuroTravNet received a grant from IHU Méditerranée Infection Foundation.

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels8 records

Core offering

GeoSentinel is a global clinician-based sentinel surveillance network that collects, analyzes, and disseminates data on travel-related infectious diseases through 71+ specialized travel and tropical medicine sites across 29 countries. The network operates an electronic database (over 333,000 patient records), real-time alerting capabilities, and regional sub-networks (EuroTravNet, CanTravNet) to support early detection of outbreaks and inform public health response.

Product overview

GeoSentinel is a globally active surveillance network of travel, tropical medicine, and infectious disease experts operating since 1995. The core offering is the GeoSentinel Surveillance Platform, which collects systematic data through a network of 71+ specialized travel and tropical medicine sites across six continents. The platform comprises the Core Surveillance Data Collection system for ongoing patient data, an Alerts System for rapid communication of unusual diagnoses, and Enhanced Surveillance Projects for focused research initiatives. The network operates through regional sub-networks including CanTravNet (Canada) and EuroTravNet (Europe). Members access a secure portal for real-time data entry, reporting, and document access.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• EuroTravNet: A European sub-network of the GeoSentinel Network for travel-associated illness detection, verification, assessment, and communication.
• CanTravNet

Products and services

• GeoSentinel Surveillance Platform Global clinician-based sentinel surveillance system that monitors infectious diseases and travel-related conditions among international travelers and migrants through a network of specialized clinics and healthcare providers.
• GeoSentinel Alerts System

Named customers7 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration2 records

Feature3 records

Partnerships

Nine partnerships are on record, tiered core and major.

• Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerGeoSentinel was established in 1995 as a collaboration between CDC and ISTM. CDC provides major grantor funding through a cooperative agreement (CoAg) with ISTM. The CDC Division of Global Migration and Quarantine Director provides leadership and maintains communications with the Office of the PI. CDC reviews and approves the annual GeoSentinel budget. A CDC Project Officer serves as primary liaison between GeoSentinel and CDC.
• International Society of Travel Medicine (ISTM)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerISTM provides seed money and ongoing direct contributions to GeoSentinel. GeoSentinel is a global research and surveillance network of ISTM. ISTM President and Executive Board participate in executive-level management decisions, including appointment of PI/co-PIs and approval of candidates for Data Analyst/Program Manager. ISTM Secretariat provides financial and contractual management.
• World Health Organization (WHO)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerGeoSentinel has several collaborations with WHO including: Dr. Annelies Wilder-Smith as WHO Arboviral Consultant (former Site Director), Dr. Jose Ramon Franco in the Neglected Tropical Disease Department for reporting human African trypanosomiasis cases, Prof. Patricia Schlagenhauf as Co-Director of the Zürich WHO Collaborating Centre for Travellers' Health, and Dr. Philippe Gautret as WHO Collaborating Centre for Rickettsial Disease.
• EuroTravNetcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerEuroTravNet is a European sub-network of GeoSentinel, launched in 2008 with 12 European GeoSentinel Sites. Funded initially by ECDC through a competitive tender process. Provides key infrastructure and IT support as a partner. Membership in EuroTravNet is automatically included with GeoSentinel Site or Affiliate membership.
• CanTravNet (Canadian Travel Medicine Network)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCanTravNet is a network of clinical experts in travel and tropical medicine from across Canada, made up of GeoSentinel sites based in Canada plus Canadian Affiliate Members. Coordinates analyses and projects based on Canadian traveler data. Works closely with Public Health Agency of Canada. Founded in 2012 under contracts between ISTM, PHAC, and University Health Network of Toronto.
• ProMED-mailmajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerGeoSentinel contributes outbreak alerts ranging from single cases to small case series to ProMED each year. Has an excellent working relationship with ProMED's lead team including the Editor, Associate Editor, and Parasitic Diseases Moderator.
• EpiCoremajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerGeoSentinel partners with EpiCore, a group of human, animal and environmental health experts using innovative surveillance methods to verify reports about public health events. GeoSentinel is one of a limited number of organizations that can use the EpiCore platform to obtain supplemental information on novel disease outbreaks.
• TropNet (European Travel Medicine Network)majorStrategic or Co-development PartnerCollaborations with TropNet have been strengthened including outbreak reports and malaria case management survey in 2020. Held half-day overlapping annual meetings in Porto (2018) and Madrid (2022). Regular outreach from GeoSentinel to TropNet sites through secretariat in Negrar, Italy. Collaborative publication in process on XDR typhoid fever.
• HealthMapmajorTechnology or IntegrationGeoSentinel HealthMap launches in 2009 - a customized version of the public HealthMap that automatically geo-locates all key diagnoses on a worldwide Google map in real time. HealthMap's proprietary news-crawling software provides links to relevant web pages from multiple public health sources.

Scale indicators10 records

Recent moves11 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• TropNet (European Travel Medicine Network): A European network of tropical and travel medicine clinics that conducts prospective surveillance of travel-associated infections. Operates as a near-mirror of GeoSentinel in Europe, with overlapping membership, co-located annual meetings, and joint publications (e.g., XDR typhoid fever), making it the closest functional peer.
• ProMED-mail (International Society for Infectious Diseases): The Program for Monitoring Emerging Diseases is a global, event-based disease reporting system that GeoSentinel actively contributes to and partners with. Both rely on expert human curation of outbreak signals and target similar public-health and clinician audiences, making ProMED-mail a direct functional peer in surveillance intelligence.
• HealthMap (Boston Children's Hospital): HealthMap provides real-time, geo-located disease outbreak intelligence by aggregating news, social media, and official alerts on an interactive global map. It is both a technology integration partner of GeoSentinel (GeoSentinel HealthMap) and a directly comparable alternative surveillance visualization platform.
• EpiCore (Ending Pandemics): EpiCore is a global network of human, animal, and environmental health experts using innovative, participatory surveillance methods to verify disease outbreak reports. It is a direct partner of GeoSentinel and a comparable event-based surveillance network with similar expert-driven verification workflows.
• GIDEON (Global Infectious Diseases and Epidemiology Network): GIDEON is a subscription-based infectious disease knowledge and epidemiology database used by clinicians, public-health agencies, and travel-medicine practitioners. It is directly comparable to GeoSentinel in serving the travel/tropical-medicine decision-support market, albeit via a commercial software model rather than a member network.

Emerging players

• BlueDot: BlueDot is an AI-driven outbreak intelligence platform that aggregates global disease signals (including travel, aviation, and news data) to predict infectious-disease spread. It targets similar public-health and government buyers as GeoSentinel but competes on speed, scale, and commercial analytics rather than clinician-reported cases.
• Sickweather: Sickweather applies crowd-sourced, social-media-based illness tracking to forecast local disease activity for consumers, employers, and public-health partners. It represents an alternative, digitally enabled surveillance paradigm to GeoSentinel's clinic-based model, with overlapping end-customers in public health.
• BEACON (Biosurveillance Ecosystem for Advanced Capability and Notification): BEACON is a Canadian-led biosurveillance consortium that aggregates pathogen and genomic data to support public-health decision-making. Listed as a GeoSentinel funder/partner, it overlaps with CanTravNet's Canadian public-health ecosystem and competes for the same PHAC biosurveillance dollars.

Broad incumbents

• TESSy (European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control): ECDC's TESSy is the EU-wide official surveillance system for infectious diseases across member states. As the regional public-health authority that funds and hosts EuroTravNet, it is a broader incumbent that could absorb or substitute for parts of GeoSentinel's European clinical surveillance function.
• WHO Global Outbreak Alert and Response Network (GOARN): GOARN is the WHO-coordinated international network of technical institutions that detect, verify, and respond to disease outbreaks globally. It is a broader multilateral incumbent that performs overlapping outbreak-alert functions and competes for the same international public-health attention and funding.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xtwitter.com/_istm_
• Facebookfacebook.com/travelmedicinesociety
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/geosentinel

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles8 records

Subsidiaries3 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about GeoSentinel