The national steering group of Genomic Medicine Sweden (GMS) has appointed Samuli Ripatti, Jayne Hehir-Kwa, Christian Gilissen, Augusto Rendon, Tony Håndstad and Mathias Ekman as members of the new GMS Informatics Advisory Board.
“We are delighted to welcome this group of experts in bioinformatics and informatics to GMS Informatics Advisory Board. These individuals together have a breadth and depth of competencies that will help GMS shape our future directions and align with developments internationally in bioinformatics, informatics and data sharing”, says Valtteri Wirta, Co-chair of GMS Informatics, Platform Scientific Coordinator at Clinical Genomics Stockholm, Science for Life Laboratory, and Head of Genomic Medicine Center Karolinska at Karolinska University Hospital.
The primary responsibilities of the GMS Informatics Advisory Board will include offering operational and strategic guidance on the development of bioinformatics and data analysis approaches, advising on data management, structuring, and sharing practices within GMS, contributing to strategies for genomic data interpretation, and providing input on IT infrastructure (including computation and storage) as well as data privacy and IT security issues.
”It is very positive that we have an Informatics Advisory Board in place and their knowledge and experience will be invaluable in future work with the National Genomics Platform”, says Per Sikora, Co-chair of GMS Informatics, bioinformatician and Head of unit at the University of Gothenburg, Region Västra Götaland.
“The bioinformatics expertise gathered within the Informatics Advisory Board will be a great source of knowledge to aid GMS with guidance in strategic questions related to decisions on developmental paths in our nationwide effort to develop common analysis tools for genomic data, as well as with experiences in navigating the newly emerging regulatory landscape of diagnostic testing”, says Tobias Strid, Co-chair of GMS Informatics and Head of Operations at Precision Medicine Laboratory, Diagnostic Center, Region Östergötland.
An inaugural meeting with the newly appointed Informatics Advisory Boeard will be held in early autumn.
About the Board members
Samuli Ripatti, Director of the Institute for Molecular Medicine Finland (FIMM), Professor of Biometry at the Faculty of Medicine, University of Helsinki, and Affiliated Faculty member at Massachusetts General Hospital and Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard.
Christian Gilissen, Professor of Genome Bioinformatics, Radboud University Medical Center, Radboud University.
Jayne Hehir-Kwa, Co-PI Big Data Core, Princess Máxima Center.
Augusto Rendon, Chief Bioinformatician, Genomics England.
Tony Håndstaad, Head engineer, Development manager at Department of Medical Genetics, Oslo University Hospital.
Mathias Ekman, Director Digital Health Platforms & Partner Ecosystems, Microsoft.
Image: GMS Informatics Advisory Board members, Samuli Ripatti, Jayne Hehir-Kwa, Christian Gilissen, Augusto Rendon, Tony Håndstad and Mathias Ekman.