Years: 2022

Dr. Augusto Rendon leads our 70+ bioinformaticians and data scientists at Genomics England. He has a decade of experience growing and leading bioinformatics teams and overseeing the delivery of bioinformatics and genome analysis for population-scale whole genome sequencing initiatives (specifically, the NIHR Bioresource for Rare Diseases, Genomics England’s 100,000 genomes project, and the whole genome component of England’s Genomic Medicine Service). He also enjoys sharing lessons and experiences with similar international initiatives (including Australia, Canada, Germany, and Denmark).

Dr. Kaitlin Samocha is an Assistant Professor at Massachusetts General Hospital and an Associated Scientist at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard. She is on the steering committee for the Genome Aggregation Database (gnomAD), one of the world’s largest publicly available collections of human genetic variation data. The focus of her research career has been on developing methods and statistical tools to improve the interpretation of genetic variation, particularly rare variation.

Dr. Stephan Sanders trained as a pediatric physician in the UK before undertaking a PhD and postdoctoral research position at Yale. He is now an Associate Professor at UCSF in the Department of Psychiatry. His research focuses on using genomics and bioinformatics to understand the etiology of developmental disorders, such as Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD).

Hamish S. Scott, BSc (Hons), PhD, FFSc (RCPA), FAHMS, has transformed his department from being largely diagnostic (40 people) to being a dynamic academic/diagnostic department integrated with basic and clinical research. His department has 35 full-time research personnel and is active in student (science and medical) placements, training (PhDs, registrars, overseas post-docs) and clinical trials. His passion is linking research to diagnostics and clinical translation. He has been imbedded within diagnostic units for all but 8 of his 35 year laboratory career.

Dr. Richard Scott is Chief Medical Officer at Genomics England. He joined the organization in 2015. He is also a Consultant and Honorary Associate Professor in Clinical Genetics at Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children and the UCL Institute of Child Health where his practice focuses on diagnosing children with rare multisystem disorders. Richard trained in medicine at Cambridge University and University College London. He specialized in Paediatrics and subsequently Clinical Genetics in London and completed his Ph.D. in childhood cancer syndromes at the Institute of Cancer Research. Through his clinical practice and in his role at Genomics England he is passionate about harnessing the power of new genomic technologies for the benefit of all patients in mainstream healthcare.

Sharon F. Terry is President and CEO of Genetic Alliance, an enterprise engaging individuals, families and communities to transform health.  Genetic Alliance works to provide programs, products, and tools for ordinary people to take charge of their health and to further biomedical research.

Director of Clinical Informatics at Baylor College of Medicine

Eric Venner is a computational biologist with expertise leading teams of genomic scientists, bioinformaticians and software engineers spanning projects that encompass NGS data analysis, high-throughput genomic variant interpretation, clinical reporting and protein function prediction. He is the Director of Clinical Informatics for the Human Genome Sequencing Center’s Clinical Laboratory at the Baylor College of Medicine, where he is responsible for the architecture, development and maintenance of clinical reporting and bioinformatics pipelines that are in use for multiple genomic medicine projects, including the NIH’s All of Us Research Program and the INSIGHT study in epilepsy

As UCSF’s first vice chancellor for Science Policy and Strategy, Keith Yamamoto leads efforts to anticipate the needs of an increasingly dynamic biomedical research endeavor, and to position UCSF optimally, by working within the University as well as influencing and shaping science policy at the state and national levels and beyond.