Speaker Bios
Marc LePage
Genome Canada
President and CEO
Marc LePage is President and CEO of Genome Canada. Before assuming this role in January 2016, he served as President and CEO of Génome Québec since December 2011, where he led a major increase in research activity and enhanced focus on the development of genomic applications within priority sectors within the province. He is an expert in international partnerships and previously served as Special Advisor, Climate Change and Energy for the Embassy of Canada in Washington, D.C. and worked as Consul General at the Canadian Consulate in San Francisco/Silicon Valley. Marc LePage was also one of the pioneers behind the founding of Genome Canada in 2000. During his tenure as Executive Vice-President of Corporate Development, he made a significant contribution to the development of genomics in Canada.
Genome Canada
President and CEO
Marc LePage is President and CEO of Genome Canada. Before assuming this role in January 2016, he served as President and CEO of Génome Québec since December 2011, where he led a major increase in research activity and enhanced focus on the development of genomic applications within priority sectors within the province. He is an expert in international partnerships and previously served as Special Advisor, Climate Change and Energy for the Embassy of Canada in Washington, D.C. and worked as Consul General at the Canadian Consulate in San Francisco/Silicon Valley. Marc LePage was also one of the pioneers behind the founding of Genome Canada in 2000. During his tenure as Executive Vice-President of Corporate Development, he made a significant contribution to the development of genomics in Canada.
Serena Scollen
ELIXIR Beacon
Head of Human Genomics and Translational Data
Serena Scollen is the Head of Human Genomics and Translational Data at ELIXIR, the European infrastructure for bioinformatics and life-science data, based in Hinxton, UK. Her vision is to ensure data that can be shared, will be shared responsibly. She is working with scientists across Europe to establish standards and infrastructure to facilitate discoverability, access, sharing and analysis of genomics data, linked to other data types and at a scale that has not previously been achieved. Developing infrastructure will unleash new possibilities for genomics and health. Prior to joining ELIXIR, she was a Director within the Human Genetics and Computational Biomedicine group at Pfizer. In this role, she led and implemented a genetic and precision medicine strategy to support drug target selection and clinical programmes for the Pain and Sensory Disorders Research Unit. She was also a member of the ABPI Stratified Medicine Working Group. Earlier in her career, she worked within the Toxicogenomics group at GlaxoSmithKline. She gained postdoctoral experience at the University of Cambridge and Imperial College London and a PhD from the University of Cambridge, with a focus on the genetic susceptibility to disease.
ELIXIR Beacon
Head of Human Genomics and Translational Data
Serena Scollen is the Head of Human Genomics and Translational Data at ELIXIR, the European infrastructure for bioinformatics and life-science data, based in Hinxton, UK. Her vision is to ensure data that can be shared, will be shared responsibly. She is working with scientists across Europe to establish standards and infrastructure to facilitate discoverability, access, sharing and analysis of genomics data, linked to other data types and at a scale that has not previously been achieved. Developing infrastructure will unleash new possibilities for genomics and health. Prior to joining ELIXIR, she was a Director within the Human Genetics and Computational Biomedicine group at Pfizer. In this role, she led and implemented a genetic and precision medicine strategy to support drug target selection and clinical programmes for the Pain and Sensory Disorders Research Unit. She was also a member of the ABPI Stratified Medicine Working Group. Earlier in her career, she worked within the Toxicogenomics group at GlaxoSmithKline. She gained postdoctoral experience at the University of Cambridge and Imperial College London and a PhD from the University of Cambridge, with a focus on the genetic susceptibility to disease.
Said Ismail
Ismail Household
Director, Qatar Genome
Dr. Said Ismail is the Director of Qatar Genome Programme, which is a population-based initiative with a comprehensive strategy involving drafting regulations and policies; sponsoring genomic research; establishing national genomic data networks; building local human capacity; and facilitating the integration of genomics into the healthcare system.
Ismail Household
Director, Qatar Genome
Dr. Said Ismail is the Director of Qatar Genome Programme, which is a population-based initiative with a comprehensive strategy involving drafting regulations and policies; sponsoring genomic research; establishing national genomic data networks; building local human capacity; and facilitating the integration of genomics into the healthcare system.
Benilton Carvalho
University of Campinas
Associate Professor
Benilton Carvalho develops statistical methodologies and high-performance computational tools for the analysis of high-throughput genomic data and involved with the development of several BioConductor, since 2004. Dr. Carvalho is Assistant Professor (Department of Statistics), Advisor to the Dean of Research at University of Campinas (UNICAMP) and member of the Steering Committee of the Brazilian Initiative on Precision Medicine (BIPMed / Brazil).
University of Campinas
Associate Professor
Benilton Carvalho develops statistical methodologies and high-performance computational tools for the analysis of high-throughput genomic data and involved with the development of several BioConductor, since 2004. Dr. Carvalho is Assistant Professor (Department of Statistics), Advisor to the Dean of Research at University of Campinas (UNICAMP) and member of the Steering Committee of the Brazilian Initiative on Precision Medicine (BIPMed / Brazil).
Ilkka Lappalainen
CSC ? IT Center for Science
Deputy Head of ELIXIR Finland
Ilkka Lappalainen is the Deputy Head of ELIXIR Finland and leads a group that provides data management services for the national research organisations. The aim is to ensure secure, scalable and international standards compliant research environment through active engagement with organisations such as ELIXIR, BBMRI and EuroBioImaging. Ilkka coordinates the Finnish involvement in many other works streams such as Discovery, DURI, Cloud, Large Scale Genomics, Clinical&Phenotypic Data Capture. Before his current position he worked as the ELIXIR Human data coordinator at the ELIXIR-Hub and a Project lead for the EMBL-EBI European Genome-phenome Archive (EGA) and Database of Genomic Variations archive (DGVa). He gained postdoctoral experience at the University of Cambridge and a PhD from the University of Helsinki focusing on biophysical and bioinformatical properties of genomic variants causing rare disorders.
CSC ? IT Center for Science
Deputy Head of ELIXIR Finland
Ilkka Lappalainen is the Deputy Head of ELIXIR Finland and leads a group that provides data management services for the national research organisations. The aim is to ensure secure, scalable and international standards compliant research environment through active engagement with organisations such as ELIXIR, BBMRI and EuroBioImaging. Ilkka coordinates the Finnish involvement in many other works streams such as Discovery, DURI, Cloud, Large Scale Genomics, Clinical&Phenotypic Data Capture. Before his current position he worked as the ELIXIR Human data coordinator at the ELIXIR-Hub and a Project lead for the EMBL-EBI European Genome-phenome Archive (EGA) and Database of Genomic Variations archive (DGVa). He gained postdoctoral experience at the University of Cambridge and a PhD from the University of Helsinki focusing on biophysical and bioinformatical properties of genomic variants causing rare disorders.
