Scientific Advisory Board
Professor Julian Parkhill, Frs
Chief Advisor, Bioinformatics Pipeline Development
Professor Julian Parkhill, one of the world’s foremost experts on pathogen whole genome sequencing and its application, is a Fellow of the Royal Society with over 500 peer-reviewed publications and recipient of numerous honors. He is a widely recognized expert in pathogen sequencing, having been on the Sanger Institute team that sequenced Mycobacterium Tuberculosis in 1997, one of the first bacterial whole genome sequences ever produced. Since then, in roles that have included both Director of Sequencing as well as Chief of Pathogen Genomics at the Sanger Institute, Dr. Parkhill has overseen or participated in the direction and analysis of the largest volume of pathogen sequencing in the field. His immense publication record includes landmark studies on the use of WGS for transmission detection and outbreak definition (Harris et al 2010), as well as studies defining the current methods to determine antibiotic susceptibility from sequence (Holden et al 2013).
Professor sharon Peacock, CBE
Chief Advisor, Clinical Application Development
Professor Sharon Peacock, one of the world’s foremost experts on the application of pathogen whole genome sequencing to the detection of transmission, holds the position of Director, Bloomsbury Institute, London School of Tropical Medicine and Disease, along with honorary positions at the University of Cambridge and the Sanger Institute. Dr. Peacock has pioneered the application of whole genome sequencing for the detection and prevention of the transmission and spread of infections, and was recently senior author on a landmark study establishing the present infection control practices fail to detect most infection transmission (Coll et al, Science Translational Medicine, 2017). Awarded the Commander of the British Empire for her work in this field, Dr. Peacock oversees a Wellcome Trust/UK Department of Health consortium that is conducting the first use of prospective WGS to prevent outbreak, at Addenbrooke’s Hospital in Cambridge, UK.
Dr. Jill Hagenkord, M.D.
Dr. Hagenkord is the Chief Medical Officer and Co-Founder of MDisrupt, a medical diligence company for the health-tech industry. Previously, she served as the Chief Medical Officer for Color Genomics, 23andMe, Invitae, and Complete Genomics. Dr. Hagenkord is a board-certified pathologist with subspecialty boards in molecular genetic pathology and a fellowship in pathology and oncology informatics.
She is an active member of the Association for Molecular Pathology, the College of American Pathologists, American College of Medical Genetics and Genomics, and the Roundtable on Genomics and Precision Health of the National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine. Dr. Hagenkord received her MD from Stanford University School of Medicine.
DR. Paul Blainey
Dr. Blainey is a core faculty member at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, where he serves as principal investigator for the Blainey Lab. The lab leverages molecular, optical, and microfluidic technologies to investigate and manipulate cellular activities. His team researches combinatorial screening for drug discovery and microbial ecology, pooled optical genetic screening in human cells, among other topics. Dr. Blainey has been recognized for his prolific career in single cell genomics.