Anna Capria is an Outreach Coordinator and Bioinformatics Analyst at the J. Craig Venter Institute, where she works on the NIAID-funded BV-BRC project. Her work is centered on making viral bioinformatics and genomics open and accessible to the broader scientific community. Anna holds a Bachelor’s in Biomedical Science from the Rochester Institute of Technology and an MS in Human Genetics and Genomic Data Analytics from Keck Graduate Institute. Anna volunteers at Rare Science in her free time, where she plays a key role in supporting the rare disease community from an outreach perspective. She has led efforts in patient group organization, social media strategy, advocacy, and the gifting of Rare Bears to patient organizations and families, bringing joy and support to those affected by rare diseases. She is also an active member of the San Diego Women in Bio Chapter, co-chairing the MAPS program. Driven by her deep interest in human genetics and rare diseases, Anna is passionate about advocating for research funding and empowering others in their advocacy journey. Her commitment to improving the lives of those around her is a constant source of motivation in her work.

Grace Tietz is a PhD candidate in Genetics at Baylor College of Medicine and an alumna of the ASHG Advocacy Certificate Program. Prior to starting her PhD, she worked at NIAID where she facilitated data sharing activities in the context of COVID-19 and obtained her B.S. at the University of Maryland College Park. Her current research aims to improve transferability of genetic testing across ancestries using population genetics approaches. Her policy interests are centered around the importance of improving diversity in genetics, both in the workforce, and in the cohorts that are studied. She additionally has interests in data diplomacy, sharing, and governance in genetics. 

GREGORY (GREG) COSTAIN, M.D., Ph.D., is a medical geneticist and physician-scientist at The Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids), and an assistant professor at the University of Toronto. He co-leads various genetic medicine initiatives including the SickKids Genome Board, the SickKids Translational Genomics Node of Precision Child Health, and Can-GARD (Canadian Gene Cure Advanced Therapies for Rare Disease). His research program is focused on understanding the causes and consequences of rare variation in the human genome. His lab uses genome sequencing and computational approaches to discover new disease genes, genotype-phenotype associations, and pathways to precision treatments.

Barbara Kraatz Fortini, Associate Professor of Genetics is currently Director of the Center for Training in Applied Genomics at KGI, and serves as the Program Director for >span class="NormalTextRun SCXW63644289 BCX0" data-ccp-parastyle="Normal (Web)"> Master of Science in Human Genetics and Genomic Data Analytics (MSGDA), an execute-education Certificate in Applied Genomics (CAG), and the Clinical Genetics and Bioinformatics (CGB) summer program for undergraduates.   Within the KGI curriculum, Fortini teaches courses in Human Molecular Genetics, Human Genomics, and Functional Genomics. Fortini’s research is focused on how non-coding genomic variation affects colorectal cancer risk, using both bioinformatics and cell-based assays to understand the consequences of variants associated with colon cancer.  Fortini completed her postdoctoral training at the Keck School of Medicine of USC in the Department of Preventive Medicine at the USC Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center. She received her BS in 2002 and her PhD in 2011 at the California Institute of Technology.

Emily Quinn, MS, CGC is an Associate Professor and the Program Director for the Master of Science in Human Genetics and Genetic Counseling program at Keck Graduate Institute (KGI). Emily received her bachelor degrees in Biology and Psychology from the University of California Santa Cruz and her master degree in Genetic Counseling from the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. Emily’s clinical background is in pediatric cancer predisposition and her academic research interests are in the topics of diversity, equity and inclusion, admissions processes, and educational effectiveness.

Jon Judd is a Genetics PhD candidate at Stanford University in the labs of Jonathan Pritchard and John Witte, researching the genetic and social causes of complex diseases. He obtained his undergraduate degree in Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering from Johns Hopkins University. Throughout his training, Jon has been a keen advocate at the local and federal levels. Beyond being a member of ASHG’s Government & Public Advocacy Committee, Jon staffed the Presidents’ Council of Advisors on Science and Technology at the White House and was a research assistant for the Association of Science and Technology Centers. At the grassroots level, Jon is a co-chair of the Stanford Genetics Advocacy Committee, president of the Stanford Science Policy Group, and assisted in organizing Stanford BioJam, a community-led camp devoted to the education of teenagers underrepresented in STEM.

Yvette Seger, PhD, is the Director of Strategic Scientific Program Advancement, Director of Science Policy, and Deputy Director of the Office of Public Affairs for the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology (FASEB), a coalition of 22 scientific societies collectively representing over 110,000 individual biological and biomedical researchers. In these roles she leads the Federation's strategic investments in diversity, equity, accessibility, and inclusion and data sharing and reuse while also contributing to overall strategic vision for FASEB’s science policy initiatives. Dr. Seger launched her policy career at the National Academies as a Christine Mirzayan Science & Technology Policy Fellow where she worked on a report examining processes for identifying and appointing scientists to key federal advisory positions. After leaving the Academies, Dr. Seger held senior policy analyst positions at the research advocacy group FasterCures, the National Institutes of Health Office of Science Policy, and Thomson Reuters before joining FASEB in 2013. Dr. Seger holds a PhD in Genetics from Stony Brook University and received a BA in Zoology (Genetics Concentration) and Politics & Government from Ohio Wesleyan University.

Jennifer Zeitzer was named Director of the FASEB Office of Public Affairs (OPA) in June 2018 and assumed the dual role of Deputy Executive Director in June 2022. She works with a team of policy analysts, legislative affairs specialists, and the elected leadership of the Federation and its member societies to develop and promote policies to advance biomedical research. Prior to her current role, Jennifer served as the Director of Legislative Relations/ Deputy Director of OPA. In that role, she represented FASEB on Capitol Hill, managed FASEB’s communications with the U.S. Congress, and developed legislative strategies related to funding for the National Institutes of Health and other federal science agencies. She also coordinated FASEB’s advocacy efforts with coalition partners in the biomedical and scientific research community. Previously, Jennifer was the Director of Congressional Relations at the Alzheimer’s Association. She has a bachelor’s degree in Political Science from the Pennsylvania State University. 

Tony Wynshaw-Boris received his MD, PhD degrees from Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine. In 1994, Dr. Wynshaw-Boris set up an independent laboratory at NHGRI, where he initiated a program using mouse models to study human genetic diseases, with a focus on neurogenetic diseases. In 1999, he moved to UCSD School of Medicine, where he became Professor of Pediatrics and Medicine, as well as Chief of the Division of Medical Genetics in the Department of Pediatrics. In 2007, he moved to UCSF School of Medicine, where he was the Charles J. Epstein Professor of Human Genetics and Pediatrics, and the Chief of the Division of Medical Genetics in the Department of Pediatrics. At UCSF, in addition to mouse models, his laboratory began to use patient-derived induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC) models to study human disease. He returned to Cleveland in 2013 to become the Chair of the Department of Genetics and Genome Sciences, and is now the James H. Jewell MD (Med ’34) Professor of Genetics. His laboratory continues to use mouse and iPSC models to shed light on mechanisms of neurogenetic diseases with the ultimate goal of providing novel therapies.

Dr. Wynshaw-Boris was President of the American Society for Human Genetics for 2020 and is currently Chair of the Government and Public Advocacy Committee (GPAC). He was appointed to the National Advisory Child Health and Human Development Council of the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health & Human Development, NIH, in 2019. He has also been elected to membership in the American Society for Clinical Investigation, the Association of American Physicians, the American Pediatric Society, and he was elected as Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

Dr. Paul W. Hook received his Bachelor of Science degree in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology from the Pennsylvania State University in 2012. He went on to earn his PhD in Human Genetics from Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in 2020, where his thesis work focused on pinpointing the genes and variants underlying genome-wide association signals through the use of genomic data from disease-relevant cell populations. Dr. Hook joined Winston Timp’s lab as a postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Biomedical Engineering at Johns Hopkins University in the summer of 2020. In this role, his work has focused on the development and application of new approaches for measuring different aspects of epigenetics by using long-read sequencing, including chromatin state, DNA methylation, and protein-DNA binding.

Minna Kaikkonen-Määttä obtained her Bachelor's degree in Cellular Biology and Physiology from the Claude Bernard University Lyon 1, France, in 2002 and Master’s degree in Molecular Biology from University of Jyväskylä, Finland, in 2005. She obtained her PhD in Molecular Medicine under the supervision of Prof. Seppo Ylä-Herttuala in Kuopio in 2008. Her doctoral studies were focused on “Engineering Baculo- and Lentiviral Vectors for Enhanced and Targeted Gene Delivery”. She did her postdoctoral studies with Prof. Christopher Glass at University of California San Diego where she shifted her research focus into transcriptional gene regulation and enhancer RNAs supported by the Young Investigator Award from Leducq Foundation. She started her own lab in 2015 at the University of Eastern Finland with a focus on gene and cell level understanding of atherosclerosis using state-of-the-art next generation sequencing methods. Currently she is a Professor in Cardiovascular Genomics and runs a lab of 20 members while acting as a Director of the A.I.Virtanen Research Institute and Single Cell Genomics Core. She has published over 100 peer-reviewed articles with ~6000 citations (H-index 34). She has received over 8.5 million in research funding and is currently supported by the prestigious European Research Council Consolidator Grant, Academy of Finland, Finnish Foundation for Cardiovascular Research and Sigrid Juselius Foundation. She is the President of the Finnish Society of Atherosclerosis and member of the ESC working group on Atherosclerosis and Vascular Biology, Scandinavian Society of Atherosclerosis, and Membership Engagement Committee of the American Society of Human Genetics. 

Erin Thorpe Venti is a board-certified genetic counselor with more than a decade of experience in clinical patient care, research, and genetic testing. For the past nine years, Erin has specialized in clinical whole genome sequencing for rare and undiagnosed genetic conditions, with expertise in variant interpretation, case analysis, clinical reporting, test development, reanalysis workflows, data analysis, provider education, and program management. She currently serves as the Director of Clinical Programs at Genetic Alliance, a nonprofit health advocacy organization dedicated to advancing health through genetics. In this role, Erin oversees the management and operations of iHope Genetic Health, an initiative focused on providing access to complex genetic testing for underserved children in low-to-middle-income countries.

Mr. Williams is Assistant Director, Inclusion and Research Readiness at the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory DNA Learning Center where he develops national biology education programs. Mr. Williams has delivered professional development and training for thousands of students, researchers and educators in bioinformatics, data science, and molecular biology. His focus has been developing bioinformatics in undergraduate education and career-spanning learning for biologists. Jason is founder of LifeSciTrainers.org – a global effort to promote community of practice among professionals who develop short-format training for life scientists. Jason is advisory to cyberinfrastructure, bioinformatics, and education projects and initiatives in the US, UK, Europe, and Australia.

Dan Shay is a non-traditional scientist. After graduating college with a Bachelor’s degree, Dan taught environmental education for several years before receiving his Master’s in Teaching in 2013. For the last 11 years, Dan has taught and directed a specialized Biotechnology Career and Technical Education program at a North Central High School. The goal of this program is to teach students the skills they need to enter into a career in biotechnology research. In the 5 years that he has directed the program, Dan has received over $100k in funding to update the technological infrastructure of his lab, some of this went towards purchasing the Oxford Nanopore minION and developing protocols for students to collect and analyze sequencing data as a class. Dan was the recipient of the 2021 Washington State Science and Engineering Fair Teacher of the Year award and the 2023 WA State Outstanding Biology Teacher Award. 

Katharina Wolff is currently a doctoral candidate at TU Braunschweig, working with Prof. Dr. Boas Pucker in the group “Plant Biotechnology and Bioinformatics”. Her research spans the realms of Synthetic Biology, Plant Genomics, and Bioinformatics, seamlessly blending wet lab and dry lab methodologies. Within the workgroup, Katharina oversees the operations at the ONT Sequencing Facility. Her role involves leveraging her expertise in both wet lab techniques and bioinformatics to conduct thorough and comprehensive genomic analyses. Additionally, Katharina has developed and supervised a practical Data Literacy in Genome Research course in collaboration with Prof. Dr. Boas Pucker.

Laura K. Reed is a Professor of Biology at the University of Alabama.  Dr. Reed received her BS in Biology (University of Oregon), her PhD in Ecology and Evolution (University of Arizona), was NIH-NRSA postdoctoral fellow (North Carolina State University), and joined the faculty at the University of Alabama in 2010. Her research focuses on the evolutionary genomics of complex traits and effective science education methodology. She directs the Genomics Education Partnership (thegep.org), a collaboration dedicated to bringing course-based genomics research experiences into undergraduate courses across the US.

Jonathan Pugh has devoted over a decade to Oxford Nanopore Technologies, advancing from a foundational role in nanopore research to currently spearheading the company's educational initiatives as the Director of Nanopore Education. With a rich career encompassing product management, marketing, and now education, Jonathan leverages his extensive expertise to bring sequencing technology to a wider student demographic across the globe. His current role reflects a harmonious blend of his adept communication skills and a deep-seated knowledge of nanopore sequencing, aiming to foster STEM engagement and education for the next generation of scientists.

Dr. James Melton is a Senior Lecturer in the Biology Department at Spelman College. He obtained his PhD in Biology from the University of Alabama and studied the diversity and organellar genomics of green algae. Previously as a CURE (Course-based Undergraduate Research Experience) postdoctoral fellow at Spelman College, he investigated the diversity and transcriptomics of Amoebozoa. He currently leads the ‘Phage Discovery and Genomics’ program at Spelman College and has incorporated Oxford Nanopore sequencing into the classroom for every student to be able to sequence their isolated phage.

Dr. Audrey Hendricks is an Associate Professor in the Department of Biomedical Informatics at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus. She is passionate about increasing inclusion and representation in all areas of science, including who completes the research, what questions are asked, and for whom the research is useful. In this aim, she co-directs two training programs to increase representation in genetics: Pathways in Genomic Data Science (PATH-GDS) and Pathways in Genomic Research Experiences for Undergraduates (PATH-GREU). She also leads the Hendricks Team, which aims to develop and apply statistical and machine learning methods to better understand the complex nature of human health. Current projects include improving the utility and equity of large, publicly available resources, identifying the biological mechanisms of healthy diets, elucidating the genomic underpinnings of conditions and traits, and, most recently, evaluating how estimates of genetic risk vary including by social determinants of health and throughout the lifespan including the menopause transition.

Betzaida is a PhD student in the Human Medical Genetics & Genomics Program at the University of Colorado-Anschutz Medical Campus. Betzaida was born in Mexico and lived there until she was 12 years old when her family moved to Colorado. She obtained a B.S. and M.S. in Forensic Science and spent 5 years working as a Forensic DNA Analyst at the Georgia Bureau of Investigation. Betzaida’s research interests are at the intersection of Population Genetics and Biostatistics. She is in the lab of Dr. Gignoux in the Department of Biomedical Informatics and is currently interested in precision medicine efforts that focus on underrepresented populations. Outside of research, Betzaida is passionate about teaching, mentoring, and supporting students interested in STEM careers.

Kristy L. Duran is the Director of Undergraduate Research and a Professor of Biology at Metropolitan State University of Denver. She earned her B.S. in Biology from the University of New Mexico, M.S. in Neurobiology from Colorado State University, and Ph.D. in Evolutionary Ecology from the University of Colorado, Boulder. She is a Ford Foundation Fellow and the President-Elect of the Society of Senior Ford Fellows. She is passionate about undergraduate research and issues around diversity, equity, and inclusion and is the Co-PI on the NIH Training Grant titled Genomics Research Experiences for Undergraduate Students.

Louisa A. Stark is a Professor of Human Genetics and holds a H.A. and Edna Benning Presidential Endowed Chair at the University of Utah School of Medicine. She is the Associate Director (formerly director) of the Genetic Science Learning Center, whose mission is “making science and health easy for everyone to understand.” The Center develops educational materials that are freely disseminated world-wide via its Learn.Genetics and Teach.Genetics websites. It is particularly known for its visually-engaging, scientifically-accurate multimedia educational materials that address all areas of life science. New materials focus on connecting science content with career opportunities.

Dr. Gabrielle Lemire is a medical geneticist certified under the Royal College of Physicians of Canada who currently trains at Boston Children’s Hospital and Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard. She completed her medical and residency training in medical genetics at Université de Montréal and a clinical research fellowship with the Care4Rare Canada Consortium at the University of Ottawa. She is currently a postdoctoral research fellow in Dr. Anne O’Donnell-Luria’s laboratory at Boston Children’s Hospital. Dr Lemire performs exome and genome analyses to identify rare disease diagnoses and novel gene discovery. Her research focuses on developing novel approaches to investigate undiagnosed rare genetic diseases, understanding their molecular mechanism, and improve phenotype delineation of rare diseases. 

Dr. Sanchis-Juan is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Center for Genomic Medicine MGH, Harvard Medical School and the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard. Alba completed her PhD in Biotechnology at the Polytechnic University of Valencia, in collaboration with the University of Cambridge, and joined the Talkowski laboratory in 2020. Her research has focused on the discovery of unknown etiological genes and variants in coding and non-coding regions of the genome of patients with rare diseases, with a particular focus on identification and resolution of structural variants and complex rearrangements using short- and long-read whole-genome sequencing technologies. Currently, she is leading large-scale population and clinical genomics efforts to aggregate the largest collection of rare disease cases to date to combine the full spectrum of genetic variants to empower gene and variant discovery causing rare diseases.

Dr. Harrison Brand is an Assistant Professor in the Departments of Neurology and Surgery at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) and Harvard Medical School. He also serves as the Associate Director of the Broad Structural Variation Group. Research in his lab focuses on the development of novel methods for the analysis of structural variation (SV) from whole genome sequencing data and application of these methods to decipher the genetic architecture of structural birth defects and other developmental disorders. He served as one of the primary developers of the cloud-based GATK structural variant caller (GATK-SV) and has led efforts to generate robust SV reference databases for the genomic community in cohorts such as gnomAD, 1000 genomes, and All of Us. 

Dr. O’Donnell-Luria is an Assistant Professor in Pediatrics at Boston Children’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School and Institute Member at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard. Her research is focused on improving the diagnosis of rare disease. She obtained her MD/PhD degrees from Columbia University Medical School and residency training in Pediatrics, Clinical Genetics, and Medical Biochemical Genetics at Harvard Medical School, Boston Children’s Hospital. She is part of several collaborative studies in genomics including the GREGoR consortium, NeuroDev Project, gnomAD consortium, CAGI consortium, and ClinGen. Her research is focused on methods and technologies to improve rare disease diagnosis given that half of patients remain undiagnosed.