Co-Lead, Genomic Knowledge Standards (GKS) Work Stream

About GA4GH

The Global Alliance for Genomics and Health (GA4GH) is a global volunteer standards development organisation dedicated to realising the potential of genomics in health. Supported by staff across five Host Institutions (Ontario Institute for Cancer Research, Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Wellcome Sanger Institute, EMBL’s European Bioinformatics Institute, and the Victor Phillip Dahdaleh Institute of Genomics Medicine at McGill University), members of the genomics and health community provide expert leadership to GA4GH Work Streams and Partner Engagement communities. These include the Genomic Knowledge Standards (GKS) Work Stream, which designs technical standards that enable computer-to-computer exchange of information about genomes, improving the search and application of genomic knowledge.

We would like to invite expressions of interest in the volunteer role of GKS Co-Lead.

About the role

This is an opportunity to be at the heart of GA4GH’s standards development and integration work. Working closely with another Co-Lead and members of GA4GH staff, the GKS Co-Lead will contribute to the leadership and direction of the GKS Work Stream efforts, in line with GA4GH’s organisational vision and goals. This involves developing the GKS strategy, identifying work to be taken forward by the group, chairing calls, working through technical issues as a group, and building consensus. 

As the GKS Work Stream collaborates with groups across GA4GH and the world, considerable liaison work will be involved. This includes conducting outreach and engagement with other teams both within GA4GH and externally, with support from GA4GH staff.

Why join us?

GA4GH accelerates progress in human health by building tools that expand responsible, effective, and democratised use of genomic and clinical data. With a global volunteer community made up of hundreds of individuals from a variety of organisations and institutions, GA4GH provides an active environment in which to drive these goals aims forward while building on our foundational commitments to human rights, ethics, and security.

Having a truly global and diverse community of contributors and leadership is key to GA4GH’s work. We are actively pursuing strategies to increase participation through our engagement and equity, diversity, and inclusion work. We are committed to providing an inclusive and welcoming environment for all contributors, at all levels in GA4GH, and welcome expressions of interest from all interested individuals.

You have:

• substantial experience in bioinformatics, genomics, clinical informatics, or related disciplines;
• expertise in data standards used in healthcare, such as HPO and HL7 (v2 and FHIR);
• experience working with genomics research or related data;
• an ability to work effectively with and provide leadership to a broad range of people from multiple disciplines and cultures;
• the ability to engage with others, explore multiple points of view, and build consensus;
• the capacity to identify opportunities aligned with the group’s goals and translate these into actionable plans;
• a demonstrable ability to work collaboratively;
• an understanding of the complexity and importance of variant data standards in genomics with previous experience in this area; 
• a deep understanding of the need for standards to work internationally.

You might also have:

• experience working with GA4GH or other standards development organisations;
• experience working as part of a volunteer community;
• experience working with a custodian of genomic data;
• experience developing and releasing data standards;
• experience working on or with a project for sharing genomic data between organisations;
• experience implementing a digital solution in healthcare or working with electronic health records;
• experience with data modelling and harmonisation, ontologies, terminologies and codesets.