Congratulations to Professor Tim Hubbard who has recently been appointed as one of fifteen members to the new Technical Advisory Group (TAG) on Genomics established by the World Health Organisation (WHO).

Professor Tim Hubbard is a Professor of Bioinformatics in the School of Basic & Medical Biosciences and former Head of the Department of Medical & Molecular Genetics, as well as a Senior Advisor at Genomics England. He is an internationally recognised expert in genomics medicine with significant experience in human genomics.

WHO established the Technical Advisory Group on Genomics after it was proposed in a recent report by the WHO Science Council. This reflects considerable international interest in the application of genomics to healthcare in recent years, ranging from pharmacogenomics (how your genes affect your response to medicine) testing to whole genome sequencing. The TAG will look to increase international recognition of the value of, and access to, genomics medicine knowledge and technologies.

TAG Group members, including Professor Hubbard, will work on a range of tasks including, but not limited to: providing technical guidance on how to accelerate access to genomics technologies for global health, recommending priority activities, and convening discussions to develop genomics guidance/reports. The group will meet three times per year, with the first meeting scheduled for 5-6 October in Geneva.

Professor Hubbard added: “I hope that the establishment of this new World Health Organisation technical advisory group will further increase international recognition of the value of genome medicine with group members helping to support WHO in its provision of technical guidance to broaden global access to these approaches.”

More information on the Technical Advisory Group on Genomics (TAG-G) can be found on the WHO website.