Presentation: GA4GH EDI Advisory Group Update

During the GA4GH 9th Plenary meeting in September 2021, I discussed the current progress of the GA4GH Equity, Diversity & Inclusion Advisory Group, a group that I co-chair. Through deep exploration using an approach to build an “intentional community”, the volunteer group has embarked on three overarching projects: Onboarding Tactics, Increasing Participation Levels, and Building Equity by Design into our standards. This talk describes the progress to date, and encourages the community to get involved and contribute to EDI efforts to effect change.

See the GA4GH 9th Plenary Meeting Report

About My Involvement in GA4GH

I have been an active volunteer member of the Global Alliance for Genomic Health (GA4GH) since late 2018. This organization was established in 2013 to accelerate the potential of research and medicine to advance human health. Their approach is to bring together 500+ leading organizations working in healthcare, research, patient advocacy, life science, and information technology to create frameworks and standards to enable the responsible, voluntary, and secure sharing of genomic and health-related data.

I originally participated on behalf of ORCID as a member of the Data Use & Research Identities (DURI) Workstream which is writing standards to identify and verify the researchers that access genomics datasets. In 2019, I assumed the role as co-chair of the Equity, Diversity & Inclusion Advisory Group. This team is focused on ensuring diversity and inclusion among the volunteer membership the creates and contributes to GA4GH’s standards and policies with the goal of ensuring global equity for the use of these standards.

I am a frequent speaker, writer, and contributor to GA4GH work, and serve on the GA4GH Steering Committee.