Michael Griffith
A former banker Michael has been working in a voluntary and professional capacity with several patient organisations.
Mr Griffith is Chief Executive of the Irish charity Fighting Blindness and Chair of the Medical Research Charities Group in Ireland and Debra Ireland.
He also is Chairman of the European Platform for Patient’s Organisations, Science and Industry (EPPOSI) board. EPPOSI is a patient led partner organisation, which has been operating on a European level for the past 10 years. It aims to establish consensus on healthcare issues relating to the development of therapies, diagnostics and devices and to meet unmet medical needs.

Kent Alastair
Alastair Kent is the Director of the Genetic Interest Group (GIG) - the UK alliance of charities and support groups for people affected by genetic disorders.  GIG's mission is to promote the development of the scientific understanding of genetics and the part that genetic factors play in health and disease, and to see the speedy transfer of this new knowledge into improved services and support for the treatment of currently incurable conditions.
Prior to joining GIG Alastair worked for a number of voluntary organisations on issues concerning policy, service development and disabled people.

Klaus Lindpaintner, MD, MPH
A native of Innsbruck, Austria, Klaus Lindpaintner graduated from the University of Innsbruck Medical School with a degree in Medicine and from Harvard University with a degree in Public Health. He pursued postgraduate training and specialization in Internal Medicine, Cardiology, and Genetics in the United States and Germany and holds board certifications these specialties. He practiced cardiology and pursued research in the area of cardiovascular disease and molecular genetics and genetic epidemiology, most recently as an Associate Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School in Boston, Massachusetts. He joined Hoffman-La Roche Pharmaceuticals in Basel in 1997 as Head of Preclinical Research in Cardiovascular Diseases. Since 1998, he has served as Head of Roche Genetics, and since 2001, also as Director of the Roche Center for Medical Genomics, coordinating the company’s efforts and activities in genetics, genomics, proteomics, and associated disciplines. He has co-authored more than 200 scientific papers, holds an honorary and adjunct professorship at University of London and Shanghai Jiao Tong University, served/s on several public panels on genetics and society (STRATA-EU, CIOMS-WHO, Nuffield Council for Bioethics, OECD WG on Pharmacogenetics, EFPIA WG on Pharmacogenetics), as well as on the editorial boards of several scientific journals.

Andres Metspalu, MD, PhD
Andres Metspalu (born in1951) received his M.D. at University of Tartu, Estonia in 1976 and Ph.D. on molecular biology in 1979. In 1981-1982 he was a visiting scientist at Columbia University and at Yale University.  From 1986 he was scientific director of Estonian Biocentre and in from 1992 professor at University of Tartu. Having received fellowships from FEBS, EMBO, DAAD, HUGO he worked at MPI of Molecular Genetics in Berlin, EMBL in Heidelberg, University of Tampere and University of Hamburg. 1993-1994 he was a visiting professor at Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, USA working on micro arrays with Dr. Tom Caskey and he was elected for a Visiting Scientist position at WHO International Agency of Research on Cancer for year 2000 in Lyon, France.
He  has received the Soviet Estonian Scientific Award in 1980 and Estonian Scientific Award in 2002. He also has received the Order of The Red Gross (III) from the Estonian President in 2001. In 2002 he received Prix de la Garantie Medicale et Chirurgicale and in 2003 L'Ordre des Palmes Académiques, Chevalier from the Republic of France.  He is a member of the editorial board of the Journal “Heredity Cancer in Clinical Practice”, “Clinical Genetics”. He is the president  of European Society of Human Genetics, member of HUGO, ASHG, founder and director (treasuer) of Public Population Project in Genomics consortium (P3G) in  Canada and steering committee member of European Science Foundation Functional Genomics Program. He has founded several biotech companies in Estonia and is one of the founders of the Estonian Genome Project.
He is a member of the Council of the Scientific Competence of the ministry of Education and Research of the Estonia and serves in several scientific councils and boards of the research institutes and biotech companies.Andres Metspalu has published more than 60 scientific articles on ribosome structure, human and population genetics, microarray technology and biobanking, supervised 8 Ph.D. dissertations and has held many invited lectures at international scientific meetings.

Cor Oosterwijk, MD
Since its foundation in 2004, Cor Oosterwijk (1962) is vice-president of the European Genetic Alliances’ Network (EGAN, www.egaweb.org). EGAN is the European association of patient organisations with a specific interest in genetics, genomics and biomedical research. One of the founders of EGAN is the Dutch Genetic Alliance (VSOP, www.vsop.nl; www.erfelijkheid.nl) of which Oosterwijk is the Executive Director. To serve its 60 member patient organizations that are dealing with genetic, congenital and rare diseases, the VSOP is active in the field of community genetics, genomics and rare diseases, in healthcare policy, in education and public awareness.
VSOP appointed professors at several academic centers to realize patient and society-centered genetics.
Oosterwijk national positions include: member of the Foundation for Preconception Care, member of the scientific advisory board of the Centre for Society and Genomics (CSG), member of the advisory board of the Paediatric Pharmacotherapy Network and the Medicines for Children Network. Oosterwijk studied Medical Biology at Utrecht University. In earlier positions, he was a Senior Clinical Trial Manager and teacher Biotechnological Engineering.  Cor Oosterwijk is married and father of two sons.

Michael B. Petersen, MD, PhD, Dr.M.Sc.
Dr. Michael B. Petersen studied Medicine at University of Copenhagen and subsequently specialized in Clinical Genetics. He has a Ph.D. (1992) and Dr.M.Sc. (1996) from University of Copenhagen, on linkage mapping of human chromosome 21 and origin of nondisjunction in trisomy 21, respectively. He did a postdoctoral Fulbright fellowship in Molecular Genetics at the Center for Medical Genetics, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, U.S.A. From 1993, he directs the Department of Genetics at the Institute of Child Health, Athens, Greece. His main research interests have been origin and mechanisms of chromosomal aneuploidies, but he has in the more recent years concentrated on genetics of deafness and blindness. He has published more than 120 articles in peer-reviewed international genetics journals, and he is an editorial board member or reviewer of 13 international medical journals. In 2004, he was awarded a Distinguished Visiting Professorship at the “Iuliu Hatieganu” University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Cluj-Napoca, Romania. He is also the Scientific Director of the diagnostic genetics laboratory Genomedica S.A.

Jan Philippé, MD, PhD
Jan graduated from the University of Antwerp with an MD degree, from the Institute of Tropical Medicine in Antwerp with a degree in tropical medicine and from the free University of Brussels with a degree in medical and pharmaceutical research. He obtained a PhD at the Ghent University. He pursued postgraduate training and specialisation in laboratory medicine and is now supervising the department of laboratory hematology in the Ghent University hospital and is teaching Professor at the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences and the Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences at the Ghent University. He has (co-)authored more than 100 scientific papers or chapters in books and has been promotor of 8 PhD theses. The main scientific interest is the analysis of molecular pathways in malignant hematological diseases.
Jan is Secretary (and past-President) of the Belgian Society for Analytical Cytology, is member of the finance committee of the International Society for Analytical Cytology, and is also member of the editorial board of several journals.
Prior to his academic career Jan has been working in Central Africa for 2 years as MD and now he is involved in North-South collaborations with Central Africa again as teacher and scientist.

Sharon Terry, MA
Following the diagnosis of their two children with pseudoxanthoma elasticum (PXE) in 1994, Sharon and her husband Patrick founded PXE International, a research advocacy organization for the genetic condition pseudoxanthoma elasticum (PXE). She is the founding Executive Director of this dynamic organization that fosters ethical research and policies and provides support and information to members and the public. 
Sharon is also President and CEO of the Genetic Alliance, a coalition of over 600 disease specific advocacy organizations working to increase capacity in advocacy organizations.  She is at the forefront of consumer participation in genetics research, services and policy and serves as a member of many of the major governmental advisory committees on medical research, including the National Institute of Arthritis Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases Council and the Food and Drug Administration Cellular, Tissue and Gene Therapies Advisory Committee.  She served as an Ethical Legal and Social Implications Research Advisor of NHGRI/NIH, and currently is liaison to the National Advisory Council for Human Genome Research.  She is a member of the board of directors of the Biotechnology Institute and on the advisory board of the Johns Hopkins Genetics and Public Policy Center funded by the Pew Charitable Trusts.  She was recently elected to the boards of the Personalized Medicine Coalition, DNA Direct and the Center for Information and Study on Clinical Research Participation.  She also serves as the only consumer on the Committee on Oversight and Monitoring of Maintenance of Certifications  for the American Board of Medical Specialties.  She is the chair of the Coalition for Genetic Fairness, composed of advocates, healthcare providers and industry working to enact effective federal policy to prohibit genetic information discrimination.  Along with the other co-inventors of the gene associated with PXE (ABCC6), she holds the patent for the invention. She co-directs a 19-lab research consortium and manages 52 offices worldwide for PXE International.  In 2005, she received an honorary doctorate from Iona College for her work in community engagement and haplotype mapping.
Ms. Terry is a co-founder of the Genetic Alliance Biobank and serves as president of its board. It is a centralized biological and data [consent/clinical/environmental] repository catalyzing translational genomic research on rare genetic diseases.

Deon Venter, MD, PhD
Professor Ventor has pioneered the use of molecular pathology and genomic technologies  in cancer diagnostics and research and in their applications to cancer medicine in Australia. He is a consultant anatomical pathologist
and molecular pathologist in the public sector, and a consultant molecular pathologist in the private sector.
He is an Executive Director of Genetic Technologies Limited (ASX: GTG; NASDAQ: GENE), and a consultant to major pharmaceutical companies and to several biotechnology startups, based in Europe, the USA and Australia.
He has been an invited participant in meetings run by the World Health Organisation to formulate strategies to implement genetic services in developing countries. He has given multiple invited presentations, and is an author on over 90 publications on cancer genetics and genetic-based diagnostics.

Stephen T. Warren, PhD
Stephen Warren received his PhD in Human Genetics from Michigan State University and was a fellow at the University of Illinois College of Medicine and a visiting scientist at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory. Dr. Warren is the William Patterson Timmie Professor of Human Genetics and Chairman of the Department of Human Genetics at Emory University School of Medicine in Atlanta. He is also Professor of Biochemistry and Professor of Pediatrics at Emory. Dr. Warren is a Diplomat of the American Board of Medical Genetics and a founding Fellow of the American College of Medical Genetics.  Dr. Warren has held various committee memberships in the American Society of Human Genetics, was elected to the Board of Directors in 1997, and in 2004 was elected President. Dr. Warren currently is a member of the March of Dimes Research Advisory Committee and a member of National Mental Health Advisory Committee of NIMH.  He is currently on the editorial boards of Genetics in Medicine and Neuromolecular Medicine and between 2000 and 2005, Dr. Warren was the Editor-in-Chief of The American Journal of Human Genetics.  Among his awards are the Albert E. Levy Faculty Award from Emory University, the William Rosen Research Award from the National Fragile X Foundation, a MERIT award from the NIH, and the William Allan Award from the American Society of Human Genetics.  In 2003, he was an inaugural inductee of the NICHD’s Hall of Honor and the following year elected to the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies.  Dr. Warren has published over 140 research manuscripts, over a dozen book chapters and edited two books.

Grzegorz Wegrzyn, PhD
Grzegorz Wegrzyn has graduated from University of Gdansk, Poland. In 1987 he obtained Msc degree in biology, and in 1991 PhD degree in molecular genetics. His PhD thesis was focused on the regulation of DNA replication in starved cells. Then (in 1991), he was a research fellow at the Department of Biochemistry, University of Nottingham Medical School (UK), where he worked on the mechanisms of gene expression regulation in bacteria. In 1992 he was a post-doctoral researcher at Center for Molecular Genetics, University of California at San Diego (USA), where he investigated regulation of viral DNA replication. Since 1996 he is a head of Department of Molecular Biology at the University of Gdansk (Poland).
In his laboratory, several projects are conducted, which are focused mainly on regulation of gene expression and DNA replication, the use of electric biochips for biotechnological and bio-medical purposes, and mechanisms and new treatment methods of human genetic diseases (particularly lysosomal storage diseases and mitochondrial diseases).
Grzegorz Wegrzyn is a co-author of almost 200 scientific articles in peer-reviewed journals and about 300 communications on scientific conferences. He is a member of American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology and International Society for Plasmid Biology, and a President of Polish Genetic Society and a President of Central and Eastern European Genetic Network. He is an editor of several scientific journals, including FEMS Microbiology Reviews, Journal of Applied Genetics, Microbial Cell Factories, Plasmid.

Patrick Willems, MD, PhD
Patrick Willems received his MD from the University of Antwerp in Belgium. He was trained in Pediatrics at the University of Groningen in The Netherlands. Afterwards he joined John O’ Brien in the Department of Neurosciences at the University of San Diego to work on the genetics of lysosomal storage disorders. From 1987 to 2000 he worked at the University of Antwerp where he was Professor of Medical Genetics. For more than 10 years he was responsible for the diagnostic DNA laboratory, and head of the research activities. Dr. Willems was involved in the localisation and isolation of several disease genes involved in mental retardation, deafness and cancer. He is the author of more than 200 peer-reviewed scientific papers in international journals, including many papers in top scientific journals such as Cell, Nature Genetics, and the New England Journal of Medicine. Dr. Willems recently founded GENDIA, a network of diagnostic genetic labs (www.GENDIA.net) that aims to facilitate diagnostics for rare genetic disorders. GENDIA currently consists of more than 50 test labs in the US, Europe and Australia, and 1 central lab in Belgium. Dr Willems is currently Managing Director of GENDIA.

Ronald J. Woznow, PhD
Dr. Woznow is currently the Executive Director  of the Arthritis Society of British Columbia. He is the former CEO of the Canadian Genetic Diseases Network  (1997 to 2006) and President and founder of the Canadian Gene Cure  Foundation. While at the Network he worked toward advancing Canada's  scientific and commercial competitiveness in genetic research, and  the application of genetic discoveries to prevent, diagnose, and  treat disease.  He has an extensive background working with not for  profit organizations and non-government organizations both in  strategic planning and fundraising. He sits on the Boards of the the British Columbia Research Institute for Childen and Women's Health and the Healthy Heart Society of  British Columbia.
Dr. Woznow earned his Ph.D. in pharmaceutical chemistry from the  University of New Brunswick.