Scientific Advisory Board
Sir Walter Bodmer, PhD, FRCPath, FRS
Sir Walter Bodmer is one of the world's preeminent human geneticists, knighted by the Queen of England in 1986 for his major contributions to science and the improvement of the public's awareness and understanding of science and technology. He is currently Head of the Cancer and Immunogenetics Laboratory in the Weatherall Institute of Molecular Medicine at the University of Oxford; former appointments include Chair of Genetics at Oxford University and Director of Research at the Imperial Cancer Research Fund (ICRF) Laboratories in London, and later the first Director-General of ICRF. Dr. Bodmer completed his Ph.D. at Cambridge University working with Sir Ronald Fisher, who created the foundations for modern statistical science and statistical genetics. At Stanford University, he worked with Nobel Laureate Joshua Lederberg, and he made major contributions to the discovery of the Human Leukocyte Antigen (HLA) system. He was one of the first to propose the idea of the Human Genome Project and was the President of the Human Genome Organization (HUGO). In 2005, he was appointed by the Wellcome Trust to study the genetic makeup of the United Kingdom, the People of the British Isles project. In 2008, he authored a seminal paper that put forward the importance of rare variants in common diseases, which challenged the decade-old Common Disease – Common Variant hypothesis and initiated a turning point in the field to focus on finding medically relevant rare variants. Dr. Bodmer's scientific work has resulted in >500 publications, he is the recipient of >30 honorary degrees and fellowships, and he has won several awards including: William Allan Award from the American Society of Human Genetics, Neil Hamilton Fairly Medal from the Royal College of Physicians, and Michael Faraday Prize from the Royal Society of London.
Stephen Scherer, PhD, FRSC
Dr. Scherer is the Chief of Research at The Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids), a Professor at the University of Toronto (Institute of Medical Science and Department of Molecular Genetics), Director of the McLaughlin Centre at the University of Toronto, Director of The Centre for Applied Genomics (TCAG) at SickKids, and Director of Autism Speaks 10,000 Genome Sequencing MSSNG Project. He completed his Ph.D. at the University of Toronto working with Professor Lap-Chee Tsui, discoverer of the cystic fibrosis gene. Drs. Scherer and Tsui founded Canada's first human genome center (The Centre for Applied Genomics). He has made numerous contributions to the field of genome biology and medical genetics and his scientific work has resulted in >500 publications. In 2004, his team co-discovered genome-wide copy number variations (CNVs) as a highly abundant type of genetic variation in human genomes, a landmark discovery that resulted in his 2014 selection as a Thomson Reuters “Nobel-class" Citation Laureate. Dr. Scherer has won numerous awards and honors, including: Canada’s Top 40 Under 40 Award for Contributions to Society, International Scholar of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Steacie Prize in Natural Sciences, Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, Premier's Summit Award for Biomedical Research, Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal, Killiam Prize in Health Sciences (Canada Council for the Arts), and the Northbridge Chair in Paediatric Research (The Hospital for Sick Children).