Paul Schindler, ED, Rare Genomics Institute, speaks at DC Health 2.0 STAT

The new Executive Director of Rare Genomics Institute (RG), Mr. Paul Schindler, attended the DC Health 2.0 STAT – the venue for Washington DC health practitioners to gather, exchange, and learn from others working on like challenges. On May 7, 2015, he gave a brief presentation at their Web 2.0/Social Media/Informatics meetup held at The Barking Dog, Bethesda, Maryland. Mr. Schindler spoke on the impact RG is making by leveraging crowdfunding to not only empower today’s rare disease patient but also to accelerate the cures of tomorrow. He especially highlighted Amplify Hope, which is currently recruiting rare disease patients in need of genomic sequencing. Amplify Hope, funded by the Templeton Foundation grant, is a new RG initiative wherein different crowdfunding strategies will be studied to determine effective measures, scientific impact, and community engagement.

The May 7th DC Health 2.0 STAT meetup focused on the role of Translational Bioinformatics in understanding disease processes and in improving health. It was organized in collaboration with Palladian Partners Inc., and the National Institutes of Health Biomedical Computing Interest Group (BCIG). Other speakers included Niraj Trivedi (National Human Genome research), Sean Davis (National Cancer Institute), John Tsang (National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases), and William Bone (National Institutes of Health Undiagnosed Disease Program). Around 200 people were in attendance. Click here to read more on the program details.

June 5, 2015