Dr Melissa Ann Konopko, MBA, PhD

Former Technical Programme Manager

Alumni

This person is a member of Sanger Institute Alumni.

Melissa joined the Elixir hub at EMBL’s European Bioinformatics Institute (EMBL-EBI) as a Scientific Product Manager in January 2021.

The Global Alliance for Genomics and Health (GA4GH) is a special project hosted in part by the Wellcome Sanger Institute.  We aim to accelerate progress in genomic research and human health by cultivating a common framework of standards and harmonized approaches for effective and responsible genomic and health-related data sharing.

I was a Technical Program Manager for GA4GH, managing the Genomic Knowledge Standards, Data Use and Researcher IDs, and Data Security Work Streams with a strong interest in building collaboration across perceived barriers.  To this end I also headed up a technical alignment committee for aligning our standards both internally and externally.

I previously studied traumatic brain injury at the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research as well as the epigenetics of fetal brain development in autism at the University of Maryland, Baltimore.  In this time, I also studied science communications and intellectual property for the biosciences. Prior to moving into science, I spent a decade in financial investments and business.  Together, my scientific and business background supported my work bridging these worlds within Sanger and GA4GH.  I obtained a PhD in neuroscience from University of Maryland, Baltimore and an MBA from University of Maryland, University College. My main interests lie within the intersection between scientific research and its real world application.