The team of Educators and contributors for this course

We, your Educators on this course, will be present during the next three weeks of the course, following and joining in the discussions from time to time and sharing our expertise with you. On this journey together, we will be helping each other to learn. We will also be looking at your feedback, which will serve to improve the course.

At the end of each week, we provide a written summary of the content covered. We will also email you with a round-up of the week’s learning. We are looking forward to learning with you.

Leigh Jackson

COG-Train Scientific Lead

I’m a scientific project manager with the COG-UK consortium. I have a varied research background working in human genomics and cancer research. I have worked on several large pan-European, multi-disciplinary, projects alongside the preeminent clinical, ethical and social researchers in genetics. More recently I have begun using a big data approach in public health genomics. I have worked on numerous genomic education initiatives including as Education and Training Lead for the South West Genomic Medicine centre as part of the 100,000 Genomes Project; the MedGen project developing training courses in Macedonia and Israel; developing modules on the MSc in Genomic Medicine at the University of Exeter and the Gen-Equip project, which provided an educational toolkit and modules for primary care professionals in 6 languages.

Sophie Prosolek

COG-Train Communications Coordinator

I manage the communications and content management strategy for COG-Train. After completing a PhD in Molecular Nutrition at the Quadram Institute in Norwich, I joined the COG-UK consortium as a postdoctoral researcher sequencing SARS-CoV-2 as part of the pandemic response. I’m also a keen science communicator with a passion for mass education.

Stephanie Hutchings

Trainee Clinical Scientist – Bristol United Kingdom Health Security Agency (UKHSA)

I’m based at the Infectious Sciences department at UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA). During the COVID-19 pandemic, I supported the local COG-UK SARS-CoV-2 sequencing service in my department along with the PCR diagnostic testing for SARS-CoV-2. I previously worked on an Influenza Pandemic preparedness project and then worked as a registered Biomedical Scientist at UKHSA. I’m currently completing a Masters in Clinical Microbiology at Queen Mary University, London as part of the Clinical Scientist Training Programme.

Teresa Cutiño-Moguel

Fellow at the Royal College of Pathology and Virology Clinical Lead at Barts Health

I’m the virology clinical lead at Barts Health Trust, where I lead the diagnostic service of viral sequencing during the COVID-19 pandemic. I also collaborated with Queen Mary University to establish SARS-CoV-2 diagnostic services. I studied medicine at the National University of Mexico before undertaking an MSc in molecular biology in infectious diseases at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine followed by a PhD in immunology and molecular pathology at University College London.

‘Follow’ us, Leigh Jackson, Sophie Prosolek, Stephanie Hutchings and Teresa Cutiño-Moguel, and track our contributions to discussions by accessing our profiles.

To bring to you the best content in this course we consulted experts from Africa, Asia, Latin America and the United Kingdom. You will also see our contributors from all over the globe in interviews, articles and many other exclusive learning materials in the following weeks:

Global contributors

Carlo Lapid Msc
Bioinformatician
Philippine Genomics Center, Philippines

Dr Carolina Torres
Coordinator of the Node of Evolutionary Analysis of the Argentine SARS-CoV-2 Genomics Consortium (PAIS Project)
University of Buenos Aires, Argentina

Dr Gerald Mboowa
Bioinformatics Implementation Science Expert
Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention

Dr Mariana Viegas
Researcher and Coordinator of the Argentine SARS-CoV-2 Genomics Consortium (PAIS Project)
Argentinean Scientific and Technical Research Council (CONICET), Argentina

Tapfumanei Mashe MSc
AMR Project Coordinator
Ministry of Health and Child Care, Zimbabwe

Dr Thanat Chookajorn
Head of the Genomics and Evolutionary Medicine Unit and member of the COVID-19 Network Investigations Alliance
Mahidol University, Thailand

Contributors from the COG-UK consortium

Prof Sharon Peacock Executive Director and Chair at COG-UK and Head of COG-Train, University of Cambridge

Prof Alistair Darby Co-Director of the Centre for Genomic Research, University of Liverpool

Dr Catherine Ludden
Director of COG-Train and Director of Operations at COG-UK, University of Cambridge

Charlotte Williams
Research Assistant, UCL Genomics

Prof Darren Smith
Associate Professor, Northumbria University

Dr Rachel Williams
Head of Sequencing, UCL Genomics

Dr Stephen Bridgett
Bioinformatics Research Fellow, Queen’s University Belfast

Dr Sunando Roy
Research Associate Bioinformatician, University College London

Global Reviewers

Dr Camila Romano
Scientific Researcher
Hospital das Clínicas, School of Medicine, University of São Paulo, Brazil

Prof Charles Masembe
Associate Professor in Molecular Genetics and Evolution
Makerere University, Uganda

Varun Shamanna MTech
Senior Bioinformatician, PhD candidate
Central Research Laboratory, KIMS, India