Rakeiora: A pathfinder for genomic medicine in Aotearoa/New Zealand

Wednesday 9 February 10.10 – 11.10am

A programme to improve genomic knowledge that will impact on the wellbeing of New Zealanders is being co-developed and co-governed with Māori. Rakeiora is a “pathfinder” to test options to acquire, protect, use and store genomic datasets for use in healthcare research in Aotearoa New Zealand. Genomics is an area of research that underpins genetic or molecular profiling for precision medicine. Human genomics is seeing rapid global growth, but to maximise its benefits for New Zealand we need to be mindful of our unique cultural and genetic composition, significant health inequities and historical misuses of genomics. We require coherent national processes to bring together genomic data with multiple other forms of health-related information from multiple spheres of research and practice to benefit all New Zealanders. This means co-developing with Māori a foundation for an innovative and scalable national genomics research infrastructure to manage and govern data, its ownership and guardianship, including New Zealand-specific genomic databases. The aim is to enable researchers to translate genomic knowledge into health practices that advance the wellbeing of New Zealanders, and in particular address the country’s health inequities by developing genomic tools that put the needs and priorities of Māori at the centre.

Speaker Panel:

• Prof Stephen Robertson – Principal Investigator, Rakeiora
• Assoc Prof Phillip Wilcox – Principal Investigator, Rakeiora
• Benjamin Iwikau Te Aika – Project Manager, Rakeiora
  
• additional speakers to be confirmed

Lisa Wong, Operations Manager at Pūtahi Manawa|Healthy Hearts for Aotearoa New Zealand (HHANZ) Centre of Research Excellence (CoRE)

 Thursday 10 February 9:30 – 10:30am

Lisa Wong is the Research Operations Manager for the newly awarded Pūtahi Manawa| Healthy Hearts for Aotearoa New Zealand (HHANZ) Centre of Research Excellence (CoRE). Lisa has a BKin (Hons) from the University of Calgary and an MSc from University of British Columbia. She has worked in the tertiary education and clinical research sectors across Canada, the UK, and here in Aotearoa, primarily in the areas of physiology and cardiovascular health. Joining the Waipapa Taumata Rau | The University of Auckland  in 2019, she worked with Prof Julian Paton to help set up the local centre for heart research, Manaaki Manawa, which now hosts Pūtahi Manawa | HHANZ CoRE. Pūtahi Manawa is a national network of researchers, clinicians, educationalists, and community members seeking to go beyond bench to bedside, creating new ways of working together for meaningful collaborations across disciplines, sectors, and communities for equitable heart health outcomes across Aotearoa.  

Fujitsu – Modern Tools for Advanced Research and Data Journey in AI

Friday 11 February – 9:30 – 10:30 am

Modern technology, tools and frameworks can dynamically connect AI computational resources to diverse, distributed data sets without disrupting your ongoing operations. In this session, domain experts from Fujitsu, NetApp and NVIDIA will encapsulate the real-life application of the latest artificial intelligence tools that enable organisations with the most versatile, efficient and sustainable approach to manage a modernised workflow. Our experts will address the day-to-day challenges that researchers’ tend to face. They will explore a revised data journey from acquisition, managing data from different sources and sharing amongst collaborators/researchers while maintaining compliance and governance. They will also share the researchers’ vast experiences with applying the latest tools and methodologies that enabled them to simplify their workflow and achieve a much greater outcome for their projects. Join Fujitsu, NetApp and NVIDIA as we deep-dive into how to successfully adopt a modernised AI workflow and how this can be applied in not just today’s research, but the future too