Speakers

Professor Connor is the Head of Public Health Genomics within Public Health Wales, the national Public Health Agency of Wales, he also holds a Personal Chair in Bioinformatics and Pathogen Genomics at Cardiff University.

Prof. Connor has a research track record in the area of bacterial genomics and antimicrobial resistance in gastrointestinal pathogens with involvement in more than £50M of funded research, and significant publications in journals including Science, Cell, Nature and Nature genetics. Since 2016 Prof. Connor has led the bioinformatics development of accredited clinical pathogen genomics services within PHW, translating his research expertise into clinical practice. This work has included the development of a set of end-to-end services that are accredited to ISO 15189 standard, including services focused on C. difficile and HIV.

His team is currently developing services focused on resistant organisms specifically, and the genomics team in Wales currently sequences in excess of 15,000 microbial genomes per year. In his current role, Prof Connor provides professional leadership for bioinformatics within PHW, and acts to lead and oversee the implementation of new genomics services in Wales, in order to protect and improve health and wellbeing and reduce health inequalities for people in Wales.