The European Society
of Human Genetics

Social Media Committee - SMC

The ESHG Social Media Committee has been created at the beginning of June 2023 and will expand its activities over time. More details are to follow soon

Members of the Social Media Committee

James Fasham, UK
Start of Term: 2023

Dr. James Fasham is the co-chair of the ESHG social media committee.
He is a clinical geneticist based at the Royal Devon and Exeter hospital and a researcher at the University of Exeter in the field of rare disease, especially focusing on neurodevelopmental disorders and the use of big data in clinical care. He is also Social Media lead for the British society of Genetic medicine (BSGM) and previous social media editor for the Journal of Medical Genetics.

@JamesFasham 

Aleena Mushtaq, UK
Start of Term: 2023

Aleena Mushtaq is the co-chair of ESHG Social Media Committee.
She completed her PhD at the Quadram Institute Biosciences, UK in the field of Molecular Biology. Her PhD investigated the molecular and microbial changes in the gut liver axis in response to the Western diets. She joined EMBL-EBI as an Ensembl Outreach Officer in 2021 and delivers training on Ensembl resources.

@aleenamolbio 

Teodora-Maria Barbarii, RO
Start of Term: 2023

Teodora Barbarii is a member of the ESHG Social Media Committee.
She is a resident physician in Medical Genetics at the University of Medicine and Pharmacy Carol Davila, Bucharest, Romania. Teodora is focusing her clinical practice and research on rare neurodevelopmental and neurogenetic disorders. She is also involved in scientific and educational activities for the Romanian young geneticists as Coordinator of the medical genetics residents in Romania and as board member of the Romanian Society of Medical Genetics (SRGM).

@TeodoraBarbarii 

 

Rita Barbosa-Matos, PT
Start of Term: 2023

Rita Barbosa-Matos is a member of the ESHG Social Media Committee, EduComm, and secretary for the ESHG-Young Committee.
She is a post-doctoral fellow at the i3S - Institute for Research and Innovation in Health in Porto, Portugal, currently working on genetic rare diseases. Additionally, she is the social media editor for the Journal of Medical Genetics and a member of the Communication Committee at the Collaborative Group of the Americas on Inherited Gastrointestinal Cancer (CGA-IGC).

@ritabmatos

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Pilar Cacheiro, UK
Start of Term: 2024

Pilar Cacheiro is a Lecturer in Computational Biology at Queen Mary University of London. Her work focuses on translating information from model organisms to human diseases and integrating multiple sources of evidence to develop strategies for novel disease-gene discovery and variant prioritisation in rare disorders. Deciphering the mechanisms behind gene essentiality is what captivates her interest nowadays.

@pilarcacheiro

Juliana de Miranda Cerqueira, FI
Start of Term: 2023

Juliana Miranda Cerqueira is a member of the ESHG Social Media Committee.
She is a doctoral researcher at the University of Tampere's Faculty of Medicine and Health Technology in Finland. Her PhD study focuses on identifying genetic factors affecting celiac disease phenotypes and resistance to treatment. As a former member of the ESHG-Young Committee, she is currently a consultant and assists with its social media team. She is also a member of the ESHG Scientific Programme Committee.

@NutriGenome

Joris Veltman, UK
Start of Term: 2023

Joris Veltman is a member of the ESHG Social Media Committee and chair of the Annual Meetings Committee.
He is a former chair of the ESHG Scientific Programme Committee and organiser of the ESHG Next Generation Sequencing course. He is a human geneticist, Dean of the Biosciences Institute and Jacobson chair of Personalized Medicine at Newcastle University. With his group he studies the genetics of reproductive disorders. Together with Han Brunner he was awarded the King Faisal International Prize for Medicine in 2016. In 2021, he was elected Fellow of the UK Academy of Medical Sciences.

@jorisveltman 

Marco F.M. Vismara, IT
Start of Term: 2024

Marco FM Vismara is a member of the ESHG Social Media Committee. 
Marco got his MD at Rome's Campus Bio Medico. After successfully completing his residency in clinical and laboratory genetics cum laude, he received a PhD in Medical Genetics. He completed his studies with a DIU in Classical and Molecular Cytogenetics at Paris Descartes University. He's currently teaching at the Goldrain Clinical Cytogenetics summer school, and he runs a private clinical practice in Rome.

@bOmbolo

Mohamed Wafik, UK
Start of Term: 2024

Dr Mohamed Wafik is a member of the ESHG Social Media Committee. He is a clinical geneticist at Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust in London. He has a specialist interest in cardiovascular genetics and inherited cardiac conditions with a strong focus on integrating technology and digital platforms in clinical practice. For example, he leads the clinical content development in QGenome (https://qgenome.co.uk/), a smart clinical application that aims to facilitate streamlined genomic testing, risk assessment, and referral guidance to relevant healthcare professionals and provide equity of “Genomics care” for patients across the UK.

@mo__wafik

Kiharu Webb, UK
Start of Term: 2024

Kiharu Webb is a member of the ESHG social media committee.
He has contributed to research for the ‘sinkbug’ project based at the University of Oxford. He is also a graduate in Biochemistry from UCL, and an upcoming Genomic Medicine MPhil student in the Department of Medical Genetics at the University of Cambridge.

Observers  
Jerome del Picchia ESHG Office
Oscar Pacheco ESHG Office

Key overarching aims of the committee:

To use increase social media engagement (followers / mentions/ likes / retweets) around ESHG and the annual meeting to:

  • increase interest, activity and membership of the society
  • increase attendance (virtual and in-person) at the annual meeting