Commission on Excellence and Innovation in Health

Clinical Genomics Statewide Clinical Network

The Clinical Genomics SCN promotes Genomics, the study of all of a person’s genes (the genome). It has the potential to reshape clinical practice and to fundamentally change the way we prevent, diagnose, treat and monitor illness.

Related News

Genomics Digital Pathway and Consent project wins SA Health award for innovation

An Aus­tralian-first dig­i­tal path­way re-imag­in­ing genet­ics con­sul­ta­tions in SA. It stream­lines pre-clin­ic data col­lec­tion, online con­sent, and more, improv­ing patient expe­ri­ence, reduc­ing con­sul­ta­tion times, and enhanc­ing acces­si­bil­i­ty and efficiency.

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Improving the identification and management of Haemoglobinopathies and Thalassaemia in pregnancy

The Clin­i­cal Genomics Statewide Net­work team held a work­shop involv­ing near­ly 30 key clin­i­cal stake­hold­ers in April, with the aim of improv­ing the path­way for cou­ples at risk.

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Vision and goals

Vision

Our vision is for the South Aus­tralian genomics com­mu­ni­ty to work togeth­er to pro­vide the best pos­si­ble health care for South Australians.

Goals

  • Deliv­er high qual­i­ty care for peo­ple through a per­son-cen­tred approach to genomics
  • Work­force: build­ing a skilled work­force that is lit­er­ate in genomics
  • Finance and infra­struc­ture: ensur­ing sus­tain­able and strate­gic invest­ment in cost-effec­tive genomics
  • Ser­vices: max­imis­ing qual­i­ty, safe­ty and clin­i­cal util­i­ty of genomics in health care
  • Data: respon­si­ble col­lec­tion, stor­age, use and man­age­ment of genom­ic data
  • Inno­va­tion: estab­lish inno­v­a­tive projects that put South Aus­tralia at the fore­front of genomics

Clin­i­cal Genomics Statewide Clin­i­cal Net­work Steer­ing Committee

Professor Christopher Barnett

Clin­i­cal Genomics Statewide Clin­i­cal Net­work Clinical Lead

Clinical Geneticist

Prof Christo­pher Bar­nett has dual fel­low­ships in neonatal/​perinatal med­i­cine, clin­i­cal genet­ics and is the head of the Pae­di­atric and Repro­duc­tive Genet­ics Unit at the Wom­en’s and Chil­dren’s Hos­pi­tal in Ade­laide. He is the lead of the NHM­RC fund­ed Genom­ic Autop­sy Project and on the expert advi­so­ry com­mit­tee of the Genomics Health Futures Mis­sion. Christo­pher trained at the Wom­en’s and Chil­dren’s Hos­pi­tal in Ade­laide and at The Hos­pi­tal for Sick Chil­dren in Toron­to. He has research inter­ests in pre­na­tal genet­ics, fetal pathol­o­gy and rare child­hood diseases.

Steering Committee members

Prof Christo­pher Bar­nett (Chair)

Clin­i­cal Lead of the Clin­i­cal Genomics SCN; Clin­i­cal Geneti­cist; Head, Pae­di­atric and Repro­duc­tive Genet­ics Unit (WCHN)
Prof Alex BrownDirec­tor (ANU NCIG); Pro­fes­sor of Indige­nous Genomics (The Kids Research Insti­tute Australia)

Dr Alice Roberts-Thomson

Con­sumer advo­cate and Gener­al med­ical prac­ti­tion­er (Belair Med­ical, Ade­laide Mums and Babies Clinic)

Prof David Lynn

Direc­tor, Com­pu­ta­tion­al and Sys­tems Biol­o­gy Pro­gram (SAHM­RI); Pro­fes­sor of Sys­tems Immunol­o­gy, Col­lege of Med­i­cine and Pub­lic Health (Flinders Uni­ver­si­ty); Sci­en­tif­ic Direc­tor (SA Genomics Centre)

Prof Deb­o­rah White

Co-Theme Leader Pre­ci­sion Can­cer Med­i­cine; Head of Acute Leukaemia Genomics (SAHM­RI)

Dr Denis Bauer

Group leader (CSIRO)

Ms Gay­athri Parasivam

Senior Genet­ic Coun­sel­lor, Pae­di­atric and Repro­duc­tive Genet­ics Unit (WCHN)

Prof Hamish Scott

Sci­en­tist, Head of the Depart­ment of Genet­ics and Mol­e­c­u­lar Pathol­o­gy (SA Pathology)

Ms Hay­ley Salvemini

Prin­ci­pal Genet­ic Coun­sel­lor (FHGSA), Adult Genet­ics Unit (RAH)

Dr Jan Liebelt

Clin­i­cal Geneti­cist (South Aus­tralian Clin­i­cal Genet­ics Service/​Repromed)

Mr Joel Geoghegan

Bioin­for­mati­cian; Indus­try Rep­re­sen­ta­tive Team Leader Oncol­o­gy (Asia Pacif­ic Japan, Illumina)
Mr Joel TaggartCon­sumer representative

Prof Jozef Gecz

Sci­en­tist; Head of Neu­ro­ge­net­ics (Ade­laide Med­ical School); Chair for the Pre­ven­tion of Child­hood Dis­abil­i­ty; NHM­RC Senior Prin­ci­pal Research Fel­low 2019 SA Sci­en­tist of the Year

A/​Prof Karen Lower

Sci­en­tist; Human Genet­ics Edu­ca­tion Lead and Med­ical Bio­sciences Teach­ing Pro­gram Direc­tor, Col­lege of Med­i­cine and Pub­lic Health (Flinders University)

A/​Prof Karin Kassahn

Head of Tech­nol­o­gy Advance­ment Unit, Genet­ics and Mol­e­c­u­lar Pathol­o­gy (SA Pathology)
Ms Kathryn MilneFounder (Rare Insight Advisory)
Ms Lin­da BurrowsSenior Med­ical Sci­en­tist, Genet­ics & Mol­e­c­u­lar Pathol­o­gy (SA Pathology)

Prof Lyle Palmer

Pro­fes­sor of Genet­ic Epi­demi­ol­o­gy (Uni­ver­si­ty of Adelaide)
Dr Melis­sa McCraddenDeputy Direc­tor (AIML); Deputy Research Direc­tor, AI Direc­tor (WCHN); The Hos­pi­tal Research Foun­da­tion Clin­i­cal Research Fel­low in AI Ethics Adjunct Sci­en­tist (Sick­Kids)

Dr Nico­la Poplawski

Clin­i­cal Geneti­cist and Head of Unit, Adult Genet­ics Unit (RAH)

Prof Paul Worley

Gen­er­al prac­ti­tion­er; Exec­u­tive Direc­tor Clin­i­cal Inno­va­tion (River­land Mallee Coorong LHN)

Ms Tracey Powell

Con­sumer representative

Dr Vijay Suppiah

Senior Lec­tur­er in Phar­ma­cy (Ade­laide Cen­tre for Pre­ci­sion Health, UniSA)
Sub groups

Genet­ic Test­ing Improve­ments in Order­ing and Report­ing Work­ing Group

The Genet­ic Test­ing Improve­ments in Order­ing and Report­ing Work­ing Group is a mul­ti­dis­ci­pli­nary team con­sist­ing of lab­o­ra­to­ry, clin­i­cal and infor­ma­tion tech­nol­o­gy pro­fes­sion­als who are devel­op­ing inno­v­a­tive approach­es to stream­line genet­ic and genom­ic test order­ing and report­ing. This includes the devel­op­ment of elec­tron­ic deci­sion sup­port tools to bet­ter sup­port refer­rers in order­ing genet­ic test­ing. For more infor­ma­tion or to con­tact the group, please email ceih.​clinicalgenomics@​sa.​gov.​au.

Current projects and collaboration

Shaping the Future of Whole Genome Sequencing for SA’s Health System

Whole genome sequenc­ing is trans­form­ing health­care, and South Aus­tralia is prepar­ing now to safe­ly and effec­tive­ly use this tech­nol­o­gy to improve diag­no­sis, treat­ment, and care for indi­vid­u­als and families.

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Clinical Genomics in SA Plan 2026-2030

The Clin­i­cal Genomics SCN is devel­op­ing a new plan to guide its work as it steers SA to max­imise the ben­e­fits of the genom­ic rev­o­lu­tion for South Australians.

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Genomics digital pathway and consent

An Aus­tralian-first dig­i­tal path­way re-imag­in­ing genet­ics con­sul­ta­tions in SA. It stream­lines pre-clin­ic data col­lec­tion, online con­sent, and more, improv­ing patient expe­ri­ence, reduc­ing con­sul­ta­tion times, and enhanc­ing acces­si­bil­i­ty and efficiency.

Learn more

Reproductive Genetic Carrier Screening Informational Video 

CEIH through the Clin­i­cal Genomics Statewide Clin­i­cal Net­work has cre­at­ed an edu­ca­tion­al ani­ma­tion to help indi­vid­u­als and cou­ples bet­ter under­stand Repro­duc­tive Genet­ic Car­ri­er Screening.

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Genomics Clin­i­cal Pri­ori­ti­sa­tion Criteria

We part­nered with the Depart­ment for Health and Well­be­ing to devel­op clin­i­cal deci­sion sup­port tools to improve refer­ral and assess­ment of patients requir­ing genom­ic out­pa­tient services.

Related information

Hear from Pro­fes­sor Christo­pher Bar­nett about the Clin­i­cal Genomics Statewide Clin­i­cal Net­work as part of the 2022 CEIH Con­ver­sa­tion Series

Have a question?

Or want to know more about the Clin­i­cal Genomics Statewide Clin­i­cal Net­work?
Please email CEIH.​ClinicalGenomics@​sa.​gov.​au