Pioneering medical research institute seeking CIO

The Garvan Institute of Medical Research – home of Australia’s first clinical whole-genome sequencing service – is seeking a new CIO.

A major focus of the role will be “bringing business discipline to the way IT is used within the organisation”, a job listing noted.

The successful candidate would be “commercially astute” and have experience in driving transformation change.

The CIO will lead the institute's IT department and report to Chief Operating Officer Philip Knox, formerly CFO of broadcaster Austrar.

The institute’s research is centred around the role of genes and cellular processes in health and disease with a focus on cancer, neurodegenerative and mental diseases, disorders of the immune system, diabetes and obesity, osteoporosis and other skeletal disorders.

In 2015, the institute launched its DreamLab app in partnership with the Vodafone Foundation. The app, which runs on Android devices, allows smartphone owners to contribute their phone's processing power to allow cancer researchers to more quickly crunch genomic data.

Last year, Garvan’s Kinghorn Centre for Clinical Genomics in Sydney launched Genome.One, a whole-genome sequencing service, which could triple the diagnosis rates for Australians living with rare and genetic conditions.

The institute will be accepting submissions for the CIO role until February 3.