Emeritus Prof Willem OUWEHAND

Principal Investigator

Willem H Ouwehand received his PhD and medical degree from the University of Amsterdam in 1984. After a 5 years stint at the Sanquin laboratory in Amsterdam, he accepted an academic position at the University of Cambridge. He is now emeritus Professor of Experimental Haematology and holds Honorary Consultant Haematology positions at Cambridge University Hospitals, University College London Hospitals and NHS Blood and Transplant. He is a Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences and emeritus NIHR Senior Investigator.

His research on rare diseases focused on inherited haemostasis disorders.(1-5) As one of the founders of the NIHR BioResource, Willem did lead the NIHR BioResource whole genome sequencing pilot study for Rare Diseases for the 100 000 Genomes Project. With Professor Nicole Soranzo, he unravelled the genetic architecture of blood cell formation by genome wide association studies for complete blood count (CBC) parameters in large-scale population studies, including the blood donor health cohorts INTERVAL, COMPARE and STRIDES.

With Asst Prof Nicholas Gleadall, he founded the Blood transfusion Genomics Consortium, with participating institutes in 14 countries, which has developed and validated an affordable array DNA test for high throughput blood cell antigen typing with the aim to improve the matching between donor and recipient. He also supports him and Professor Michael Roberts for the BloodCounts! consortium project, which develops foundational models for blood using the CBC and blood smear images from millions of patients in The Gambia, Ghana, The Netherlands, Singapore and the UK. All together, foundation models of blood will enhance the operational efficiency of the CBC test and amplify its diagnostic, predictive, and inferential power, without disrupting clinical pathways, and at minimal cost.

who1000@cam.ac.uk

Cambridge

Principal Investigators

BloodCounts!