Peter Freeman named new
Executive Director of iBOL

The interim chair of the International Barcode of Life Consortium (iBOL) Board of Directors, Dr. Christian Burks, has announced the appointment of Dr. Peter Freeman as the new Executive Director of iBOL.

Dr. Freeman took up his post on July 1. He will be responsible for the overall operations of the iBOL Secretariat, including keeping stakeholders apprised of progress and building the participation in of key international funders and research institutions.  He will work closely with and report to iBOL’s Scientific Director, Dr. Paul Hebert.

Originally from Ireland, Dr. Freeman arrives at iBOL with a record of successfully coordinating large multi-institutional, international research projects, networks and consortia in genomics, proteomics, stem cell research and population health.

Most recently, he was at the University of Calgary, where he was Executive Director of the Calgary Institute for Population and Public Health.  From 2004-2008, he was based at the University of Edinburgh as Project Manager of EuroStemCell, a European Commission Framework VI project integrating the efforts of 27 leading stem cell research groups in 13 academic centres and three biotech companies across eight countries.  Prior to that, he served as Executive Director for the Alberta Network for Proteomics Innovation.

Dr. Freeman also has extensive private sector experience in R&D and operational executive roles in the international malting and brewing industry.

“I am delighted to be joining the International Barcode of Life Consortium,” said Dr. Freeman. “This is a rare opportunity to contribute to a project with the vision, scope and resources to dramatically change the scientific landscape and inform diverse fields of human endeavor.”

“Dr. Freeman’s experience coordinating among multi-institutional and multinational research consortium partners will be particularly valuable to iBOL,” said Dr. Burks (CEO and President, Ontario Genomics Institute).  “His is an important and ely addition as iBOL moves towards its formal initiation in September 2010.”