My background is in human genomics, population genetics, precision medicine and leading large-scale human genomics studies. I joined AstraZeneca in August 2017 and my role as Vice President and Head of Genome Analytics and Bioinformatics for AstraZeneca’s Centre for Genomics Research (CGR) involves leading the design and implementation of human genomic studies as part of AstraZeneca’s Genomics Initiative. My team applies human genetics to inform and drive novel target discovery, target validation, target safety, precision medicine and late-stage support.

Prior to this, I was a Senior Research Fellow and Group Leader in Computational Genomics within the Department of Medicine at the University of Melbourne, Australia. I was awarded a PhD in Bioinformatics and Biostatistics from the Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry & Health Sciences at the University of Melbourne in 2011.

Over my career, I have made important contributions to human and population genomics, including key contributions to the science of target discovery and variant interpretation. I have also secured prestigious funding from numerous international organisations and regularly publish my work in highly regarded journals.

Through large-scale population genetics and multi-omics, we are discovering novel targets, understanding disease mechanisms, and implementing precision medicine strategies across early R&D.

Slavé Petrovski Vice President, Head of Genome Analytics and Bioinformatics, R&D

Award

Scrip Award, Best Partnership Alliance, 2020

Award

Amgen, AstraZeneca, GSK and Janssen for the UK Biobank Whole Genome Sequencing Project

CURRENT ROLE

Vice President, Head of Genome Analytics and Bioinformatics, R&D

2020

Invited speaker at AWS Re:Invent Conference

2018

Panel speaker at Bloomberg Data for Good Exchange

2018

Completed the initial build of the Genomics Initiative capabilities at AstraZeneca, to drive human genetics-based novel target discovery, target validation, target safety, precision medicine and late-stage support

Featured publications

Identification of a missense variant in SPDL1 associated with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis.

Dhindsa, R.S., Mattsson, J., Nag, A. Petrovski, S. et al. Identification of a missense variant in SPDL1 associated with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis. Commun Biol 4, 392 (2021). http://doi.org/10.1038/s42003-021-01910-y

Prioritizing non-coding regions based on human genomic constraint and sequence context with deep learning.

Vitsios, D., Dhindsa, R.S., Middleton, L., Petrovski, S. et al. Prioritizing non-coding regions based on human genomic constraint and sequence context with deep learning. Nat Commun 12, 1504 (2021). http://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-021-21790-4

Rare-variant collapsing analyses for complex traits: guidelines and applications.

Povysil, G., Petrovski, S., Hostyk, J. et al. Rare-variant collapsing analyses for complex traits: guidelines and applications. Nat Rev Genet 20, 747–759 (2019). http://doi.org/10.1038/s41576-019-0177-4

Mantis-ml: Disease-Agnostic Gene Prioritization from High-Throughput Genomic Screens by Stochastic Semi-supervised Learning.

Vitsios D, Petrovski S. Mantis-ml: Disease-Agnostic Gene Prioritization from High-Throughput Genomic Screens by Stochastic Semi-supervised Learning. Am J Hum Genet. 2020 May 7;106(5):659-678. doi: 10.1016/j.ajhg.2020.03.012.

Variant Interpretation and Genomic Medicine.

Carss, K., Goldstein, D., Aggarwal, V. and Petrovski, S. (2019). Variant Interpretation and Genomic Medicine. In Handbook of Statistical Genomics (eds D. Balding, I. Moltke and J. Marioni) http://doi.org/10.1002/9781119487845.ch27

Optimizing genomic medicine in epilepsy through a gene-customized approach to missense variant interpretation.

Traynelis J, Silk M, Wang Q, et al. Optimizing genomic medicine in epilepsy through a gene-customized approach to missense variant interpretation. Genome Res. 2017;27(10):1715-1729. doi:10.1101/gr.226589.117

Diagnostic Utility of Exome Sequencing for Kidney Disease.

Groopman EE, Marasa M, Cameron-Christie S, Petrovski S, et al. Diagnostic Utility of Exome Sequencing for Kidney Disease. N Engl J Med. 2019 Jan 10;380(2):142-151. doi: 10.1056/NEJMoa1806891.

An Exome Sequencing Study to Assess the Role of Rare Genetic Variation in Pulmonary Fibrosis.

Petrovski S, Todd JL, Durheim MT, et al. An Exome Sequencing Study to Assess the Role of Rare Genetic Variation in Pulmonary Fibrosis. Am J Respir Crit Care Med. 2017 Jul 1;196(1):82-93. doi: 10.1164/rccm.201610-2088OC. PMID: 28099038; PMCID: PMC5519963.

Unequal representation of genetic variation across ancestry groups creates healthcare inequality in the application of precision medicine.

Petrovski S, Goldstein DB. Unequal representation of genetic variation across ancestry groups creates healthcare inequality in the application of precision medicine. Genome Biol. 2016 Jul 14;17(1):157. doi: 10.1186/s13059-016-1016-y. PMID: 27418169; PMCID: PMC4944427.

Phenomics and the interpretation of personal genomes.

Petrovski S, Goldstein DB. Phenomics and the interpretation of personal genomes. Sci Transl Med. 2014 Sep 17;6(254):254fs35. doi: 10.1126/scitranslmed.3010272. PMID: 25232173.