Joanne serves as the principal specialist and sponsor for Sanger, accountable for providing expertise, advice, and support on research ethics, regulation, research policy, and good research practice related to human samples, and draws on her own experience as a post-doctoral research scientist.

She leads and advances the Institute’s internal governance strategies concerning the use of human materials in research and is responsible for communicating with and training Institute staff in this area.

Joanne maintains strong relationships with regulators, government bodies, and organizations to inform and influence policy. She is also a member of the ERION Ethics and Research Integrity Officer Network within EARMA and co-chairs the EMBL Bioethical Internal Advisory Committee.