Somatic Mosaicism across Human Tissues (SMaHT) Network Policy Working Group Governance

Version 1.0 – Dated September 2023

SMaHT Data Portal: https://data.smaht.org/

I. Members of the SMaHT Policy Working Group

First Name	Affiliation	Group	Email Address
Jimmy Bennett, Co-Chair	SCRI-UW	GCC	jtbenn@u.washington.edu
Lucinda Fulton, Co-Chair	Washington University	OC	lfulton@wustl.edu
Heather Lawson, Co-Chair	WUSM	OC	lawson@wustl.edu
Alexej Abyzov	Mayo Clinic	TTD	abyzov.alexej@mayo.edu alexej.abyzov@yale.edu
Tom Bell	NDRI	TPC	tbell@ndriresource.org
Elizabeth Chun	Harvard Medical School	DAC	elizabeth_chun@hms.harvard.edu
Richard Conroy	OSC/NIH	NIH	richard.conroy@nih.gov
Melissa Faith	TPC/Johns Hopkins	ELSI Co-PI	mfaith1@jhmi.edu
Chen Fei	Broad Institute	TTD	chenf@broadinstitute.org
Amy Lossie	NIDA/NIH	NIH	lossieac@nih.gov
Stephen Montgomery	Stanford (Broad GCC)	GCC	smontgom@stanford.edu
Jill Morris	NINDS	NIH	jill.morris@nih.gov
Peter Park	Harvard Medical School	DAC	peter_park@hms.harvard.edu
Dena Procaccini	NIH	NIH	dena.procaccini@nih.gov
Raquel Hernandez	TPC/Johns Hopkins	ELSI Co-PI	raquel.hernandez@jhmi.edu
Alexi Runnels	New York Genome Center	GCC	arunnels@nygenome.org
Geetha Senthil	NCATS/NIH	NIH	senthilgs@mail.nih.gov
Alex Urban	Stanford University	TTD	aeurban@stanford.edu
Jeffrey Ou	UW-SCRI	GCC	Jeffrey.Ou@seattlechildrens.org
Kristin Ardlie	Broad Institute	GCC	kardlie@broadinstitute.org
Mehrnoosh Ahmadi	NIH	NIH	mehrnoosh.ahmadi@nih.gov
Ron Johnson	NCI	NIH	rjohnso2@mail.nih.gov

Any member leaving the policy working group will notify the co-chairs in writing, and new members will be sought from the network members.

II. Mission

The mission of the SMaHT Policy Working Group is to develop and maintain policies related to the SMaHT network’s business. The SMaHT Policy Working Group will operate transparently, where the participation of the policy working group and network members is valued and appreciated.

III. Policy Working Group Member Expectations

Attend and participate in the monthly meeting
Draft and review policies
Provide feedback during the development process
Exhibit confidentiality concerning Code of Conduct Violations

IV. Leadership

The policy working group is led by three co-chairs: Jimmy Bennett, Heather Lawson, and Lucinda Fulton, with members from the NIH and the SMaHT network awardees.

V. Policy Development Process

When possible, the SMaHT Policy Working Group will look to policies from other consortia for models of existing policies. When a novel policy must be developed, the members will work together, engaging external resources as needed.

Members of the SMaHT Working Group will create the first draft of new policies and garner feedback from the working group members. Members will settle on the final draft of the policy using the decision-making process defined below - see the decision-making section of this document.

Once the draft policy has been developed, it will be distributed to the SMaHT network for feedback, allowing for a comment period generally lasting one to two weeks. The policy working group members will discuss the feedback and comments provided by the consortium to create a final version of the policy. Sometimes, the policy committee may need to engage the consortium more than once through an iterative process.

The final draft of all policies will be distributed to the consortium members through email and available on the SMaHT Wiki, with announcements made at the monthly steering committee meeting.

VI. Decision-Making

The process for decision-making will be for the SMaHT Policy Working Group to work toward a consensus. In instances when the members of the working group cannot reach an agreement, each will have one vote. In cases of a tie, the co-chairs will work with the NIH to make the final decision. Detailed notes about this specific topic will be kept to have transparency about decision-making.

VII. Monitoring and Documentation

The progress of the SMaHT Policy Working Group will be available on the SMaHT Policy Dashboard. Documentation for the SMaHT Policy Working Group can be found here.

VIII. Continuous Improvement

All policies will be reviewed annually by the SMaHT Policy Working Group or when indicated by the SMaHT Executive Committee or NIH. Updated policies will be distributed to the SMaHT network members.