Simon Patton, PhD is Chief Executive of EMQN CIC – a global leader in the provision of genomics focussed External Quality Assessment (EQA) / Proficiency Testing (PT) schemes. He trained at the University of Liverpool in marine biology, before doing his doctorate in Genetics at the University of Cambridge. Simon’s career has focussed on driving improvements in the standardisation and quality of diagnostic laboratory testing – a field that he has worked in since 1999 through his involvement with the EMQN.  Simon has extensive knowledge of the clinical healthcare molecular diagnostics field, focussing on genomics (genetics, pathology, technology). He is passionate about ensuring equity of access to accurate high-quality genomic testing for all patients.  Simon has worked in the UK public sector (NHS; Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust (MFT) for most of his career. He joined the NHS in 1999 as the Executive Administrator for EMQN which was at that time funded by a European Commission grant. Over the following years, Simon has been instrumental in helping the business to grow, expanding its membership to more that 2500 laboratories in 85 different countries, and overseeing its successful spin out from the UK NHS in 2021 into an independent private company.