Dr. Jonathan M. Irish, PhD is Professor of Pediatrics-Neurology and Scientific Director of the CytoLab data science program at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus.
The Irish lab’s research focuses on cell biology, immunology, and cancer with an emphasis on neuroimmunology and brain tumors. The Irish lab uses both bench cell biology and ‘dry lab’ data analysis tools to reveal and target clinically significant cell subsets in human tumors and immune tissues. Jonathan was previously at University of Michigan (undergrad), Stanford (grad and postdoc), Cytobank Inc. (co-founder), and Vanderbilt University (faculty). Jonathan’s engagement in ISAC has focused on data science, governance, and leadership development.
Jonathan has been an active member of ISAC since 2005 and has served as Councilor (2018-2022), Secretary and Executive Board member (2024-2028), Chair of Committees, including Data (2020-2023), Leadership Development (2023-2024), and Governance (2024-current), and Member of many ISAC subgroups and efforts, including the Live Education Task Force, CYTO Innovation Committee, Mission Continuity, EDI, CYTO Program, FlowRepository Task Force, and more.
Vision for ISAC: As Secretary, my vision for ISAC is to continue to grow our organization by
1) engaging members throughout the world
2) expanding use of technology to improve communication throughout the organization, and
3) building strong connections with associated societies and other groups in our field.
I will focus on ISAC’s core values of collaboration, community, education, excellence, and innovation in the role and seek to align the structure of the organization with good governance policies and ISAC’s strategic goals.
I have especially worked to bring ISAC’s strategic goals to the work I have done in the Data, Leadership Development, and Governance Committees. As Secretary, I will continue to support these ISAC goals, which include increasing equity in access, reflecting member diversity in leadership, communicating with membership and the community, and leading in education. In addition, I would like to see ISAC and cytometry gain prominence worldwide for our impact on science and human health.
I believe communicating and aligning with other groups could help achieve this and will especially look for opportunities to engage leaders throughout ISAC in opportunities with groups on topics like clinical cytometry, cytometry technology development, and preparing for increased use of computational tools and automation throughout cytometry.
As part of the Governance Committee, I have been impressed with the level of organization, productivity, and leadership from Kylie Price and the hard-working members of the committee. I have aimed to bring best practices learned from Governance into the Data and Leadership Development Committees. As Secretary, I would continue this and will look for opportunities to support Council and our Committees in communicating and sharing ideas, lessons learned, and emerging topics across the organization.
As Secretary, I will also continue the much-needed Governance review and update to ISAC’s Policy & Procedures documents, which Governance and Council have been effectively moving forward. I hope to use technology to improve transparency and access to information for ISAC members. I am especially enthusiastic to get modernized versions of ISAC documents updated, accessible, and searchable online.
I also look forward to finding opportunities to engage ISAC members from diverse areas of the society and Leadership Development Program members in governance and growth of the society. This includes encouraging members to take on roles at events at CYTO and throughout the year, including at ISAC strategic reviews and organizational meetings, meetings of other organizations and associated societies, and participating in leadership and education workshops. I will emphasize technology and improved communication while working to engage members across different cytometry disciplines and around the world to grow ISAC and align with our values and goals.