Tom Plasterer: The Origins of FAIR Data Practices – Episode 35

Tom Plasterer Shortly after the semantic web was introduced, the demand for discoverable and shareable data arose in both research and industry. Tom Plasterer was instrumental in the early conception and creation of the FAIR data principle, the idea that data should be findable, accessible, interoperable, and reusable. From its origins in the semantic web community, scientific research, and the pharmaceutical industry, the FAIR data idea has spread across academia, research, industry, and enterprises of all kinds. We talked about: his recent move from a big pharma company to Exponential Data where he leads the knowledge graph and FAIR data practices the direct line from the original semantic web concept to FAIR data principles the scope of the FAIR acronym, not just four concepts, but actually 15 how the accessibility requirement in FAIR distinguishes the standard from the open data the role of knowledge graphs in the implementation of a FAIR data program the intentional omission of prescribed implementations in the development of FAIR and the ensuing variety of implementation patterns how the desire for consensus in the biology community smoothed the development of the FAIR standard the role of knowledge graphs in providing a structure for sharing terminology and other information in a scientific community how his interest in omics led him to computer science and then to the people skills crucial to knowledge graph work the origins of the impetus for FAIR in European scientific research and the pharmaceutical industry the growing adoption of FAIR as enterprises mature their web thinking and vendors offer products to help with implementations the roles of both open science and the accessibility needs in industry contributed to the development of FAIR the interesting new space at the intersection of generative AI and FAIR and knowledge graph the crucial foundational role of FAIR in AI systems Tom's bio Dr. Tom Plasterer is a leading expert in data strategy and bioinformatics, specializing in the application of knowledge graphs and FAIR data principles within life sciences and healthcare. With over two decades of experience in both industry and academia, he has significantly contributed to bioinformatics, systems biology, biomarker discovery, and data stewardship. His entrepreneurial ventures include co-founding PanGenX, a Personalized Medicine/Pharmacogenetics Knowledge Base start-up, and directing Project Planning and Data Interpretation at BG Medicine. During his extensive tenure at AstraZeneca, he was instrumental in championing Data Centricity, FAIR Data, and Knowledge Graph initiatives across various IT and scientific business units. Currently, Dr. Plasterer serves as the Managing Director of Knowledge Graph and FAIR Data Capability at XponentL Data, where he defines strategy and implements advanced applications of FAIR data, knowledge graphs, and generative AI for the life science and healthcare industries. He is also a prominent figure in the community, having co-founded the Pistoia Alliance FAIR Data Implementation group and serving on its FAIR data advisory board. Additionally, he co-organizes the Health Care and Life Sciences symposium at the Knowledge Graph Conference and is a member of Elsevier’s Corporate Advisory Board. Connect with Tom online LinkedIn Video Here’s the video version of our conversation: https://youtu.be/Lt9Dc0Jvr4c Podcast intro transcript This is the Knowledge Graph Insights podcast, episode number 35. With the introduction of semantic web technologies in the early 2000s, the World Wide Web began to look something like a giant database. And with great data, comes great responsibility. In response to the needs of data stewards and consumers across science, industry, and technology, the FAIR data principle - F A I R - was introduced. Tom Plasterer was instrumental in the early efforts to make web data findable,