[3] GA4GH is founded on the Framework for the Responsible Sharing of Genomic and Health-related Data,[4] which is based on the human right to benefit from scientific advances.
[6] Heidi Rehm is the current GA4GH chair[7] and Peter Goodhand is the Chief Executive Officer.
[9] Organizational members of the alliance include:[6] GA4GH is supported by a "Funder's Forum" composed of organizations whose funding commitments exceed USD $200,000 annually, for at least three years.
Forum members include:[6] All GA4GH standards are developed by six technical and two foundational "Work Streams" in collaboration with real-world genomic data initiatives called "Driver Projects.
[14] The "Beacon" protocol was originally proposed as a simple standard for the discovery of genomic sequence variants using federated queries against a potentially large number of genomic databases with implicit security provided through the use of limited query parameters and restriction to Boolean responses.