Bartha Maria Knoppers

Expertise

Labour and Employment Law

• Occupational Health and Safety

Litigation

• Civil and Commercial Litigation
• Construction Litigation

Strategic team

• Intellectual Property

Professional background

Bartha Maria Knoppers, PhD, is Canada Research Chair in Law and Medicine and Director of the Centre of Genomics and Policy at McGill University.

Admitted to the Bar of Québec in 1985, she was named Governor and Advocatus Emeritus in 2009. She founded the international Population Project in Genomics (P3G) and CARTaGENE, a Quebec population study in 2003. Officer of the Order of Canada, she is a Member of the Scientific Steering Committee of the International Cancer Genome Consortium. Ms Knoppers has been awarded four doctorates honoris causa.

Her fields of expertise include research ethics, children’s rights, data privacy and medical responsibility.

Publications

• "Intellectual Property Rights in Pubicly Funded Biobanks: Much ado about Nothing? ", (with Saminda Pathmasiri, Mylène Deschênes, Yann Joly, Tara Mrejen and Francis Hemmings) 29/4 Nature Biotechnology, 319-323, 2011.
• "Biomedical Law and Ethics”, (Guest editor of a special edition (with W. Calvin HO, assistant guest editor), "Introduction", 22 Singapore Academy of Law Journal, 759-768. 2010.
• "The Commercialization of Genomic Research in Canada", 6(2) (with Yann Joly, Timothy Caulfield, Eef Harmsen and Tomi Pastinen) HealthCare Policy, 25-32. 2010.
• "Trends in Ethical and Legal Frameworks for the Use of Human Biobanks", 30(2) (co-author), Eur Resp J, 373-382. 2007.
• "Systèmes de santé et circulation de l’information: encadrement éthique et juridique", (co-author) Paris, Éditions Dalloz, Collection Thèmes & commentaires, 195 p. 2006.
• "La génétique et le cadre juridique applicable au secteur de la santé: examens génétiques, recherche en génétique et soins innovateurs", (co-author) 64(1) Revue du Barreau, 57-102, 2004.
• "Genetics and the Law", Canadian Health Law and Policy, (en collaboration), Toronto, Butterworths, pp. 353-374, 1999.

Involvement

• Professor, Faculty of Medicine (Human Genetics Department), McGill University
• Founder, International Consortium, Public Population Project in Genomics (P3G) et CARTaGENE (Québec).
• Advisor, Netherlands Cancer Institute, Netherlands.
• Co-president, International Samples/ELSI Committee, (1000 Genomes Project), NIH, United States.
• Co-organizer, “Stem Cell Network of Canada (Cours), Understanding Stem Cell Controversies: An Intensive Course on Regulatory and Socio-Ethical Issues, Calgary, Alberta, March 2 to 4, 2011.
• Invited professor, “Genomic Databases”, Course Focusing on Bioethical and Public Policy Issues Relating to Genomics Databases, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, February 11, 2008

Professional affiliations

• Barreau du Québec
• Law Faculty, McGill University
• Editorial Board, Ethics and Health Policy Book Series
• Honorary member, Canadian College of Medical Geneticists
• Governance Board, BioShaRE (Biobank - Standardisation and Harmonisation for Research Excellence in the European Union), Finland
• Association québécoise pour l’étude comparative du droit
• Association du Barreau canadien

Conferences

• "Overview and Definition of the Issues Surrounding Global Sampling", DIA Future Sampling Workshop, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States, September 20, 2011.
• "Ethics and Policy Committee and International Data Access ", ICGC – 5th Scientific Meeting, Kyoto, Japan, July 112011.
• "Lawsuits and Dried Bloodspots Retention", Genetic Alliance 25th Anniversary Annual Conference: 25 Years of Innovation, Bethesda, Maryland, United States, June 25, 2011.
• "International Governance for International Consortia?", 2011 ELSI Congress: Exploring the ELSI Universe, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, United States, April 13, 2011.
• "The Public Population Project in Genomics: An “Ethical” Proof of Concept", Session: Biobanking in a Globalized World, IBBL’s Grand Opening Ceremony & Inaugural Conference, Luxembourg, Belgium, February 25, 2010.
• "Genomic Variation, Health and Biobanks: Are Biobanks a “Public Good”? " HUGO Symposium on Genomics and Ethics, Law and Society: Sequencing of Individual Genomes: Impact on Society and Ethics, Public lecture at the Faculty of Medicine, University of Genera, Geneva, Switzerland, November 2, 2009.
• "Personal Genomics and Privacy", HUGO Symposium on Genomics and Ethics, Law and Society: Sequencing of Individual Genomes: Impact on Society and Ethics, Session 2: Personal Genomics: Redefining Privacy, Choice and the Internet, Geneva, Switzerland, November 1, 2009.
• "Stem Cell Research: Models of Policy Making ", Interstate Alliance on Stem Cell Research (IASCR), Washington, DC, October 7, 2009.
• "Biobanks & Identifiability – Data Sharing as an Ethical Imperative", Governance Networking Meeting, Granville Island, Vancouver, July 27, 2009.
• "Access to Population Biobanks: How ‘Public’? ", International Conference: New Challenges for Biobanks Ethics, Law and Governance, Leuven, Belgium, May 19, 2009.
• "Laws and Regulations on Biobanks: Present Status and Future Directions", European Science Foundation (ESF-UB) Conference in Biomedicine, Session 3: Biobanking Ethics and Governance, Sant Feliu de Guixols (Costa Brava), Spain, November 3, 2008.
• "Ethics and International Interoperability", HGM2008, HUGO’s 13th Human Genome Meeting, Symposium Presentation, Hyderabad, India, September 30, 2008.
• "Gouvernance et biobanques: une approche comaparative", ACFAS, 76è Congrès, Section 600 – Multidisciplinaire, No 631 – Gouvernance et éthique de la recherche, Quebec City, Quebec, May 9, 2008.
• "Les enjeux éthiques et juridiques des recherches ", Comité d’éthique de la recherche Direction de santé publique de Montréal Agence de la santé et des services sociaux de Montréal, Montreal, Quebec, May 8, 2008.

Publications

• Nouvelles > Bartha Maria Knoppers, PhD, joins BCF November 7th, 2011