Bartha Knoppers
"'Genetic' Predestination?"
Underwritten by: Spectrum Health

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Intimately linked, as it is to market forces and investment, the hype and hope surrounding genetic research focuses on the determining power of the gene. This spills over into the information provided to patients and recipients and influences ethical frameworks and evaluation. Genetic determinism is shaping socio-ethnic policies and legislation around the world. But is that determining power omnipotent? Or are there other factors and influences that need to be considered? Named Scientist of the Year in 1996 by Radio-Canada, Bartha Knoppers, a law professor and bioethicist at the University of Montreal, will discuss the trends, the models for policymaking and whether any model can be as epigenetic and dynamic as the human person.

• Canada Research Chair in Law and Medicine, University of Montreal
• Professor, Faculty of Law
• Chair, International Ethics Committee of the Human Genome Organization
• Co-Founder, International Institute of Research in Ethics and Biomedicine
• Forum Fellow of the World Economics Forum
• Served as an expert to committees of the World Health Organization & National Institutes of Health
• Author of numerous books