Bartha Maria Knoppers is a Distinguished James McGill Professor Emerita and former Canada Research Chair in Law and Medicine (2001-2024). She is the Founding Director of the Centre of Genomics and Policy of the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, McGill University. In 2007, she co-founded CARTaGENE with Dr. Claude Laberge, professor Emeritus of Medicine and Pediatrics at the Faculty of Medicine, Université Laval.
She was the Chair of the International Ethics Committee of the HUGO (1996-2004); the Chair of the Ethics and Governance Committee of the ICGC (2009-2017); Co-Chair, Ethics Working Group of the Human Cell Atlas (2018-24) and is currently, both a co-founder (2013) and a Board member of the Global Alliance for Genomics and Health. She is an Officer of both the Order of Canada and of Quebec.
She holds five Doctorates Honoris Causa and was awarded the Henry G. Friesen International Prize in Health Research (2019), the Till and McCulloch Award for international policy (2020), and the Canadian Bioethics Society Lifetime Achievement award (2021) in recognition of her significant contributions to biomedical research and policy. In 2025, she was awarded the McGill University Medal for Exceptional Academic Achievement.
