Alta Charo: Human Gene Editing: Recommendations from U.S. National Academies

Warren P. Knowles Professor of Law and Bioethics, University of Wisconsin, Madison Alta Charo is a bioethicist and legal scholar whose work focuses on law and policy related to biotechnology, reproductive rights, stem cell research, and research ethics. She co-chairs the National Academy of Medicine (NAM)/National Academy of Sciences (NAS) committee on Human Gene Editing: Scientific, Medical, and Ethical Considerations and the NAM Forum on Regenerative Medicine. An elected NAM member, she previously served on NAM and NAS committees on the future of drug safety, the pediatric vaccine schedule, HIV-trial research ethics, and prevention of bioterrorism, and she co-chaired a committee on voluntary guidelines for embryonic stem cell research. Charo is a member of the program board of the Greenwall Foundation, and was a witness for a Congressional panel reviewing the practice of fetal tissue research. She served on President Obama’s transition team in 2008, focusing particularly on issues related to the National Institutes of Health, U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and stem cell policy, and served as a senior policy advisor in the Office of the Commissioner of the FDA. Her previous government experience included the congressional Office of Technology Assessment, the U.S. Agency for International Development, and membership on President Clinton’s National Bioethics Advisory Commission. Charo received a bachelor’s degree in biology from Harvard University and her J.D. law degree from Columbia University.