Béatrice Godard

Béatrice Godard has been an Associate Professor at the Department of Preventive and Social Medicine and Director of the Bioethics Programs at the University of Montreal since 2004 (please, visit the Bioethics Programs website for more information). She is a medical sociologist with extensive expertise in bioethics and her research expertise focuses on the study of ethical and social issues and their integration with applied genomics science and attendant products. Her research work is centered on an empirical ethics perspective and to that end, she integratively employs a wide range of qualitative and quantitative social science research methodologies. She was an active contributor to the development of international guidelines and policy documents in human genetics/genomics in North America & Europe (2003-2004).

More recently, she has been actively engaged with national and international stakeholders in the study of the socio-ethical issues associated with personalized health interventions and –omics technologies, namely pharmacogenomics and nutrigenomics. Her goal is to contribute towards an evidence-based empirical foundation that can both discern and anticipate the socio-ethical issues associated with –omics technologies in the pursuit of personalized health interventions. She is presently serving additional editorial leadership roles in ethical and social research on –omics technology applications for two international peer-reviewed journals.

She is also engaged in seeking to better understand prevailing attitudes and behaviours with regard to genomics research, especially (1) in the framework of public consultations on population genetics databanks used for research purposes, (2) the use of genetic information for public health purposes and (3) the challenge of responsible conduct in the bioscience industry, in terms of the assessment of bioethical needs and industry decision-making grounded in bioethics considerations.

Collectively, her research work concentrates on emerging ethical responsibilities in genomics at the juncture between research and the clinic (personalized health interventions) and it is oriented on the development of frameworks for ethical decision-making. She is particularly keen on examining factors influencing the adoption of genomics technology innovations by different stakeholders. How do different stakeholders, individually and/or collectively, perceive their professional and socio-ethical responsibilities?

Since the beginning of her carrier, Beatrice Godard has published more than 80 peer-reviewed articles and books’ chapters and she has been invited to give more that 100 oral presentations in national and international conferences. She also serves as advisory member for several committees, boards or policy-making bodies. See more about the Bioethics Programs at: www.bioethique.umontreal.ca.

 

Contact Béatrice Godard

Selected publications

2010

Knoppers B.M., Leroux T., Doucet H., Godard B., Laberge C., Stanton-Jean M., Fortin S., Cousineau J., Monardes C., Girard N., Levesque L., Durand C., Farmer Y., Dion-Labrie M., Bouthillier M.E., Avard D. (2010) "Framing genomics, public health research and policy: points to consider" Public Health Genomics 13(4): 224-34. Epub 2010 Apr 15. Free access

2009

Godard, B., Hurlimann, T. (2009) "Nutrigenomics for Global Health: Ethical Challenges for Underserved Populations" Current Pharmacogenomics and Personalized Medicine 7(3): 205-14.

Godard, B., Ozdemir, V., Fortin, M., Egalité, N. (2009) "Ethnocultural community leaders’ perceptions on population specific genomics research and large scale biobanks: A qualitative research study" Public Understanding of Science (in press). OnlineFirst (Accessed June 2009).

Ozdemir, V., Motulsky, A.G., Kolker, E., Godard, B. (2009) "Genome-environment interactions and prospective technology assessment: Evolution from pharmacogenomics to nutrigenomics and ecogenomics" OMICS: Journal of Integrative Biology 13(1): 1-6.

Tassé, A.M., Petit, É., Godard, B. (2009) "Comparative Study of Legal Frameworks for Genetic Laboratories in Four Countries" Journal of Law, Medicine & Ethics (accepted).

2008

Godard, B., Ozdemir, V. (2008) "Nutrigenomics and personalized diet: From molecule to intervention and nutri-ethics" OMICS: A Journal of Integrative Biology 12(4): 227-28.

Lévesque, L., Ozdemir, V., Godard, B. (2008) "Socio-ethical Analysis of Equity in Access to Nutrigenomics Interventions for Obesity Prevention: A Focus Group Study" OMICS: A Journal of Integrative Biology 12(4): 273-78.

Lévesque, L., Ozdemir, V., Gremmen, B., Godard, B. (2008) "Integrating anticipated nutrigenomics bioscience applications with ethical aspects" OMICS: A Journal of Integrative Biology 12(1): 1-16.

Olivier, C., Williams-Jones, B., Godard, B., Makalson, B., Ozdemir, V. (2008) "Personalized Medicine, Bioethics and Social Responsibilities: Rethinking the Pharmaceutical Industry to Remedy Inequities in Patient Care and International Health" Current Pharmacogenomics and Personalized Medicine 6(2): 108-20.

Ozdemir, V., Dubé, M.P., De Denus, S., Phillips, M., Tardif, J.C., Stenne, R., Shimoda, K., Someya, T., Godard, B. (2008) "Research Highlights: A Survey of Personalized Medicine Landscape" Pharmacogenomics 9(7): 819-23.

Ozdemir, V., Graham, J.E., Godard, B. (2008) "Race as a variable in pharmacogenomics science: From empirical ethics to publication standards" Pharmacogenetics and Genomics 18(10): 837-41.

Petit, E., Tassé, A.M., Godard, B. (2008) "An Empirical Analysis of the Legal Frameworks Governing Genetic Services Labs in Canadian Provinces" Health Law Review 16(3): 65-72.

2007

Égalité, N., Ozdemir, V., Godard, B. (2007) "Pharmacogenomics Research Involving Racial Classification: Qualitative Research Findings on Researchers’ Views, Perceptions and Attitudes Towards Socio-Ethical Responsibilities" Pharmacogenomics 8(9): 1115-26.

Farmer, Y., Godard, B. (2007) "Public health genomics (PHG). From scientific considerations to ethical integration" Genomics, Society and Policy 3(3): 14-27.

Ozdemir, V., Godard, B. (2007) "Crossing the blood-brain-barrier: Integration of scientific innovation with socio-ethical reflection" Psychiatric Times 24(10): 1-3.

Ozdemir, V., Godard, B. (2007) "Evidence Based Management of Nutrigenomics Expectations and ELSIs" Pharmacogenomics 8(8): 1051-62.

Ozdemir, V., Williams-Jones, B., Cooper, D.M., Someya, T., Godard, B. (2007) "Mapping Translational Research in Personalized Therapeutics: From Molecular Markers to Health Policy" Pharmacogenomics 8(2): 177-85.

Tassé, A.M., Godard, B. (2007) «L’encadrement législatif de la vente directe des tests génétiques et le système de santé québécois» Health Law Journal, 15: 441-67.

2004

Godard, B., Marshall, J., Laberge, C., Knoppers, B.M. (2004) "Strategies for Consulting with the Community: The cases of four large-scale genetic databases" Science and Engineering Ethics 10(3): 1-21.