May 21-23, 2025
International Summit Global Observatory for Genome Editing
In-Person and Virtual Attendance

May 21-23, 2025
International Summit Global Observatory for Genome Editing
Disruptive Promises, Democratic Futures.
The Global Observatory’s 2025 Summit foregrounds questions about biotechnologies that may alter the meaning of being human. Genome editing, especially of the human germline, raises fundamental questions of the dignity and integrity of human life. Governance concerns once focused on the escape of potentially risky lab-created organisms. Today the more urgent concerns relate to transgressing moral boundaries and violating human integrity. How should we respond?
2025 Speakers
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Fyodor Urnov
Professor of Molecular Therapeutics, Scientific Director of Innovative Genomics Institute, UC Berkeley
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Christian O'Reilly
Playwright and Screenwriter
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Christiane Woopen
Hertz Professor for Life Ethics and Director of the Center for Life Ethics, Bonn University
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Daniel Wikler
Mary B. Saltonstall Professor of Ethics and Population Health, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Emeritus
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Victor Dzau
President, National Academy of Medicine
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Patricia Williams
University Distinguished Professor of Law and Humanities, Northeastern Law School
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Vijay Chandru
National Centre for Biological Sciences, Centre for Brain Research, Bangalore, India
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Sarojini Nadimpally
Co-Founder, SAMA - Resource Group for Women and Health, India
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Jane Qiu
Award-winning independent science journalist
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John McQuillan
Triumvirate Environmental Inc.
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George Church
Robert Winthrop Professor of Genetics, Harvard Medical School; Director of the National Institutes of Health Center of Excellence in Genomic Science
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Judy Norsigian
Co-founder, Leadership Council, Executive Advisory Board, Global Projects Committee
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Philip Campbell
Former Editor-in-Chief, Nature
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Kiran Musunuru
Professor of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania
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Siobhán O’Sullivan
Executive Director, Royal Irish Academy; Chair, Steering Committee for Human Rights in the fields of Biomedicine and Health, Council of Europe
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Magdalena Zernicka-Goetz
Professor of Biology and Biological Engineering, California Institute of Technology
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Roli Mathur
Head, Indian Council of Medical Research Bioethics Unit
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Glenn Cohen
Faculty Director, James A. Attwood and Leslie Williams Professor of Law, and Deputy Dean, Harvard Law School
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Alondra Nelson
Harold F. Linder Professor at the Institute for Advanced Study; former Acting Director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy
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Vardit Ravitsky
President and CEO, The Hastings Center for Bioethics
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James Keenan
Director of The Jesuit Institute, Boston College
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Rosemarie Garland-Thomson
Professor of English and Bioethics, Emory University
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Shai Lavi
Director of Van Leer Jerusalem Institute, Professor of Law, Tel-Aviv University
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Tay Salimullah
Partner, 4BIO Capital Managing; General Partner, Renovamen Advisory LLC
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Katie Hasson
Associate Director at Center for Genetics and Society
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Jacob Hanna
Senior Scientist and Professor in Molecular Genetics, Weizmann Institute of Science
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Jennifer Herdt
Gilbert L. Stark Professor of Christian Ethics, Yale University’s Divinity School
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Arnold Eisen
Chancellor Emeritus, Jewish Theological Seminary
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Kevin Esvelt
Associate Professor of Media Arts and Sciences, MIT Media Lab
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George Daley
Dean of the Faculty of Medicine, Caroline Shields Walker Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School
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Durhane Wong-Rieger
President and CEO, Canadian Organization for Rare Disorders
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Erik Sontheimer
Pillar Chair in Biomedical Research and Professor, University of Massachusetts Medical School
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Jonathan D. Kahn
Professor of Law and Biology, Northeastern University
Our Sponsors





This Summit is made possible through the financial support of
Summit Program Overview
Day 1 | Wed, May 21 4:00PM - 9:30PM
Day 2 | Thurs, May 22 9:00AM - 6:30PM
Day 3 | Fri, May 23 9:00AM - 8:00PM
2025 Organizers
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John Evans
Associate Dean of Social Sciences, UC San Diego
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Katherine Littler
Co-Lead, Global Health Ethics and Governance Unit, World Health Organization
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Kaushik Sunder Rajan
Faculty Director of the Pozen Family Center for Human Rights, Professor of Anthropology, University of Chicago
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Timothy Hunt
Alliance for Regenerative Medicine
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Matthew Porteus
Sutardja Chuk Professor of Definitive and Curative Medicine, Stanford University
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David Winickoff
Senior Policy Analyst, Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development
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Jahnavi Phalkey
Founding Director, Science Gallery Bengaluru
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Carrie Wolinetz
Senior Principal, Lewis-Burke Associates; Former Senior Advisor at NIH
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Françoise Baylis
University Research Professor, Dalhousie University; incoming President-Elect of the Royal Society of Canada
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Peter Mills
Director, PHG Foundation
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Douglas Kysar
Joseph M. Field Professor of Law, Yale Law School
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Laurence Lwoff
Head of Human Rights and Biomedicine Division, Council of Europe
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Orlando (Carter) Snead
Charles E. Rice Professor of Law, University of Notre Dame Law School