News

During his 2015 State of the Union address, then-President Barack Obama announced what he promised would be an ambitious public health project. “Tonight, I’m launching a new Precision Medicine Initiative to bring us closer to curing diseases like cancer and diabetes...

This is the 15th installment in the Legacies of Eugenics series, which features essays by leading thinkers devoted to exploring the history of eugenics and the ways it shapes our present. You can read the first part here. The series...

Justin Schleede reaches onto a black lab bench to pick up a tray of small plastic tubes.

"These are saliva...

"If proven to be safe, we believe preventive gene editing could be one of the most important health technologies of...

By Talila Nesher, Haaretz | 01.27.2013

A government official has for the first time acknowledged the practice of injecting women of Ethiopian origin with the long-acting...

By Joseph Goldstein and J. David Goodman, The New York Times | 01.27.2013
The robber fled through a backyard in Queens, dropping a jacket and gloves and with them, genetic material.

Detectives failed...
By YouGov, YouGov | 01.26.2013

In this YouGov poll, the questions are:

1. Suppose it were possible to clone a woolly mammoth (an extinct relative...

By Alyona Minkovski, HuffPost Live | 01.25.2013
By Editorial, The Virginian-Pilot | 01.25.2013

There is no way to truly compensate tens of thousands of men and women who were declared "defective" and involuntarily...

By Andrew Vorzimer and David Randall, American Fertility Association Blog | 01.25.2013
Late last year, in reaction to recent incendiary industry scandals and calls to modernize California statutes relating to third party...
Press Statement
Portrait photo of Marcy Darnovsky

The Advisory Board of the Center for Genetics and Society announced today that Marcy Darnovsky, PhD, has been chosen as the organization’s new Executive Director.

“Marcy’s depth and breadth of knowledge on the politics of human biotechnologies, along with her years of experience as Associate Executive Director, make her the perfect choice to lead CGS as Executive Director,” said CGS Advisory Board member Francine Coeytaux. “With her academic work on bioethical issues, coupled with her non-profit management experience, Diane is the ideal selection for Associate Executive Director. We are confident that we will be seeing more exciting work from our new leadership team, and everyone at CGS, as we embark on our organization's next chapter."

Dr. Darnovsky has served as CGS Associate Executive Director since its founding in 2001. She speaks and writes widely on the politics of human biotechnology, and has been cited or interviewed in hundreds of news articles and broadcasts.

“I’m very excited about the opportunity to lead CGS in its efforts to ensure that human genetic and reproductive technologies are responsibly developed, used and regulated,” Darnovsky said. “With our amazing staff and advisors, and our wide network of colleagues, we’ll be making huge strides toward our vision of a new biopolitics grounded in social justice and the public interest.”

The Center also announced that Diane Tober, PhD, will join the organization as its new Associate Executive Director. “I am thrilled to be joining CGS as part of the leadership team,” Tober said. “I have a long-standing passion for the very issues that are central to CGS’s mission and look forward to doing my part to advance this very important work in biopolitics.”

Dr. Tober has conducted extensive research in topics related to bioethics, reproductive technologies and commodification of the body. She formerly served as Executive Director for Unique Zan Foundation, an organization promoting health and literacy for women in and from the Middle East.

Darnovsky succeeds Center for Genetics and Society’s founding Executive Director, Richard Hayes, who served in that position from 2001 until the end of 2012. “Marcy’s values and vision have importantly helped shape everything that CGS has accomplished to date,” Hayes said. “She and Diane are the perfect leadership team for CGS at this important moment of challenge and opportunity.”

 

The Center for Genetics and Society is a non-profit public affairs and policy advocacy organization working to encourage responsible uses and effective societal governance of human genetic and reproductive biotechnologies.


Contact:
Francine Coeytaux
323-934-4007

Marcy Darnovsky
510-625-0819, ext 305
mdarnovsky[AT]geneticsandsociety[DOT]org


 

By Jason Koebler, US News | 01.25.2013

Harvard synthetic biologist George Church made headlines last week when, in a Der Spiegel interview, he spoke at length about...