Abstract:
Biobanks collect biological samples and associated data for medical research and diagnostic purposes. As contemporary medicine is moving from reactive approaches to predictive, preventive, personalised and participatory medicine (P4 Medicine), biobanks have become powerful tools with the potential to drive this transition in drug innovation and health care delivery. However, the practice of biobanking also raises considerable challenges for existing legal principles and regulatory frameworks. This talk explores these challenges and possible solutions to achieve appropriate governance structures for biobanking in the future.

Speaker(s):
Dr. Chih-hsing Ho, Centre for Medical Ethics and Law, The University of Hong Kong

Dr. Chih-hsing Ho is Research Officer at the Centre for Medical Ethics and Law at the University of Hong Kong. She holds a PhD in law from the London School of Economics (LSE) where she was an Olive Stone Scholar. She studied law and philosophy in Taiwan and later received a LLM from Columbia Law School and a JSM from Stanford University. Her research focuses on the emergence of genomics and its accommodation within existing legal frameworks, with particular attention to biobanks and their related ethical and legal issues. Her areas of interests include law and medical ethics, anthropology of law, socio-legal studies and political economy.