Rate My Professor Pascal Borry

Pascal Borry is full professor of bioethics at the Centre for Biomedical Ethics and Law within the Faculty of Medicine at KU Leuven, Belgium. Since 2020, he has served as chair of the Department of Public Health and Primary Care. His research specializations encompass the ethical, legal, and social implications of innovative biomedical technologies, with a focus on direct-to-consumer genetic testing, public health genomics, biobanking, research on human tissue, genetic testing, preconceptional screening, neonatal screening, and sport ethics. He has published more than 250 articles in international peer-reviewed journals. Key publications include "Whole-genome sequencing in health care" (European Journal of Human Genetics, 2013), "Non-invasive prenatal testing for aneuploidy and beyond: challenges of responsible innovation in prenatal screening" (European Journal of Human Genetics, 2015), "The birth of the empirical turn in bioethics" (Bioethics, 2005), "Responsible implementation of expanded carrier screening" (European Journal of Human Genetics, 2016), and "Genetic testing in asymptomatic minors" (European Journal of Human Genetics, 2009). He is also the author of the book "The Human Recipe: Understanding Your Genes in Today's Society".

Borry is the programme director of the Master of Bioethics and teaches medical ethics to medical students at KU Leuven. He leads a research group of more than 10 researchers. Throughout his career, he has held significant committee roles, including membership in the Belgian Consultative Committee on Bioethics (2014-2018 and 2019-2024), the Research Ethics Committee of UZ/KU Leuven (2018-2021 and 2022-2025), and the Independent Ethics Board of the World Anti-Doping Agency (2022-2025). He previously served as an elected member of the board of the European Society of Human Genetics (2012-2017), member of its Professional and Public Policy Committee (2009-2016), member of the Flemish Commission on neonatal screening (2012-2020), and expert of the Belgian Superior Health Council (2014-2020). His achievements have earned him major awards such as the triennial Professor Roger Borghgraef Prize for biomedical ethics (2006), the Innovation Prize of the Dutch Association for Community Genetics and Public Health Genomics (2014), the prize of the Dutch Society for Bioethics (2015), and the Science Communication Award of the Royal Flemish Academy of Belgium for Science and the Arts (2015). Borry has been a visiting scholar at Case Western Reserve University, Université de Montréal, and VU Medical Center Amsterdam, and serves as Invited Scholar at the Center for Genomics and Policy of McGill University.