Sonia M. Suter, the Kahan Family Research Professor of Law and Founding Director of the Health Law Initiative, authored one of 17 top articles published in 2017-19 selected for Editors' Choice 2020 by the Journal of Law and the Biosciences.
The article, “The Tyranny of Choice: Reproductive Selection in the Future,” (Journal of Law and the Biosciences, Volume 5, Issue 2, August 2018) was hand-picked by the Journal’s three Editors-in-Chief: Nita Farahany from Duke University, Hank Greely from Stanford University, and Glenn Cohen from Harvard Law School.
In her award-winning article, Professor Suter explores in her award-winning article advancements in technology that could profoundly affect reproductive decision making. She examines how these emerging technologies, which would allow for preimplantation genetic diagnosis of embryos as well as the ability to obtain more predictive information about the embryo, would present enormous challenges to future parents. Ultimately, she advises caution and circumspection in making these incredibly difficult reproductive choices.
The Journal of Law and the Biosciences was recognized in 2019 as one of the most cited, influential journals in its fields. It ranks 14th out of 148 law journals and is third out of 16 in the areas of both medical ethics and legal medicine. Professor Suter’s 2015 article, “In Vitro Gametogenesis: Just Another Way to Have a Baby?,” was chosen by the Journal’s editorial team as one of its favorite widely read and cited articles that has made a big impact.
Professor Suter joined the GW Law faculty in 1999 after holding a Greenwall Fellowship in bioethics and health policy at Georgetown and Johns Hopkins Universities. Her scholarship focuses on legal issues in medicine and genetics as well as bioethics. She previously taught torts, genetics and the law, and bioethics and the law at the University of Michigan Law School.
While in law school, Professor Suter was Executive Articles Editor of the Michigan Law Review and was awarded the Henry M. Bates Memorial Scholarship, the highest law school award. She then clerked for Judge John M. Walker, Jr. of the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. Prior to attending law school, she earned a master’s degree and achieved PhD candidacy in human genetics. She then worked as a genetic counselor for two years.