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F A CUL TY F OCUS

polity. Where else will we find a better laboratory or debate platform I thank UHS Chancellor Renu Khator and the regents for this
than at UHD, with UHLC colleagues? unparalleled opportunity. I have appreciated all the UHD faculty and
I ride with my students in the UHD elevators every day, and it is staff who have invested in our students, and I always remember that it is
always a life-affirming experience, as many are first generation students, students whom we have chosen to serve.
immigrants, and students of color. When they recognize me, they relate All that said, I will return to UHLC, better informed about the daily
their experiences and their triumphs and their concerns. Since the consequences of higher education law and immigration law as fields
election, they have actually cheered me up—not for the first time. One of engagement. I hope that my students will be the beneficiaries of this
of them sensed my own dread and said to me, “Llegamos, tan cerca, extraordinary opportunity I was blessed to have.
Presidente Olivas.” (We came very close, President Olivas.)

BARBARA J. EVANS

For Professor Barbara J. Evans, 2016 was one of those years
when “all your prior assumptions fly out the window, you shred
every article you wrote before, you step into a new reality and
it’s time to think new things. It was delightful.” The trigger was
sudden advances in genome-editing technologies, specifically the
technique known as CRISPR-Cas9.
“The first law course I ever taught was Law and Genetics in
2005,” recalls Evans, Alumnae College Professor of Law. “Back
then, we agonized over legal and ethical dilemmas people face as
genetic tests reveal their unique, immutable genomes. The course
was about genetic privacy and control of genetic information,
genetic discrimination and stigmatization, Fourth Amendment
concerns with forensic DNA databases, and so forth.”
Those issues are “so last decade,” Evans notes. While the law
scholars debated, the engineers put forth some real technical
solutions. “If your genome is causing you to be discriminated Professor Barbara J. Evans debates the morality
against, you’ll soon be able to get a different genome. The big of human DNA manipulation before the
challenge for lawyers now is how do you make gene editing safe historic Oxford Union Debating Society.
for people and the environment, and how do you engage the public
in making decisions about what’s OK and not OK to do?” has been asked to brief Congress and the American College of
Evans, director of the Center on Biotechnology & Law at the Gene and Cell Therapy on regulatory options for gene editing
Law Center, spoke at the joint US/UK/Chinese International later this spring. She invested hundreds of after-hours hours on
Summit on Human Gene Editing in December 2015, and “after a National Academy of Sciences committee commissioned by the
that, everything is a blur.” First off, the Law Center needed an White House to assess the adequacy of existing statutes to regulate
updated curriculum. She added a new FDA law course last fall the flood of new biotechnology products expected over the next
and modernized the school’s existing biotechnology law course 5 – 10 years.
to emphasize not just medical, but agricultural, industrial and Evans is excited about a new collaboration with a team of noted
consumer applications of genomics. physicians and geneticists in California to develop a regulatory
Evans notes that biosecurity concerns loom large in a world strategy for the first human genome surgery center, where people
where do-it-yourself gene editing kits are already available on the will be able to go for repair of gene mutations that cause certain
web for under $200. “What rights do you have if the guy next door forms of blindness and neuromuscular diseases.
gene-edits your dog, and now you have a pink dog? What if he’s She was on the winning team at Oxford University’s historic
messing around with microbes? Does FDA have jurisdiction to debate about the ethics of human gene editing last May and was in
inspect your neighbor’s garage?” London this March speaking at Covent Garden and King’s College
Evans attained “ultra-kryptonite frequent flyer status” — London.
without ever canceling a class — zipping in and out of Houston to The reward? “It’s good to have a seat at the table where science
sit on various governmental and private advisory bodies on gene policy decisions are being made,” she says. “I try to remind the
editing and related data resource development, in addition to her geneticists that, amid curing cancer and genetic diseases, they
ongoing work with the precision medicine initiative and FDA’s mustn’t forget the importance of cosmetic gene editing … like, can
drug and device safety programs. you please do something about these jowls that lady law professors
Evans logged three visits to the White House in 18 months and start to get from grading too many exams?”

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