February 23, 2010 — Nationally renowned biomedical ethics expert Hank Greely will lecture on the future of prenatal genetic testing at the University of Virginia School of Law on March 3 at 4 p.m. in Withers-Brown Hall, room 101.

The lecture is free and open to the public, but parking is not provided.

Greely's lecture, "The Coming Revolution in Prenatal Genetic Testing," will cover what could happen within the next five years, when safe, early, broad and fully insured fetal genetic testing will likely be both available and used by far more women than current methods. This testing will likely reveal not only disease traits and broad disease risks, but some non-disease traits, such as sex, height, eye or hair color, male pattern baldness and more.

Greely is the Deane F. and Kate Edelman Johnson Professor of Law at Stanford University, where he also directs the Center for Law and the Biosciences, chairs the Steering Committee of the Center for Biomedical Ethics and directs its Program in Neuroethics. An expert on the legal, ethical and social issues surrounding health law and the biosciences, Greely specializes in the implications of new biomedical technologies, especially those related to neuroscience, genetics and stem cell research, and frequently advises governmental and nongovernmental bodies on these and other topics.

Greely's talk is sponsored by the Sadie Lewis Webb Lecture Series.