Barbora Straka is a researcher at the Neurogenetics laboratory of the Department of Paediatric Neurology Second Faculty of Medicine, Charles University and Motol University Hospital, Prague, Czech Rebublic and a lecturer at the Department of Medical Ethics and Humanities of the Second Faculty of Medicine, Charles University. In her research, she has focussed on genetic causes of malformations of cortical development and epilepsy and she has published multiple articles related to genetic testing in patients undergoing epilepsy surgery. After participating at the Sherwin B. Nuland Summer Institute in Bioethics organized by the Yale University, she became intensly interested in research ethics, feminist topics in medicine and care ethics.

Dr. Julian W. März is a research fellow at the Institute of Biomedical Ethics and History of Medicine (IBME) of the University of Zurich. His background is in law, bioethics and medicine. He studied law with a specialisation in human rights law, international and comparative law, and economic law at the Institut d’études politiques (IEP) de Paris and at the Universities of Oxford and Munich. He holds a master’s degree from the IEP de Paris (2016) and a Doctorate in Law (Dr. iur.) from the University of Passau (2020). He is currently about to finish a PhD in Bioethics at the University of Zurich.

He specializes in bioethics, clinical psychology, cyberpsychology and sociology. He has experience in research projects involving experiments including their coordination (e.g. www.vrburns.eu). He is the founder of the Prague School of Bioethics.

Iva Šmídová is a sociologist, an Associate Professor at the Department of Sociology, Faculty of Social Studies, Masaryk University, Brno, Czech Republic. She has worked in the field of gender studies since the early 1990s in both research and teaching. She is a founding member of the gender studies community at the department. She has been a coordinator and lecturer in multiple seminar series introducing sociology and gender studies to various audiences in and outside the academia, gender expert in multiple projects and national coordinator of gender related research and awareness raising in several international projects.

Peter Sýkora studied microbiology and genetics at the Faculty of Science, Charles University in Prague, and for two decades he engaged in biomedical research. The results are published, for example, in Plasmid, Am. J. of The Medical Sciences, J. Bacteriol., J. Theor. Biol. Since the mid-1990s, he has also been more involved in bioethics. In 1997 he became an associate professor at Comenius University in Bratislava and in 2009 a professor of philosophy at Masaryk University in Brno.

As a three-year old, she made a promise to her grandmother one day to become a doctor - and she never looked back. A mother of two sons, a wife of an islander who wears flip-flops all year long, she is an academic, a scientist and a doctor sought after by people who need a complicated surgical reconstruction of the abdominal wall, giving talks all over the world. During her, rather short, career, she managed to reform the surgical society of the European level into an institution with a gender equality plan on its website, publicly supporting diversity in its ranks. Oftentimes, she feels one step away from a fall down the abyss but then she gets a little sleep and somehow things get back on track. Because everything is possible if you really want.

I am a general, thoracic and transplant surgeon. I am working on my postdoctoral study, concerning Torgue Teno Virus and its monitoring in lung transplant recipients. My life motto is to create my life to be meaningful because courage means feeling the fear but doing it anyway. In December 2021 "we" (as women in surgery) established a group of women in surgery and we try to promote surgery for medical students, young surgeons and discuss its difficulties with women in other surgical fields and lead the reunions with the board of Czech Surgical Society. It is a pleasure to discuss all of these and other issues at the Prague School of Bioethics Women in Medicine section.

Oksana Kashyntseva is a visiting scholar in the URPP Human Reproduction Reloaded | H2R, sub-project 1 Normativity of Human Reproduction at the University of Zurich. Oksana is PhD in Law and Associate Professor. She is head of the Center for Harmonization of Human Rights and is a head of Department of IP Law and Human Rights in Public Health of the Scientific and Research Institute of IP at the Ukrainian National Academy of Legal Sciences. She is also an Attorney-at-Law, coordinator of Platform of Fight for Health of PLWHIV and serves as a national consultant for the United Nations’ Development Programme in the sphere of HIV in Ukraine and for the several Projects of WHO Country Office of Ukraine.

Tereza Kosová graduated from the 2nd Faculty of Medicine, Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic. After graduation, she did an internship at the Bethesda Naval Hospital, US. For many years, her professional interests focussed mainly on obstetrics and she participated in discussions and projects dedicated to a human-centric obstetrics. She worked as a head of the obstetrics section of an obstetrics-gynecology department and later as a doctor in a center for assisted reproduction. Currently, she is the clinical head of the Department of Gynecology 3rd Faculty of Medicine of Charles University and Military University Hospital Prague and she teaches at the 3rd Faculty of Medicine of Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic.

Felicitas Holzer holds a master’s degree in history and philosophy of science from the University of Cambridge and a doctorate in political philosophy with a focus on global justice from Sorbonne University. Trained as a philosopher (BA, MPhil, PhD), economist (BSc) and bioethicist (MPhil), her research interests include topics at the intersection of bioethics, socio-economic justice, and political philosophy as well as philosophy of science. Felicitas holds several awards and scholarships from the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD), the National Research Council of Argentina (CONICET), the Brocher foundation (Switzerland) and the MTZ foundation (Germany).

Eva Wegrzyn is a research associate at the Essen College of Gender research. She was part of the joint research project "Health Literary in Childhood and Adolescence." She develops and conducts seminars on the integration of an intersectional gender perspective into research content in biomedical research and gender medicine. Furthermore she works on the relation between ascriptions of excellence, visibility, and gender in academia.

Martin Gramc is a researcher in gender studies, bioethics, intersex and transgender studies and political philosophy. They received BA in journalism and MA in gender studies at the University of Ljubljana. Currently they are conducting PhD in bioethics at the University of Zürich. Martin is part of the INIA project supported by the Horizon 2020 project scheme (European Commission) and recipient of Marie Skłodowska-Curie Scholarship. Before joining the Institute for Biomedical Ethics and the History of Medicine (University of Zürich) Martin worked as research assistant for the Liverpool John Moores, University, University of Ljubljana, and Peace Institute (Slovenia).

Yessica Maria Mestre Martinez is a lawyer and policy maker from Colombia with a specialization in International Criminal Law and a MA in International Relations from Hungary. Within the last six years she has worked with NGOs and governmental institutions in the development of public policies and human rights frameworks for population minorities, such as indigenous people, and LGBTIQ people. Currently, she is part of the INIA Programme (Intersex Interdisciplinary Approaches) with a research focus on Human rights-based practices in Research and depathologization principles for intersex studies. This topic is also part of her PhD research.

Dr. Kateryna Moskalenko is an associate professor at Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv and is a visiting scholar at “Human Reproduction Reloaded” project of the University of Zurich. Her background is law, bioethics and intellectual property. She studied law with a specialization in civil law at Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv and intellectual property in Institute of Intellectual Property of National University “Odessa Legal Academy” in Kyiv. She holds PhD degree in Civil Law at Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv. She also works as associate at law and is a legal advisor to media companies and NGOs in Ukraine. Kateryna is currently writing her habilition thesis, dedicated to reproductive rights.

I studied medicine in Münster and Göttingen, Germany. After graduation I went into basic cancer research working in the Institute of Cell Biology Essen, Germany. My interest focussed on cellular determinants enabling malignant transformation. I was then accepted as a visiting fellow at the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research, San Diego specialising in cancer genetics. After returning to Germany I started to work on the genetic basis of cancer susceptibility and resistance using model organisms in Essen and later in the Institute of Neuropathology in Bonn. We discovered that different gene variants determine cancer risk in males and females.

Graduated in 2009 as Medical Surgeon from the Faculty of Medicine of the National Autonomous University of Mexico, she has two medical specializations, the first in Pharmaceutical Medicine from the National Polytechnic Institute of Mexico and the second in Anesthesiology from the Autonomous University of Yucatan. She completed her master’s degree in Bioethics studies at the Anahuac University in Mexico City while working at the Nacional Bioethics Commission of the Mexican Ministry of Health as a deputy director of Research Ethics Committees, coordinating the National Register of this Committees.

Aneta is a lawyer who specializes in medical law. She studied at the Faculty of Law of Charles University, where she received her Master's degree in 2019 and her Doctor of Laws degree in 2020. As a third-year student, she won the national competition in medical law for the Professor Jaroslav Stránský Award which dealt with the legal and ethical aspects of euthanasia. During her studies, she also took courses in bioethics at Harvard University and Georgetown University. Currently, she primarily represents physicians in civil and criminal litigation but is also interested in their work environments and the related issues of discrimination and sexism.

Ass. Prof. JUDr. Tomáš Doležal, Ph.D., LL.M., is a leading legal scholar in medical and civil law. He is Head of the Department of Civil Law and Head of the Research Unit for Medical Law and Bioethics at the Institute of State and Law, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, and lecturer at the Institute of Medical Law and Public Health, Faculty of Medicine. He is a Bureau member of the Council of Europe Steering Committee for Human Rights in the fields of Biomedicine and Health (CDBIO) and Head of the Czech Unit of UNESCO International Network in Bioethics. He collaborates with the Association of General Practitioners, especially during public consultations on medical legislation.

Jana Zárubová's professional interests are Epileptology (especially issues of women with epilepsy, genetic in epilepsies of adult, refractory epilepsy, epilepsy in people with multiple disabilities), clinical neurophysiology (electroencephalography), International register of pregnancies with epilepsy and/or with antiepileptics, and she is a national coordinator at EURAP.

Šárka Káňová, PhD. (*1978) is a researcher, senior lecturer and head of the Special and Inclusive Education Unit within the Department of Education, School of Education, University of West Bohemia in Pilsen, Czechia. In 2018 – 2019 she completed a long – term research mobility programme at the University of Kent, Tizard Centre, a forefront research centre in autism, intellectual disability and community care in Great Britain and worldwide. Her research interests include mapping the life courses of people with disabilities and exploring the possibilities of fulfilling the roles associated with being active citizens.

Tania Manríquez Roa is an ethicist and qualitative researcher working in the field of global health. She holds a BA in Social Anthropology (University of Chile), an MA in Global Ethics (King’s College London) and is conducting her PhD in Bioethics (University of Zurich). She is part of the Excellence Program and a member of the Ethics Community, both at the Digital Society Initiative (University of Zurich). Her research project focuses on moral discussions on equity and trust in global health.

Prof. Dr. med. Dr. phil. Nikola Biller-Andorno directs the Institute of Biomedical Ethics and History of Medicine, University of Zurich, Switzerland, which serves as WHO Collaborating Centre for Bioethics. She co-leads the PhD program “Biomedical Ethics and Law” and serves as Vice-President of the Clinical Ethics Committee of the University Hospital Zurich. She is also a member of the Research Ethics Committee of the Federal Institute of Technology Zurich, and an expert advisor to the Swiss Medical Board, an HTA agency providing clinical and cost effectiveness analyses of diagnostic and therapeutic interventions. From 2009 to 2011 she acted as President of the International Association of Bioethics.

Giovanni Spitale just finished his PhD in Medical Sciences at the Institute of Biomedical Ethics and History of Medicine, University of Zurich, with a dissertation on mapping and understanding ethical dilemmas emerged during the COVID-19 pandemic. His research interests revolve around public health ethics, ethics of risk and crisis communication, and quality improvement in healthcare. Methodologically he likes to dip in multiple bowls, combining natural language processing, computational linguistics, qualitative research, and philosophical analysis into mixed methods approaches.

Maria Franch, is currently a PhD student at the Institute of Law at the University of Zurich. As a MA in Law and Journalism (Madrid) as well as MA in Social Communications (Rome) her thesis is focused on the role of the media in the transformation of the best interests of the child. After her graduation in Law and Journalism, she worked as a correspondent in Rome for Spanish radios and agencies. Currently, her research is focused on the bioethical and social questions regarding the status of the child and her or his best interests in the European context.