Ana Victoria Sánchez-Urrutia

Ana Sánchez Urrutia was born in Panama in 1962. She studied Law at the University of Panama. She obtained her PhD in Law at the University of Barcelona. She was a lecturer of constitutional law at the university from 1989 to 1996 and professor from 1996 to 2013. As a member of the Observatory of Bioethics and Law of the UB she has participated in various working groups to prepare opinion documents on Bioethics in her capacity as an expert in constitutional law and fundamental rights. In Spain she has participated in various committees and commissions such as the Clinical Research Ethics Committee of the Hospital Clínic of Barcelona, and the Research Bioethics Committee of the University of Barcelona. She has participated in Government Commissions such as the Advisory Council of the Catalan Data Protection Authority or Member of the National Commission for the use of DNA for forensic purposes of the Ministry of Justice of Spain.

Currently an advisor to the National Secretariat of Science, Research and Innovation in Panama (SENACYT). She is a member of the National Committee on Research Bioethics in Panama and remains an associate member of the Observatory of Bioethics and Law. She has also participated in the draft of Panamanian legislation on research for health and use of human cells and tissues.

She has published on several topics related to bioethics and the law, from a constitutional perspective. Among them, she is coauthor of Tecnología, Intimidad, y Sociedad democrática (2003), and author of several papers on privacy and technology.    

Declaration of interests

Dr Anna Sanchez Urrutia has given evidence to the National Bioethics Committee of Research of Panamá of Panama on this subject.