Yann Joly

Yann Joly

Professor, Centre of Genomics and Policy

Email: yann.joly@mcgill.ca
Phone: (514) 398-7286

740 Dr Penfield Ave, Room 5101
Montréal, Québec, Canada, H3A 0G1

Website

Prof. Joly has acquired international recognition in health law, intellectual property and bioethics in the context of modern medicine. Since 2009, he has made a significant contribution to the research, development and successful implementation of controlled access mechanisms for two large academic consortia in the field of genomics: The International Cancer Genome Consortium (ICGC) (for which he is currently the Data Access Officer) and the International Human Epigenome Consortium (IHEC). These mechanisms are now used by emerging organizations and consortia as models. He is also the author of over 120 peer-reviewed publications in top legal, ethical and scientific journals, as well as numerous book chapters and two books. For the past decade, he has served as a legal and ethical consultant to numerous national and international organizations, companies and para-governmental organizations. He was invited to provide his expert testimony on the topic of genetic discrimination before the Council of Europe (2007) and the Canadian Senate Standing Committee on Human Rights (2014). He was also a Member of the 2007-2009 panel of the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences on the return on investments in health research. In 2012, he received the “Innovation Merit” award of the Quebec Bar (Lawyer Emeritus) for his contribution to the fields of privacy and biomedicine. In 2016, Prof. Joly was the recipient of the McGill University Department of Human Genetics’ Teaching Excellence Award and, in 2017, he became a fellow of the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences (CAHS).

Recent Publications

• Jacobson, S, Gupta, N, Hanson, K, Rabasa-Lhoret, R, Joly, Y, Brazeau, AS et al.. Building diabetes prevention and remission programs across Canada: learning from England. CMAJ. 2025;197 (23):E646-E652. doi: 10.1503/cmaj.250057. PubMed PMID:40523683 PubMed Central PMC12187208.
• Dorval, M, Chang, SL, Farzin, H, Nguyen, O, Stephan, JF, Tapp, D et al.. Roadmap for Equitable Access and Responsible Use of Psilocybin-Assisted Psychotherapy in Palliative Care. Palliat Med Rep. 2025;6 (1):153-160. doi: 10.1089/pmr.2024.0108. PubMed PMID:40385526 PubMed Central PMC12084120.
• Lambert-Côté, L, Turgeon, A, Blackmore, KM, Chang, A, Antoniou, AC, Bell, KA et al.. Psychological and emotional impacts of communicating breast cancer risk using multifactorial assessment with polygenic risk score: Findings from PERSPECTIVE I&I. Genet Med. 2025;27 (8):101453. doi: 10.1016/j.gim.2025.101453. PubMed PMID:40365755 .
• Siermann, M, Mohan, R, Bunnik, EM, Cambon-Thomsen, A, Chadwick, R, Cornel, MC et al.. Emerging and evolving values in the changing landscape of genomics. Front Genet. 2025;16 :1566291. doi: 10.3389/fgene.2025.1566291. PubMed PMID:40352791 PubMed Central PMC12062138.
• Omeranovic, A, Lapointe, J, Fortier, P, Bergeron, AS, Dorval, M, Chiquette, J et al.. Primary care providers' experience and satisfaction with personalised breast cancer screening risk communication: a descriptive cross-sectional study. BMJ Open. 2025;15 (5):e093936. doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2024-093936. PubMed PMID:40316347 PubMed Central PMC12049900.
• Walker, MJ, Neely, A, Antoniou, AC, Broeders, MJM, Brooks, JD, Carver, T et al.. Barriers and Facilitators to Delivering Multifactorial Risk Assessment and Communication for Personalized Breast Cancer Screening: A Qualitative Study Exploring Implementation in Canada. Curr Oncol. 2025;32 (3):. doi: 10.3390/curroncol32030155. PubMed PMID:40136359 PubMed Central PMC11941251.
• Reveiz, M, Bouhouita-Guermech, S, Blackmore, KM, Chiquette, J, Demers, É, Dorval, M et al.. Genetic discrimination in insurance and employment based on personalized risk stratification for breast cancer screening. Front Genet. 2025;16 :1481863. doi: 10.3389/fgene.2025.1481863. PubMed PMID:40110039 PubMed Central PMC11919849.
• Sato, M, Muto, K, Momozawa, Y, Joly, Y. (Not So) Lost in Translation: Considering the GA4GH Diversity in Datasets Policy in the Japanese Context. Asian Bioeth Rev. 2025;17 (1):59-72. doi: 10.1007/s41649-024-00305-5. PubMed PMID:39896083 PubMed Central PMC11785831.
• Knoppers, T, Voutsinas, A, Palmour, N, Saulnier, K, Holmes, M, Charron, M et al.. "A quality of heart, of presence, and of really caring": toward affirmative intersex health communication in Canada. Front Public Health. 2024;12 :1436354. doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2024.1436354. PubMed PMID:39835313 PubMed Central PMC11743699.
• Gill, EE, Jia, B, Murall, CL, Poujol, R, Anwar, MZ, John, NS et al.. The Canadian VirusSeq Data Portal and Duotang: open resources for SARS-CoV-2 viral sequences and genomic epidemiology. Microb Genom. 2024;10 (10):. doi: 10.1099/mgen.0.001293. PubMed PMID:39401061 PubMed Central PMC11472881.