Becky Anderson holds a law degree from UN-L and a master’s degree in genetics. Her thesis characterized a wing mutation in fruit flies. She has worked at the Nebraska Unicameral, at an intellectual property law firm, and at the Munroe-Meyer Institute as a genetic counselor.

Since 2000, she has taught law and ethics to medical students at UNMC. In the summer of 2011, she initiated a Public Health Law course with enrollees from the UN-L College of Law and the UNMC colleges of Medicine and Public Health. As a guest speaker, she has given presentations on legal and ethical issues in genetic patents, pharmacogenomics (how genes affect drug metabolism), clinical and research genetics, newborn screening, advance directives, end-of-life care, medical futility, and transplant medicine.

With a 2011 SURP summer intern, Anderson is investigating the attitudes of UNMC liver transplant team members toward marijuana use in transplant candidates, and will assess the team’s historical responses to various substances of (ab)use. As a member of the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development-sponsored Newborn Screening Translational Research Network, she is exploring legal and ethical issues surrounding the research use of stored blood spots. The past chair of the Social, Ethical, and Legal Issues Committee of the American College of Medical Genetics, Anderson is currently working on a restatement of policy concerning genetic testing and screening in minors, and she co-chairs a work group developing model consent forms for genetic assays.

Anderson chairs The Nebraska Medical Center’s Ethics Consultation Service and is an ethics consultant to the Beatrice State Development Center. She serves on the governing or advisory boards for City Sprouts, the Nebraska Statewide Arboretum, the Faith Family Trust, the UNMC SHARING clinics, Nebraska Lutheran Campus Ministries – Omaha, the Sotos Syndrome Support Association . . . and the Great Plains Bearded Collie Club.

Married to William Minier, MD, Anderson has three children, two grandchildren, and one dog. She enjoys gardening, the visual and performing arts, and late-night reading.