Frédérique S. Santerre currently is the Global Head at for Global Government Affairs & Health Policy at Merck Serono. Frédérique was a post-doctoral Research Fellow at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government in the Science, Technology and Society Program in 2002-05. Her doctoral dissertation focused upon the dynamics of change in international policy-making regarding regulation and innovation in the life sciences industry.

Her research addresses the interconnection and linkages between biotechnology, biodiversity and intellectual property rights. Her research examines the emergence and evolution of the international regulation of genetic resources, “bio-regulation” and “bio-governance”, focusing on issues of conservation, trade and intellectual property rights [patents], as well as risk governance and biosafety. She adopts a multidisciplinary theoretical framework, combining economics, political science models and international law insights, as well as an empirical comparative approach, drawing particular insights from the United States, European Union, Indian and Swiss case studies. In particular, Frédérique is interested in the way in which new knowledge and technological innovation are integrated into the international policy-making of biotechnology and risk governance, as well as its impact upon the life sciences. Her research focuses on at the intersection of the life sciences, biotechnology, politics, and law.

She completed her Ph.D. in International Relations, summa cum laude, at the Graduate Institute of International Studies (Geneva, Switzerland). Frédérique Santerre holds degrees in Economics (Université de la Sorbonne, Paris), in International and Comparative Politics (MPhil., University of Glasgow, Scotland) and in International Relations (Masters, Graduate Institute of International Studies, Geneva).

Prior to her arrival at Harvard, she held various positions in the academia (teaching & research assistant, Graduate Institute of International Studies, Geneva), in international organisations with the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands, the UN High Commissioner on Refugees (UNHCR) and the World Health Organisation (WHO), as well as with non-governmental organizations such as the International Centre for Trade and Sustainable Development (ICTSD) andMédecins du Monde. Additionally, she worked for the World Economic Forum and participated in the 2000 Davos Meeting.

Frédérique is currently working on two parallel projects. Her post-doctoral research within the Harvard Science and Democracy Network (SDN) focuses upon the World Trade Organisation dispute between the United States and the European Union over genetically modified products. She is acting as a consultant with the World Health Organisation’s Tropical Disease Department, Communicable Diseases Cluster (CDS), on the public-private partnership with Aventis Pharma regarding the Treatment and Drug Resistance Network (TDRN) for Sleeping Sickness.