Jillian Theil graduated June 2010 from UCLA with a BA in Political Science, with a concentration in International Relations and a minor in Society and Genetics. As part of her work as an undergraduate student researcher for the UCLA Center for Society and Genetics, she helped to develop a curriculum and team-teach genetic concepts and the social implications of biotechnology to high school students in Watts, California. She was also the co-president and co-founder of the Society and Genetics Undergraduate Organization, which explores the implications of biotechnologies for society through discussions, philanthropic activities, and workshops. In 2009, she spent a semester abroad in Bilbao, Spain studying Spanish and international relations. She also worked as a research assistant on the 2010 annual symposium at UCLA, Outlaw Biology?: Public Participation in the Age of Big Bio. More recently, she has worked with a number of groups focusing on women's issues and reproductive technologies.
A British Columbia judge has ruled that anonymity for gamete donors in the Canadian province is unconstitutional and that the law is discriminatory because it does not give donor children the ability to identify their biological parents.
