Michael D. Mehta

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Michael D. Mehta specializes in science, technology and society with a focus on health and environmental risk issues. He is Professor of Sociology at the University of Saskatchewan and Chair of the Sociology of Biotechnology Program. He is one of the leading academics in Canada in the field of risk.

Mehta arrived in Saskatoon during the summer of 2000 after spending five years at Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario. While at Queen’s University, he taught in the School of Policy Studies and the School of Environmental Studies, and completed a post-doctoral fellowship with William Leiss in risk communication and perception. Prior to that, he lived in Toronto where he completed undergraduate training in psychology and graduate training in environmental studies and sociology, all at York University (Canada).

As Chair of the Sociology of Biotechnology Program at the University of Saskatchewan, he has been involved in research on a wide array of topics. Mehta has helped build a body of literature dealing with the following areas: biotechnology and risk, public perceptions of different applications in biotechnology, and biotechnology and social cohesion. He has also worked on expanding this field by exploring the emerging connections between biotechnology and nanotechnology (nanobiotechnology), and examines a range of regulatory issues including how best to address advances coming from nanomedicine.

Mehta is one of a few academics in Canada to explore the social and ethical dimensions of nanotechnology. He has published several papers in this area, and was guest co-editor (with Dr. Zaheer Baber) of a 2004 special issue on nanotechnology of the Bulletin of Science, Technology and Society. He has given talks on these topics at Rice University, the National University of Singapore, University of Surrey, the National Policy Research Conference (Canada), Justice Canada, and the National Institute of Nanotechnology (NINT). In February 2004, he provided written evidence to the Royal Society and the Royal Academy of Engineering on how to include a range of social dimensions in the UK government’s handling of nanotechnology.

With Dr. Linda Pilarski (Department of Oncology, University of Alberta) and others, Mehta shares a CAD $1.5M grant (2003-2008) from the CIHR to explore social, ethical and legal issues related to the development and use of microfluidic devices for genetic analysis. The team’s objectives are to develop microfluidics-based platforms having photolithographically defined networks of microchannels whose versatility has led to terms such as “lab on a chip.” These platforms are able to sort cells and analyze their genomic profiles, individual genes, chromosomes and mitochondrial DNA, thereby bringing the benefits of the genomics and proteomics revolutions to the clinic. These novel, integrated microfluidic platforms will implement microsystems and nanoscience to develop automated, real time multiplex cell manipulation and genetic analysis. Mehta’s role in this project is to:

Assess how Canadians understand issues related to health information, risks and benefits of genetic testing, and privacy
Assess how medical practitioners (oncologists) in Canada perceive the use of microfluidic platform technologies for clinical applications
Hold consensus conferences on the risks and benefits associated with the use of microfluidic platform technologies for non-clinical purposes.

From 2000-2004, Mehta was involved with a team of researchers at the University of Ottawa (Dr. Daniel Krewski and Dr. William Leiss) in projects where websites on wireless communication risks and endocrine modulating chemicals were created (see www.wirc.org and www.emcom.ca). Over this time period, he helped develop and test a set of techniques for assessing the visibility and effectiveness of websites devoted to communicating risks to the public. Some of this work has been presented in training sessions with Health Canada staff and others.

From 1999-2003, with Dr. David Lee (Department of Medicine, Queen’s University) Mehta conducted a comprehensive study on risk communication techniques. With funding from the Bayer Blood Partnership Fund, Mehta and Lee compared how individuals perceive risks based on their exposure to written v. graphical instruments. They also compared how patients and physicians differed on a wide range of medical and non-medical risks.

Dr. Mehta sits on the boards of directors of Canadian Blood Services, SaskPower, SaskPower International, and NorthPoint Energy Solutions.