Debora Diniz

Debora Diniz is co-founder of Anis: Institute of Bioethics, one of the key feminist groups dedicated to bioethics and human rights in Latin America. An anthropologist by training, she is a professor of the Law Faculty at the University of Brasília and at the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation, Rio de Janeiro, in Brazil. Her research interests include reproductive and sexual rights, disability, criminal justice and prison systems, and research ethics. Since early 2016 Diniz has been working on research, communications, advocacy and community leadership projects regarding Zika virus and its impacts on women’s and children’s health and rights.

As a documentarian, her 8 films have received more than 50 awards. The most recent one is “Zika” (2016), which tells the story of five women surviving the Zika epidemic in the backlands of Brazil. The upcoming “Hotel Laide” (2017) is about women seeking shelter at the biggest Crackland in Latin America. She is also the author of the upcoming book "Zika: from Brazilian backlands to global threat" (2017). Diniz has strong advocacy experience working with the Brazilian Supreme Court on cases involving abortion, marriage equality, the secular state, and stem cell research.