Marissa Vicari studied biology and bioethics at the University of California at Santa Cruz. After working as a technician in the Molecular Biology laboratory at DNAX in Palo Alto, she obtained a Masters Degree in Biotechnological Law and Ethics at the University of Sheffield, England.

She moved to Lyon, France in 1998 where, she began working freelance in science translation and publication, and continued to work in bioethics. She contributed to the European Commission Biomed Project Ethical Guidance on the use of Embryonic and Fetal Tissue Transplantation, 1998-2002, and was a guest lecturer in Bioethics at the Université Catholique. For two years, she worked in Health-Related Quality of Life at Mapi Research Institute.

Early on, her passion for bioethics brought her to the Fondation Mérieux, as Adjoint to Dr. Dodet, and Publications Manager.

In 2005, she moved to Ottawa, Canada, where she currently works freelance in science and legal translation and publications and as a correspondent of Dodet Bioscience.