Marisa has a diploma from LaSalle College. She worked for McGill University at the Quebec Research Centre of Private Comparative Law for 20 years as a bilingual receptionist/secretary. She then worked at the Genetics Society Project at Université de Montréal from 1999 to 2009 for Professor Bartha Maria Knoppers and Dr. Denise Avard. Since June 2009, she works at the Centre of Genomics & Policy at McGill University.