Prof. Elger studied medicine and theology in Germany, the US, France and Switzerland. She obtained her medical diploma as well as a 6 year university degree in protestant theology in Germany and her FMH in internal medicine in Switzerland. For the past 15 years she has been teaching ethics and health law at the University of Geneva where she was nominated associate professor in 2007.

In 2004, she obtained a grant for advanced researchers of the Swiss National Science Foundation for research in the US (University of Pennsylvania Center for Bioethics, Kennedy Institute of Ethics and the Dept. of Clinical Bioethics at the NIH). In 2010, she was awarded the Swiss "Prix" for research in primary care and in 2005 the Prix Bizot for her work on biobanks (PhD, University of Geneva). In 1999 she obtained the "Award of the Medical Faculty" for her doctorate about medical paternalism and in 1997 the "Prix Arditi en éthique" for her work on predictive medicine.
She has widely published in medical and ethical journals about medical ethics in genetics, clinical ethics and research involving biobanks and human tissue, as well as about human rights questions related to medical ethics in correctional health care.