Patricia Baird
University Killam Distinguished Professor, W. Maurice Young Centre for Applied Ethics and Department of Medical Genetics, University of British Columbia

My interests include the analysis of social, ethical and health consequences of applying knowledge on human reproductive biology and genetics, and resulting implications for public policy. I serve or have served on the National Advisory Board on Science and Technology, on the Standing Committee on Ethics of the Medical Research Council, on the Expert Advisory Panel of the WHO Genome Centre, and on the Science and Ethics Committee of the Royal Society of Canada. I chaired the Royal Commission on New Reproductive Technologies which was asked to make policy recommendations to the Federal Government on how this area should be deal with in Canada.

Françoise Baylis, Ph.D.
Professor, Department of Bioethics, Dalhousie University

My research interests are in novel technologies, research involving humans, women's health and feminist ethics. My current work is in human reproduction, genetics and neuroscience, with a particular focus on issues of justice, community and identity. The prospect of being able to alter the constitution of humans using novel technologies raises fundamental philosophical and ethical questions. For example, what, if any, obligations are owed to (distant) future generations? How do (should) such obligations inform our moral assessment of current and contemplated practices? These, and similar, questions motivate my research.
Link to further information: www.noveltechethics.ca

Michael Burgess, Ph.D.
Professor and Chair in Biomedical Ethics at the CAE and in the Department of Medical Genetics at the W. Maurice Young Centre for Applied Ethics, University of British Columbia

I am interested in combining social science and ethics to provide practical policy advice and inform public dialogue on issues related to biotechnology, genetics and genomics. My research emphasizes using different approaches to provide a range of accounts rather over theoretical or methodological consistency. My primary research combines face-to-face methods and ethical analysis with increased use of the theory and approaches of deliberative democracy. This interdisciplinary requires collaborative teams. I am co- investigator with Peter Danielson on “Building a GE3LS Architecture (GE3LS Arch),” funded by Genome Canada and Genome BC to use different approaches from social science to develop knowledge of the social norms and ethical perspectives related to specific areas of genomic research and other biotechnology. Members of the “GE3LS Arch” team collaborate with several other Genome Canada and BC funded science projects on GE3LS research using the approaches developed in the GE3LS Arch.

Sue Cox
Assistant Professor and Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research Scholar, W. Maurice Young Centre for Applied Ethics, University of British Columbia

I am a qualitative health researcher and sociologist, with a particular interest in genetics and ethics, the social meanings of health and illness, narrative, disability studies, research ethics and the role of the arts in fostering public dialogue about health policy. Much of my work seeks to bridge social science and applied ethics by grounding understanding and analysis in people's stories about their everyday moral experience. My current research focuses on families' as well as health care providers' perspectives on appropriate uses of genetic information and the range of potential policy implications. I currently teach a graduate seminar on Qualitative Methods in Applied Ethics and supervise students in Interdisciplinary Studies, Animal Welfare and Journalism.

Jocelyn Downie, Ph.D.
Director, Health Law Institute; Canada Research Chair in Health Law and Policy; Associate Professor, Faculties of Law and Medicine, Health Law Institute, Dalhousie University

Jocelyn Downie holds a Canada Research Chair in Health Law and Policy and is a Professor in the Faculties of Law and Medicine at Dalhousie University. Jocelyn received an honours BA and MA in Philosophy from Queen’s University, an MLitt in Philosophy from the University of Cambridge, an LLB from the University of Toronto, and an LLM and doctorate in law from the University of Michigan. After graduation from law school, she clerked for Chief Justice Lamer at the Supreme Court of Canada.

Jocelyn’s work is geared to contributing to the academic literature and affecting change in health law, policy, and practice. She has published numerous articles and books including Dying Justice: A Case for Decriminalizing Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide in Canada, winner of the 2005 Abbyann Lynch Medal in Bioethics from the Royal Society of Canada. Her current areas of research focus include: governance of research involving humans; end of life law and policy; neuroethics; and women’s health.

Janice Graham, Ph.D.
Associate Professor, Bioethics and Anthropology, Canada Research Chair in
Bioethics, Dalhousie University

Following my interests in the anthropology of science, technology and medicine, I explore regulatory practices, diagnostic imaginaries, aging and cognitive impairment, and databases as cultural texts. My current research explores the concepts of safety and efficacy in regulatory practices and policies. With the recent award of a Canadian Institutes of Health Research operating grant for my project Risks &Regulation, my graduate students and I are mapping the regulatory territory between industry sponsorship, scientific evidence and policy decisions at the Biologics and Genetic Therapies Directorate of Health Canada and other international regulatory sites. At the conjunction of anthropology, science studies, technology assessment and bioethics, this work analyses the ideas and activities of actors, human and non-human, engaged in the establishment of safety, efficacy and quality of new and emerging therapies. Over the next few years, my research team will be developing innovative techniques for translocal, multi-sited ethnographic research collaborations using the Qualitative Research Commons and Studio (QuRCS), a state-of-the-art multi-media audio-visual facility, funded by the Canadian Foundation for Innovation and the Nova Scotia Research and Innovation Trust.

Nuala Kenny, O.C., M.D., F.R.C.P.C.
Professor of Pediatrics and Chair, Department of Bioethics, Dalhousie University

After an extensive career in pediatrics and medical education. My current areas of research interest in include: physician ethics, ethics education for physicians with particular attention to role-modelling, ethics and health policy at all levels and pediatric ethics. I am currently on a on a Canadian Health Services Research Foundation (CHSRF) grant assessing public input into the medicare ‘basket’; a Canadian Policy Research Networks (CPRN) grant on public policy and intergenerational justice; a Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) Training Grant for pediatric researchers. I am concerned about character formation of new doctors and fundamental ethics questions in health care particularly in relation to values and Canadian medicare.

Michael McDonald, Ph.D.
Principal Investigator, Program Director
Maurice Young Chair of Applied Ethics, W. Maurice Young Centre for Applied Ethics, University of British Columbia

I am a philosophically trained ethicist who has become deeply engaged in interdisciplinary research with colleagues in law, the social and health sciences. I am very concerned with the practical uses of ethics, in particular for building better institutions (issues of governance and organizational/systemic ethics) and nourishing more ethical cultures (be they ethno-cultural, professional, or institutional). Yet I also view the engagement with practical matters as a theoretically rich endeavour. My research now centres on human research protection and its governance. I am developing an evidence-based approach to research ethics. In the training program, I am now working with Cathy Schuppli and Holly Longstaff. I will be working with Nina Preto starting in September 2006.

Patricia (Paddy) Rodney, RN, MSN, Ph.D.
Associate Professor, University of British Columbia (UBC) School of Nursing. Faculty Associate, W. Maurice Young Centre for Applied Ethics, UBC

In addition to the positions above, Dr Rodney is also a Research Associate with Providence Health Care Ethics Services, Chair of the Canadian Nurses Association Ethics Committee, and President-Elect of the Canadian Bioethics Society. Paddy is currently a member of the ethics committee at BC Women's Hospital in Vancouver, BC. Dr Rodney’s research and publications focus on end-of-life decision-making and the moral climate of health care delivery. She has a particular interest in moral agency and the difficulties that nurses and other health care professionals experience in the current moral climate of health care delivery. She is engaged in a program of research (using participatory action and qualitative methodologies) aimed at improving the moral climate of health care delivery.

Susan Sherwin
University Research Professor, Department of Philosophy, Dalhousie University

I work in the area of feminist health care ethics: my work seeks to bring a social justice perspective to policy matters in health and health care. I have been developing feminist relational understandings of such central ethical concepts as autonomy and justice. I also seek to identify strategies that will improve moral perception of neglected dimensions of health policies, e.g., by investigating the use of metaphors and by soliciting minority and international perspectives. Recent papers have addressed issues in breast cancer, research ethics, and reproductive and genetic technologies. Currently, I serve on ethics advisory committees for the federal Department of Health, CIHR, the Canadian Commission of UNESCO, and the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada.

Recent honours and awards: Distinguished Woman Philosopher of the Year (Society of Women in Philosophy 2004), Killam Prize for the Humanities (2006).